Chapter 5 chapter Five

"Ta Kung Pao" was suspended for three days. The suspension of publication of "Ta Kung Pao" is not due to "Ta Kung Pao", but to the 30 million disaster victims in my hometown who are not up to date.Among these victims, of course, include my grandma's family, my second grandma's family, my third grandma's family, those who fled and those who stayed behind, those who starved to death and those who rebelled, and those who were eaten by dogs or people.Although they have never seen "Ta Kung Pao". The Chongqing edition of "Ta Kung Pao" published their various encounters in the disaster on February 1, 1943.This angered the chairman, who ordered the suspension of publication for three days.Of course, "Ta Kung Pao" did this partly to capture news, and partly because of the sympathy for the working people brought about by the traditional dominance of Chinese intellectuals.Maybe there are upper-level political struggles involved? This is unknown.The reporter they sent to the disaster area was called Zhang Gaofeng.Although I am very interested in Zhang Gaofeng's personal history, encounters, sorrows and joys, his personality, behavior and social relations, according to the information I have, I have no way to investigate. However, the personal character reflected in the article, He can be regarded as a man of good quality, probably in the middle age.He traveled to many places in Henan and wrote the "Records of Yu Disasters" quoted earlier.This manuscript has a total of about 6,000 words.Unexpectedly, this 6,000-word article would cause trouble in the huge China.The root cause of the trouble is that the real situation of 30 million people is written in these 6,000 words.In fact, each of the 30 million people can write tens of thousands of words or hundreds of thousands of words. He only wrote 6,000 words. Divide 6,000 words by 30 million, and each person has an average of 0.0002 words, which is close to 0. , equal to not writing.This actually caused the chairman of the committee with hundreds of millions of people to lose his temper.Many blamed Chiang's bureaucracy for the outrage.But as mentioned earlier, it is by no means that Chiang does not believe it, but he still has many international and domestic political issues that are much more important than this.He didn't want to let such a trivial matter as 30 million disaster victims affect his mind.The 30 million disaster victims will not affect his rule, and if any minor details of major issues are not handled properly, he may lose his position or even step down; he has his own weighing of priorities, which is definitely beyond the comprehension of us scholars and grassroots.Three million out of 30 million died, and only one out of ten died. If you die, you will live again. Life and death are inexhaustible, so why bother? The crux of the news event.The tragedy is that there is still a misunderstanding on both sides.Those who wrote the article still believed that the chairman of the committee did not understand the facts and did not seek truth from facts; the chairman of the committee was angry and could not express it clearly, so he had to deal with complicated matters simply: ordered the suspension of publication.

In "Records of the Yu Disaster", in addition to describing the suffering of the people in the disaster area, it also wrote about the situation of the victims on the way out of the disaster area, just like Bai Xiude, a reporter from "Time" magazine.By comparing the two, we can believe that the disaster and the escape of the victims are real.He wrote that tens of thousands of disaster victims fled to Shaanxi along the Longhai line, and the men and women who boarded the train were like a mountain of people.It is common to hear people who abandon their children along the way, and it is common for people who stumble and die.Because of picking up trains, father, son, aunt, and sister-in-law were often cut into two groups, and suffered from the pain of being separated from each other.Everyone has become a wall chart of physiological skeletons.Those who fled on foot without picking up the train, helped the old and the young, and the father and son pulled the wheelbarrow, and the old couple in their sixties and seventies panted and walked with their load. "My lord, I haven't eaten for five days!" he wrote:

I closed my eyes tightly and listened quietly to the squeaking unicycle on the side of the road, as if it was pressing on me. He also wrote about dogs eating people and people eating people. The situation is of course real.If it was just the real situation, "Ta Kung Pao" would not stop publishing.The terrible thing is that after this "Record" was published on February 1, on February 2, Wang Yunsheng, editor-in-chief of "Ta Kung Pao", wrote a commentary based on this "Record" and combined with the government's attitude towards the disaster area, and published it. , the title was "Looking at Chongqing, Thinking about the Central Plains", which completely disrupted Jiang's thinking, or in other words, poked his sore spot, so he got angry.

This review says: △Yesterday, this newspaper published an article "Records of Yu Disaster", I think readers have seen it.Reading that newsletter would bring tears to any tough guy.Almost everyone knows the severity of the disaster in Henan and the misery suffered by the people;Who knew that most of those 30 million compatriots had fallen into the hell of starvation and death.Those who starved to death lost their bones and lost their flesh; those who fled with their old and young, their wives and children separated, crowded into crowds, and were beaten with sticks, may not be able to obtain a registration certificate from the Relief Committee.Those who ate the poisonous hair of weeds died, and those who gnawed dry bark could not bear the pain of throat piercing and intestinal colic.Carrying wives and daughters to a distant human flesh market may not be able to exchange for a few buckets of grain.This tragic description is really unbearable to read.

△Especially unbearable, the famine is like this, but the food class is still there.The county government arrested people and forced them to donate. They were hungry to pay for food, and sold the land to pay for food.Recalling the old days when I read "The Officials in the Stone Trench" chanted by Du Fu, I often covered up the volume and sighed for it, but I didn't expect to vaguely see the facts of today.Today's report carried the Central News Agency's Lushan Telegraph, saying that "the 31st year of grain requisition in Henan Province was carried out quite smoothly despite the severe disaster."The so-called: "According to the person in charge of the provincial land management office, the situation of requisition is extremely good, and people from all over the country have spent all they have and contributed to the country."The four words "exhaust all of it" are really written with blood and tears.

The article goes on to describe the price jump in Chongqing, the market is rushing to buy, the price limit is unlimited, and the rich people are extravagant.Then say: △The disaster victims in Henan sold their land and people, even starved to death, and they still took the national lesson. Why can’t the government expropriate the assets of wealthy businessmen and limit the purchasing power of ordinary rich people who “don’t care”? Looking at Chongqing, thinking about the Central Plains, is really emotional Thousands. On the day this editorial was published, the committee chairman saw it.That night, the News Inspection Office sent people to deliver an order from the Military Commission of the Kuomintang government to stop the publication of the "Daily Assembly" for three days. "Ta Kung Pao" was closed for three days on February 3, 4, and 5.

I don't know much about Wang Yunsheng like I do about Zhang Gaofeng.However, according to the available information, he seemed to have had a close relationship with the authorities at that time, and had contacts with Chen Bulei, Chiang's confidant, and even Chiang himself.But it is certain that he is only a newspaper editor after all, and he does not understand the situation and heart of the Chairman.However, even today, I cannot but admire his slightly childish courage in writing editorials.What's worse is that "Ta Kung Pao" was suspended. Wang Yunsheng felt very puzzled. He thought that this article only fulfilled one of its realistic tasks. Why did it offend the chairman? The chairman advocated "democracy" and "freedom". Isn't it contrary to his slogan and openly oppressing public opinion? For this reason, Wang Yunsheng asked Chen Bulei what happened, and stated a passage we quoted earlier.Since Chen is Jiang's personal person (the leader of the second team of the guard room), this passage is worth quoting again. From this we can see Jiang's loneliness and embarrassment:

The chairman of the committee did not believe that there was a disaster in Henan, saying that the provincial government??? made a false report of the disaster.Chairman Li (Pei Ji) reported disaster telegrams, saying that "thousands of miles are in the red", "sorrows are everywhere", "waiting to be fed", etc., the chairman of the committee called it a lie and cliché, and strictly ordered that the collection of facts in Henan should not be postponed. It can be seen that even Chen Bulei was kept in the dark. What Chen said made Wang Yunsheng blink.Just like screws and nuts are not only different in type, but also different in shape, so they can't be connected at all. Wang Yunsheng blamed the chairman for not caring about people's lives.On the contrary, Jiang must have great contempt and contempt for Wang in his heart, blaming him for being naive, ignorant, and not reassuring to go out to do things.Therefore, before the publication of this editorial, at the end of 1942, the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of War Intelligence agreed to invite Wang Yunsheng to visit the United States.With the approval of the government, passports were issued, foreign exchange was bought, and Chiang Kai-shek and Song Meiling paid a farewell trip for Wang Yunsheng.The flight schedule had already been set. At this time, Wang read Zhang Gaofeng's report and wrote the article "Looking at Chongqing, Thinking about the Central Plains".Two days before departure, Wang Yunsheng received a call from Zhang Daofan, head of the Central Propaganda Department of the Kuomintang, saying:

"The chairman asked me to inform you, please don't go to the United States." Therefore, Wang Yunsheng's trip to the United States came to an end.Between Wang and Jiang, the two sides fought at different levels, different levels, and different ideas. It seemed to outsiders that it was lively and indignant, but it was actually very funny and pointless. It can be said with certainty that the Ta Kung Pao's reports and editorials on the disaster area did not change Chiang's deliberate views and attitudes towards the disaster area.The method adopted was to hit the board and stop reporting.Know that this is the best way to deal with literati from ancient times to the present.The bones of a literati are easily broken.If the board is hit, it will be hit, if the application is stopped, it will be stopped, and if the trip to the United States is not allowed, it will not be allowed. There will be no consequences in the future. The only effect is that they should be honest.Therefore, I and the 30 million victims in my hometown do not express any gratitude to Zhang Gaofeng's report and Wang Yunsheng's editorial and shouting.Because their shouting does not have any effect; to anger the chairman, it even has a negative effect.We can put them aside, and we should be grateful to the foreigners, the American "Time" magazine reporter Bai Xiude.During the great famine in 1942 and 1943, he really helped us poor people.The so-called helping means that these helpings have worked, and the help that doesn't work will only add a new torture process from hope to disappointment.This is also the different attitudes adopted by the chairman towards different people.This shows that Jiang is not an overly stubborn person, he can also be flexible.To treat the people of the country, everyone is under his rule. There are tens of millions of people in the country. Offending one or two, shooting one or two, does not affect the overall situation; scholars always think that they have a higher status than the disaster victims. , even if it is high, it will not go anywhere.But the treatment of foreigners is different. Foreigners are one person above each other. If you offend a foreigner, you may offend the foreigner's government, so you have to be careful. This is the difference between China and foreign countries in terms of the relationship between people and the government.As an American intellectual, Bai Xiude saw the "sorrows everywhere", which aroused the same sympathy and anger as the Chinese intellectuals, and also published an article, but not in China, but in the United States.Articles published in the United States are different from those published in China.If it is posted in China, the chairman can suspend its publication; if it is published in "Time", how can the chairman stop "Time" magazine? Bai Xiude clearly stated that if the American press did not take action, Henan would still exist as anarchy .The Americans have helped us a lot.When we later shouted "Down with American imperialism", I think we should not forget the history, at least in 1942 and 1943, we should not overthrow it.After Bai Xiude ran around the disaster area, he couldn't wait to send out the news of the disaster area.So the first telegraph office on the way home—the Luoyang Telegraph Office—hastily sent out the telegram.According to the regulations of the Chongqing government at that time, news reports had to pass the inspection of the Central Propaganda Department.Had it been checked, the report would have been withheld; however, the telegram was swiftly sent from Luoyang to New York via commercial radio in Chengdu.Either because the system of this radio station is not strict (for an autocratic country, the system is not strict is a good thing), or because a radio operator at the Luoyang Telegraph Bureau found out that this report arrived without inspection New York.So word got around through Time magazine.Ms. Song Meiling was in the United States for that famous visit.When she saw this English report, she was very annoyed; also in a moment of impatience and negligence, she actually used the Chinese method in the United States and asked Henry Luce, the publisher of "Time" magazine, to fire Bai Xiude.Of course, her Chinese-style request was naturally rejected by Henry Luce.After all, it is a country with a free press.Not to mention Song Meiling, even if Roosevelt's scandal was exposed, Mrs. Roosevelt's request to fire the reporter may not be taken seriously by Time Magazine.You should know, how long has it been since Luo became president? How many years has Time magazine been published? Of course, I don’t think Mrs. Luo would be so stupid, nor would she have such thoughts and thoughts of using administrative intervention at every turn.

Overnight, Bai Xiude became a controversial figure in Chongqing.Some officials accused him of evading press censorship; others accused him of conspiring with Communists in the telegraph office.But no matter what, they all had nothing to do with Bai Xiude, this was the crux of the problem.At this time, Bai Xiude had reported the situation to Stilwell through the US Army intelligence agency.The US embassy in China was also reported.China's defense minister was also reported.I also met Soong Ching Ling, the President of China's Legislative Yuan, Chairman of Sichuan Province, and Dr. Sun Yat-sen's widow, Bai Xiude. It is difficult for any Chinese reporter or newspaper editor to mobilize social forces so extensively.

The attitude of the Chinese Defense Minister is: "Mr. Bai Xiude, if you are not lying, someone else is lying to you!" The President of the Legislative Council and the Chairman of Sichuan Province all warned Bai Xiude that it was useless to seek them. Only when Chiang Kai-shek speaks can it have an effect, and actions can be seen on the land of China. But meeting Jiang was not easy.With Soong Ching Ling's help, it took five days for Bai Xiude to meet Jiang.Without the help of Sun's wife and Jiang's relatives, everything would have been blown (so, under an autocratic system, nepotism is not necessarily all unhealthy, sometimes it is also a way of pleading for the people).According to Bai Xiude's impression, Mrs. Sun is elegant and beautiful.she says: "It is reported that he (Chiang Kai-shek) is very tired after a long and monotonous inspection trip and needs a few days of rest. But I insist that this matter is a matter of millions of lives... I suggest that you report the situation to him as if You were so frank and fearless when you reported to me. If you say that someone must be killed, don’t be shy. …Otherwise, the situation will not change.” Chiang Kai-shek met Bai Xiude in his dark office, and the meeting With a straight and slender body and a stern face, Shi Shi shook hands with Bai Xiude stiffly, then sat on a chair with a high back and listened to Bai Xiude's conversation.According to Bai Xiude's records, when Jiang listened to Bai Xiude's appeal, he had an expression of obvious disgust.Bai Xiude interpreted this as Jiang's reluctance to believe, which showed that Bai Xiude made the same mistake as the Chinese literati.They are not talking on the same level.They understood Jiang much more superficially.How could Jiang not believe it? Jiang must have known the situation in the disaster-stricken area in Henan earlier and in more detail than Bai, but this was not the important matter at hand.Now some low-level officials, Chinese literati, and foreign journalists insist on imposing on him what they think is important but not important, or in other words, imposing on him what is locally important as overall important He also published articles from home to abroad, causing world public opinion, turning unimportant partial things into important overall things, and making him put more important things to him Putting it aside, to listen to a nosy foreigner tell him about the situation in China is really absurd, which makes people angry and funny; it is like a big roc, watching the penguin sparrow tossing about there, and really tossing himself into it, The mood of being caught in a pile of hay and hemp.He didn't know why so many hands of different shapes and colors had to be inserted into this pile of shit.That was the true meaning of the look of disgust on his face.This meaning is beyond Bai Xiude's understanding, and has been misunderstood for fifty years.How difficult it is to communicate between people.Jiang was bored, so he had nothing to say, and said to one of his assistants: "They (referring to the people in the disaster area) can say anything when they see foreigners." Bai Xiude went on to write: Obviously, he didn't know what was going on. This is where Bai Xiude's pretentiousness and misunderstanding come into play.But things in China are also interesting.If there is no misunderstanding, Bai Xiude would not have such great righteous indignation; without such great righteous indignation, he would not have pressed Chiang Kai-shek; Backed into a corner.Because the problem is: Jiang knows everything, but he has great affairs; but as the king of a country, he can't say the trivial matter of 30 million as a trivial matter; if he said it, what image would he become? This is Jiang's unspeakable secret.And Bai Xiude's direct pressing is pressing on Jiang's unspeakable concealment, so Jiang can't laugh or cry, and Bai really thinks that Jiang doesn't understand the situation.Bai found such a breakthrough in the conversation, that is, cannibalism was happening in the disaster-stricken areas of Henan.When Jiang heard the news, he also thought that an American like Bai Xiude would not go to the disaster area to go to so many places and see so many things. He probably just took a quick look at the flowers and listened to a few random ears, so he quickly denied it and said: "Mr. Bai Xiude, cannibalism is impossible in China!" Bai Xiude said: "I saw dogs eat people!" Jiang quickly denied again: "This is impossible!" At this time, Bai Xiude called Foreman, a reporter from the British "Times" who was waiting in the reception room, and spread the photos they took in the disaster-stricken area in Henan in front of the chairman.Several photos clearly show some wild dogs standing on top of the carcasses that had been scavenged from the sand.This shocked Generalissimo Jiang.Bai Xiude wrote, "He saw the chairman's knees tremble slightly, which was a kind of nervous spasm."I think the chairman of the committee at this time was first of all angry, angry at Bai Xiude and Foreman, angry at the disaster area, angry at officials at all levels, angry at this unimportant matter, and angry at important things in the world; It is the existence of those important things that make these important things unimportant; if there are no other more important things, he can also mobilize the people of the whole country to fight the disaster, go to the disaster area to inspect and condolences, and leave one behind. A good impression of loving the people like a child.But he couldn't vent all his anger, especially in front of foreign reporters.So I had to convulse and tremble at the pictures of dogs eating people that were actually obtained by foreigners. Like all Chinese rulers, at this time, out of strategic considerations, their attitudes immediately changed 180 degrees. Turning the corner, pretending to be serious, pretending to be ignorant of the situation before, now finally understanding the situation, and grateful to the person who provided the information for finally letting him know the truth, immediately took out the small paper pad and brush, and started to record, let Bai Xiude And Foreman provided the names of some officials who failed to manage disasters --- this is also the practice of Chinese rulers to deal with things, first use the knife on organizational measures, and then ask for the names of other people; ask them to write another full report.Then, thank them formally, saying that they are better investigators than "any investigator the government has ever sent out."Then, the twenty-minute meeting ended, and Bai Xiude and Foreman were politely sent out. I think that after Bai and Fu left, Jiang must have dropped a cup and cursed a phrase that is now common in movies: "Mother Xipi!" Soon, due to a photo of a dog eating a person, heads began to fall to the ground as Soong Ching Ling expected.But it started with those unfortunate people in the Luoyang Telegraph Bureau who provided Bai Xiude with the convenience of transmitting the manuscript to the United States.Because they let the embarrassing news of people starving to death in Henan leak to the United States.However, many lives were saved as well.Bai Xiude wrote: It was the strength of the American press that saved them????????????.When Bai wrote this sentence, he must have been complacent; when I quoted this sentence, I felt amused in my heart.However, regardless of the strength, the chairman was finally persuaded, and the chairman acted. As soon as the chairman acted, many lives were saved.Who is our savior? Who is the savior of the peasants? In the final analysis, it is the chairman of the chairman of the country.Although this kind of action is caused by accidents and various misunderstandings.However, because Bai Xiude did not understand China's national conditions, he still took all the credit for himself.He didn't understand that even if the American press is powerful, it's only an inducement, not a result; for China, the American press is no match for the chairman after all.But Bai Yangyang is proud of himself, including those foreign bishops in China.At this time, Bai Xiude received a letter from Luoyang from the American Bishop Thomas Megan in Chongqing: After you went back and sent the telegram, several trainloads of grain suddenly arrived from Shaanxi.In Luoyang, they had no time to unload the grain quickly.It was a first-rate hit, or at least a first-rate baseball home run.The provincial government got busy and set up porridge stations all over the countryside.They really work and do something.The army also helped a lot by taking part of the large surplus of food.The whole country is indeed busy raising donations for the victims, and the cash is continuously being sent to Henan. In my opinion, the above four points are a great success, and confirm my previous view that the famine is completely man-made, and the authorities have the ability to control the famine at any time if they want to.Your visit, and your reproach to them, had the intended purpose of awakening them to their duties, and indeed doing something afterwards.All in all, I wish "Time" and "Life" magazines greater influence, and wish "Happiness" magazine a long and peaceful life! This is amazing!... In Henan, the common people will always remember you in their hearts.Some people miss you with obvious love and comfort, but there are others who gnash their teeth and it's not surprising that they do so.