Picture of Dad with Hataman Street, Beijing, 1946

On my previous post regarding the establishment on Hataman Street I thought there was no picture. I stand corrected, slightly. Pictured here is my father at Marco Polo Field. Behind him are a row of buildings along Hataman Street in the distance. He spelled it "Hadaman Street."

A colleague at Hawaii Tokai International College in Honolulu was here earlier this summer to teach Mandarin. Daniel Fan saw this photo and remarked that he grew up only a block or two from this location! What a small world we in the 21st century live in.

Tien Hsin Cheng on Hatamen Street, Beijing

This is another business card from my father's records of his time spent in China. The establishment was located on Hatamen Street in Beijing. He did not include any photos of this place, but I did find on the site Images of Asia this picture of Hatamen Gate, taken before 1949.

Honolulu Advertiser Editorial: Democracy Emerging in China 1946

Democracy Emerging in China (Editorial)
Honolulu Advertiser: February 3, 1946

China is on the brink of its first taste of democracy in its 4,000 years of history. From centuries of monarchy which held the power of life and death to a series of “republican” governments which began in 1911 and succeeded mainly in perpetuating civil strife, China is emerging with a formula to administer to an unhappy land. The Political Consultive Council, sitting uneasily at Chungking for many months, at last has rammed through a democratic coalition government which will hold the reins until May when the country’s national assembly will adopt a constitution.

This marks the end of what has been close to absolute dictatorship by the Chiang-Soong “dynasty” which rode to power in the revolution of 1927. Since then, only one political party –the Kuomintang- has been responsible for government. The product of warlordship, it was ponderous, untractable, unmindful of the true meaning of democracy. It survived only because of the stubbornness of Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek and what enlightened reforms could be maneuvered by the American-educated Madame Chiang, one of the great Soong family.

In the last 18 years, there were some reforms but not enough. Now, the Kuomintang, the Chiangs and the Soongs have been stripped of power in reforms and in the making of the constitution. Communists, people of the Democratic League, a party of young men and women, numerous other partisan groups are to have their say in China’s destinies.

China at last appears to be finding its way. It has been a long uphill pull through the dark. There is no reason to believe that more civil dissension might not be ahead, but China, nonetheless, is on the right path. It has the cheers of the rest of the world.

Honolulu Star Bulletin Letter to the Editor: US Forces in North China, Nov. 1945

The following is a letter published in Honolulu’s Star Bulletin, dated November 14, 1945, page 6:

Editor The Star Bulletin:

In recent weeks, the internal situation in China has become extremely explosive.

The presence of United States armed forces in north China, however, is not a deliberate attempt by the U.S. government to side with the Chungking government against the Communists. U.S. armed personnel are in China merely to aid the Chungking government to disarm and demobilize 4,000,000 Japanese troops and nationals in north China. It must be borne in mind that the Chungking government is the legal government of China and is considered as such by the major powers of the world. A New York Times editorial says in part:

“The Chinese Communists are trying to repeat the coup which Marshall Tito so successfully accomplished in Yugoslavia in which the Lubin regime repeated in Poland.

“And there is no doubt that the behavior of the big powers in these two cases is now raising new trouble for them elsewhere. The matter is, of course, primarily one for settlement by the Chinese themselves, and President Chiang Kai-shek has invited the head of the Communist regime to come to Chungking to discuss the problem as a Chinese internal affair.

“Judging from their past performances the Communists will refuse. They will not seek participation; they want domination. They are not a political party; they are a conspiracy to seize the Chinese government. And they consider the victory of the United Nations, in which they played a microscopic part, as their great opportunity.

“But the matter is obviously also one for the attention of the four among the Big Five. With China itself a member of the Big Five, it is impossible for them to deal with any factions within China behind the back of the Chinese government without inviting similar action within their own domain and thereby destroying all faith in the United Nations.”

George Y. Chan,
Ensign, USNR, 902 Spencer St.

Honolulu Star Bulletin Editorial: Still a Task in China (1946)

Editorial: Still a Task in China
Honolulu Star Bulletin: February 2, 1946
Page 6.

Practically all the fighting in China has been brought to a stop and a degree of political unity between Nationalists and Communists has been reached which holds high promise of continued peace and growth.

Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek has pledged that the decisions of the unity conference just ended in Chungking will be carried out –free, open activities in all political parties; nationalization of the army; universal compulsory education; and economic reconstruction.

Toward these ends the generalissimo has made a number of concessions, the genuineness of which is best attested by the opposition they have aroused among functionaries of the Kuomintang party, who claim the government has no right to surrender any of its power.

In the conferences which have produced the unity agreement Gen. George C. Marshall, ambassador and special American representative, has remained largely in the background, but his constructive influence is evident in the quick progress made toward a settlement.

Yet Gen. Marshall’s and Generalissimo Chiang’s hardest task still remains-the amalgamation of the two armies which are still hostile to each other, despite the respite from fighting.

To accomplish this amalgamation, the unity conference set up a committee composed of two representatives from Chungking, one from among the Communists and Gen. Marshall himself.

The committee’s task is to whittle down 253 nationalists army divisions to 90 and 100 Communist divisions to 20, then melt them together into a single force willing to obey the edicts of Generalissimo Chiang.

Hopeful though the Chungking conference accomplishments have been, the reunification of China and the prospect of a peaceful future will not rest on solid ground until the army problem is solved.

The reason for this is simple. Government for the average Chinese has meant army. No central government has existed to maintain control throughout the country. Instead, dozens of armies have ruled dozens of different localities, and the rule of each has been different.

Once the task of military unification has been completed, the new state council of 40 members, which now takes over Chiang’s former powers of emergency decree, can begin to function as intended. But until the armies are removed from the field of government, peace and unity can not be said to have arrived in China.

News Notes from China’s Capital: February 6, 1946

News Notes from China’s Capital
(By the Chinese News Service-Official Agency)
Honolulu Star Bulletin. Wednesday, February 6, 1946. Page 8, col. 1-2.

CHUNGKING. Dr. Wei Tao-ming, Chinese ambassador to the United States, and Dr. Hollington Tong, former vice minister of information, left January 30 for Shanghai on their way to America.

Averill Harriman, U.S. ambassador to Soviet Russia, who recently arrived here for a short visit, also left for Shanghai returning to the United States. During his stay in Chungking, Ambassador Harriman was President Chiang’s house guest.

Dr. T.V. Soong, who was scheduled to fly to Taiwan (Formosa) on January 29, cancelled the trip due to engine trouble in his plane. He left Canton for Shanghai.

Gen. Chou En-lai and Lu Ting-I, Communist delegates to the political consultation conference, returned to Chungking from Yenan. The two went to Yenan on January 27 to report to the Communist party on the progress of the unity conference in Chungking.

Dr. P.H. Chang, counselor of the executive yuan (cabinet), has been slated as Chinese consul general in New York, succeeding Dr. James Tsung-hi Yu who will be transferred to another post shortly.

Born in Tientsin in 1902, Dr. Chang graduated from the Nankai University in 1920. He studied in England and Germany between 1920 and 1925. In 1934 he was appointed counselor of the executive yuan (cabinet), a post he will vacate when he leaves for New York. Dr. Chang has been a government spokesman at the weekly press conference in Chungking for the last two years.