Weihaiwei

About to be handed back to China, after 32 years of British tenure, is the lease of Weihaiwei (Way-hi-way) -- 285 square miles of free port, walled city, fertile farmland. The draft agreement, last week at Nanking by Britain's experienced envoy, Sir Miles Wedderburn was hailed by optimistic Foreign Minister C. T. Wang as "the first step toward the return of all leased territory China now held by foreigners." (Last month Sir Miles rushed by warship from Shanghai to Lady Lampson's bedside in Hongkong, arrived just before she died.) The snug hill-bound harbor of Weihaiwei on the northeast coast of Shantung Province, faces--across the Yellow Sea--onetime Russian stronghold of Port Arthur. It was leased to Great Britain in 1898 to compensate for Russia's Port and Germany's Tsingtao. No a military watchdog, Weihaiwei has assumed new importance as an aircraft base, busies itself coaling Pacific warships in its beautiful harbor, welcomes ailing British sailors to its mild climate and excellent sanatorium.

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