书城外语AShortHistoryofShanghai
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第97章 CIVIL WAR IN THE NEIGHBOURHOOD OFSHANGHAI(4)

When General Sun Chuan-fang succeeded in taking Sungkiang,General Chen Yao-san was forced to fall back on Shanghai. Just thenGeneral Chi Hsieh-yuan, who had been dismissed from office by thePeking Government, appeared on the scene again. He came suddenlyto Shanghai, seized the command of the Kiangsu troops stationed thereand joined with General Sun Chuan-fang in eliminating General ChenYao-san. On January 11th, 1925, his troops occupied Lunghua andthe Kiangnan Arsenal, and General Chen"s defeated troops withdrewto the banks of the Siccawei Creek, and to the borders of the FrenchConcession where they were disarmed by the French Volunteers andby the police and landing parties from the French men-of-war. Twodays later a band of defeated troops, 2,500 in number, attempted toenter the International Settlement. They were disarmed by a companyof Volunteers at the Jessfield Railway Station, and were interned inJessfield Park, and kept under guard by the Chinese company ofthe Shanghai Volunteer Corps until they were sent to concentrationcamps in the Settlement. The whole number of troops interned in theInternational Settlement and the French Concession amounted to10,000. Later these interned troops were deported to Shantung.

General Chi Attempts to Take NankingThe victorious generals returned to their respective headquarters,General Sun to Hangchow, and General Chi to Chapei. General Chithen attempted to revolt against Peking and made an advance up theShanghai-Nanking Railway to attack Nanking, at that time in thehands of the Fengtien forces. Partly owing to treachery, his success,however, was snort-lived, and ten days later he was obliged to retreat.

Fengtien Troops Occupy ShanghaiThe Government troops sent from the North consisted of Fengtiensoldiers and a mixed brigade of Russians. After his defeat, General Chiand his staff departed for Japan on January 28th, following the exampleset by Generals Lu and Ho in the previous year. This finally broughtthe war to an end. Ten thousand troops under the personal commandof General Chang Chung-chang, the Tuchun of Shantung, occupiedShanghai and took control over the adjoining districts.

Measures for the Protection of the SettlementPrompt measures had been taken again, by the erection ofbarricades on the Chapei-Settlement boundary and in the westerndistrict, to prevent the entry of fugitive soldiers into the Settlement.

During the critical period, a naval detachment was stationed inJessfield Park to guard the approaches from the west.

Although there was war in the vicinity of Shanghai, life in theSettlement was not as much affected as might have been expected, theonly difference being that foreigners did not venture far beyond theSettlement limits.

commerce and Trade

The commercial interests of the Settlement were influencedadversely by the civil war, but comparing the Customs revenue for thewhole country for the years 1923 and 1924, we find that there hadbeen an increase. The figures were Hk. Tls. 63 ,504,250 for 1923 andHk. Tls. 69,595,131 for 1924. This may be more than accounted for,however, by the tariff having been raised to an effective five per cent.

The Salt Gabelle showed a decrease of Tls. 9,001,000, dueundoubtedly to the disturbed conditions caused by the war.

Death of Rev. C. E. DarwentThe death of the Rev. C. E. Darwent occurred at Tientsin onOctober 12th. Before accepting a call to Tientsin, Mr. Darwent hadbeen Pastor of Union Church in Shanghai for twenty years and hadendeared himself to all sorts and conditions of men, and had exerted aunique influence in the community. For sixteen years his sermons hadbeen published weekly in the North-China Daily News.

Transfer of Russian Consulate to Soviet GovernmentWe close the chapter with a reference to an event that was to haveserious consequences upon the Far East. On May 31st, 1924, Chinarecognized the Soviet Government which had agreed to give up herclaim to extraterritoriality. The Russian Consulate in Shanghai washanded over to the representatives of the Soviet Government by theformer Consul-General, M. Victor Grosse, on July 24th. Inasmuchas there was fear of a demonstration by the “Whites,” the transfer wascarried out under a strong guard of European and Sikh police. Thesinister red flag, bearing the golden sickle and hammer, was flown fromthe top of the building, and Shanghai became a centre where organizedBolshevist propaganda could be carried on.

Warnings were uttered about the growing influence of Bolshevism,but for the most part they were unheeded.