Chu Teh and Mao Tse-tung

Leaders of New China

ROM the ancient walls of China’s old capital,
for the Children of Hah on October 1.

re-echoed to singing students, soldiers and citizens.

By JEAN KOVICH

Peking, restored now to its former name, twenty-eight salvos heralded the new era

The town squares, streets, alleys, the tnumphal arches of forgotten conquerors echoed and
Mao Tse-tung, whose political leadership has brought China to the threshold of

knew them

her great future after a quarter-century of struggle against the dying past proclaimed the new People’s Republic of China.

Throughout the length and
breadth of China, a war-weary
people rejoiced. At last the refu-
gees could turn homewards, the
long, long trek over, to begin
the vast task of healing their
land of its wounds. At last the
nation could proceed with the
work of peaceful reconstruction.

Even as the people returned
home, so the government return-
ed to Peking, the old capital. Ex-
cept for a few years, when the
government was moved to Nan=
king by the Kuomintang, the cen-
ter

gol empire extended from _ Sib-
eria beyond Moscow to Mesopo-
tamia. ;
Peking, the present city, was
built around the fourteenth cen-
tury—is symbolic of China, for
here ig the rich heart of Chinese
culture. It is probably the most
written about city on earth. Cer-
tainly nowhere on earth is there
evidence of creative arts and
erafts over so many centuries.
Peking is also the economic Kub
of China. Through its command

way to the regions beyond the
Great Wall. To the south stretch.
the rich and fertile faims of the
Whang Ho (Yellow River) plains,
the vineyards, the date orchards
and the wheat, and the silk indus-
try of Shantung and Shansi. —
“The city also commands the
narrow stretch between the
“mountains and the sea to.the east
called Shan Hai Kwan:
@ I would like to be there now

to greet old friends in the libera- ~
‘ fat, clean and no longer had a

tion army and among the péople
to shake the hand of some of the
doctors and nurses I once knew,

with whom I worked and who,.

like myself, were only youths 10

years ago. \
Most of all I:would like to see

of government has always’
been Peking, even when the Mon-

a few of the thousand “or more
little fellows who adopted the 8th
Route army transport which took
Dr. Norman Bethune and myself
to safety not many hours ahead
of a Japanese flying column.

The youngsters, ranging from
six to nine years of age, wé@re on
their own) their parents either
killed or lost in the confusion of
incessant bombing. They went
around together stealing food to
live as best they might. They all
adopted us the transport,
because we had rice and they
stuck with us practically to Yen-
nan, : :

The quartermaster just shrug-
ged hig shoulders and said, “Well,

I just can’t let them starve.”

When they moved in on us they
were ragged, some withwonly a
loin cloth on and some with only
cloth shoes on. Their skin was
pulled tight over huge pot bellies
and their! arms and legs were
unbelievably \thin. The quarter-
master had uniforms in his stores
and since it was questionable as
to whether all the supplies could

ef the Mongol es it is the gate, ; ‘be saved, ee se were pit out-

fitted.
The 8th Route army Hocame

home, mother, father and family _
to the kids. And there were
thousands of them all through

the ny’s territory. They all
entered the aimy schools where
they were taught to read and
write and learned a trade, or be-
came soldiers. .

I happened to meet a_ couple
of them a while later and I did
not recognize them. They were

hunted look, but a mischievous
glint in their eyes. They are
grown to manhood now, and like
most Chinese children they will

look after their kinfolk and guard

them well.

/

And then I would like to see
the women — not the youngsters
just coming up, but the house-
wives and farm women, the ones
in the backwoods who learned
how to read newspapers when
they were taught by the guerrilla
units.

In old China a wo6man was a
Shao Hwa Di, a person who made
the fire to boil the family por-
ridge pot and not much more.
She obeyed her lord and master
and-boie him children.

When the liberation army came
She learned to read and write,
joined a co-operative study group,
learned how to help herself, and
became aware that the world did
not end at the outskirts of her
village. The youngsters will take
socialism for granted, but the old-
er women had a big part in pre-
paring the foundation.

e .

I have been singularly honored.
being one of the few Canadians
personally acquainted with all
three of the chiefs of the new
government. Seldom in one gen-
eration in a given country have
there emerged ‘three such leaders
adequate in their own right to
fill the job ahead of them.

They are men who passionately
‘believe in the cause they cham-
‘pion, their loyalty is unquestion-
able, and they are’as different in

character and personality as the

seasons. The isolation and the.
Spartan life in the Shensi hills

_ during the years before the Sian

affair produced brilliant a
and hardy men, capable of sur-
mounting any difficulty or endur-,
ing ha1dship. :

They were shown no mercy —
they asked none — and to trai-
tors and enemies they. will show,
none. They have survived twenty’
odd years of essentially vicious

civil war, and anyone who be-

lieves that these men will fall
short of their objective in China’s
socialism, is indulging in wishful
thinking.

The golden era of Free. Enter-
prise Unlimited is over in China,
but the Chinese Communists will
‘trade with anyone who is willing
to do. business with them on equal
footing. Free Enterprise Un-
limited may no longer pick the
pockets of the Chinese people.

The last time I saw Mao Tse °

Tung was in the cave at Yennan
which housed the politburo of the

Chinese Communist party. I was

with the late Brig. General Evans
Carlson, j ,

A Hunanese, Mao -Tse-Tung
was born in 1893 of a moderately
well off peasant family. In 1911
he entered the Hunan army as a
private soldier and participated
in the revolt against the Man-
chus, led by Dr. Sun Yat Sen.

Mao stayed in the army only a
few months and then: resumed his

studies to become a teacher, After

graduating from normal school,
he went to the National Univer-
sity in Peking~ to continue his
education. It was there he met
his wife, Yan Kai Hui, who was
killed by Nationalist soldiers dur-
ing the massacre at Hankow in
1930.

At Peking, he took upon jhim- /
self the task of organizing China’ 's-

_ students and workers.

In 1927 he was arrested and
jailed, but he escaped befosl:
‘orders were received sa his exe-
cution.

Mao fled to Ghingwasehast
where he met Chu Teh, to begin
rebuilding the Communist party,
of which, since it came into being
‘in 1921, he has been the chairman
and guiding figure,

During the war years Mao lived

PACIETO

» dier.

simply with his wife, Li Lin, a
former movie actress from Shang-
hai, who came to Yennan almost
at the same time as I did to at-
tend the school in gueurilla tac-
tics,

Mao, who possesses a biting wit
and keen sense of humor, gives
the impression of being effemi-
nate—his hands are small and
fine and his forehead is topped
by an unruly shock of jet black
hair. There is however, nothing
effeminate about him when he
pounds the. table with his small
fist and says, “What you need,
comrade, ig a little bit of self
dicipline.”

e ’

Chu Teh is almost a direct anti-
thesis of Mao so far as make-up,
personality and education is con-
cerned.. First, Chu is and al-
ways has been a professional sol-
The cast of his body is
powerfful—strong of limbs’ and
heavy of feature. By nature he
is warm and friendly. The color
of his skin is dark bronze and he
has almost a grizzled appearance

‘due to the hard and rigorous life

in the open with his army.

He is not given to niceties and
prefers to call a spade a spade;
in fact his directness is some-
times irritating. But he is loved
and respected and esteemed by
every man in the army.

My first meeting with Chu Teh,
who wears no insignia to tell you
whom you are talking to, was in
the courtyard of the 8th Route
army barracks in Sian—the com-
mander was busy giving a little
soldier boy a soup-bowl haircut.

He kidded about the youngster
having a girl friend down the
street and wanting a real modern
hain’ cut—and not a shave. “Oh

a shave is good enough for old ©

Chu anyway.

Chu, who is the son of a wealthy
family in south Szechuan, was
graduated from the Yunan Mili-
tary Academy in 1911, By. 1916 he
was a brigade commander and

)soon he became the aide-de-camp

to the governor of Yunan. In
1921 he became interested in the

‘ “new movement” and joined the™

Communist party.

In 1921 he was sent to Germany
to study the files of the German
General Staff. He was twice ar-
rested in the Weimar Republic
for Communist activities and fi-
nally he was asked to leave.

He returned to China in 1926
during the first united front of
the Kuomintang and Communist
party. He became an army poli-
tical commissar and then head of
the Whampao Military Academy,
and chief of police of Nanchang.

After the split with Chiang, he
took command of the Ninth army
and Ied the Nanchang rebellion.
His men were slaughtered and
many were taken prisoner and

Chu himself was forced to flee,

finally linking forces with Mao.
Since the Nanchang rebellion
Chu has never lost a ney
Chu Teh is probably one of the
most brilliant and most able. mili-
tary strategist China has ever
had. He ig not called the father

of the liberation army Rrargut

reason.
e ’

Chou En-lai, China's new pre-
mier, is also a native of South
China, His father was an edu-
cator and his mother was a scho-
lar. After the establishing of the
Republic under Dr. Sun, Chou’s
family moved to Manchuria, in
1913.

When he was 15 years of age
he entered Nankai middle school

“in Tientsin and after four years

graduated. He spent a year at
Waseda University in Japan, but
finished his studies at Nankai
‘University.

At Nankai he became interested
in China’s revolution, Rich,
handsome, brilliant by “either
Chinese or foreign standards,
Chou soon became a respected

(Concluded on next page)

TRIBUNE—NOVEMBER 11, 199—PAGE 4,

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