Classic Comets

Exactly like comets are Chinese War Lords, here in a halo of gore and glory one day, gone next week into uttermost limbo, then back again after several years with brilliance undimmed, braggadocio redoubled. Last week from the limbo of a remote Buddhist monastery in Tibet there returned to the everlasting Chinese fray Comet Wu Pei-fu, the "Scholar War Lord."

In his day Comet Wu has of course captured Peking (TIME, May 3, 1926)-- indeed one is hardly a real "War Lord" in China until one has captured Peking, preferably several times. Absolutely nothing was known last week of the strength or nature of the forces with which Comet Wu suddenly appeared on the Yangtsze River in central China. As usual the "Scholar War Lord" heralded his approach with an exquisitely worded manifesto in purest classic script which his mysterious agents distributed to diplomatic representatives of the Great Powers in China:

"So the people have called me from my retirement and I reluctantly return! . . . Gathering strength as I advance, I will save the Nation and restore peace. . . . May the Great Powers accord my Mission sympathetic understanding!"

Such is the grand, authentic manner, such are the classic words "reluctance," "strength" and "peace" with which a proper Chinese Comet always and inevitably returns.

War. Pending the arrival of Marshal Wu, his colleagues were engaged as follows in their everlasting strife:

Marshal Yen Hsi-shan carried out his threat of last May to seize the customs revenues at Tientsin (port of Peking). He will continue to pay foreign holders of Chinese bonds their lion's share of the receipts, expects to pocket a nice surplus of $600,000 per month.

Marshal Feng Yu-hsiang, ally of Yen, appeared to have captured the Honan airplane base of his enemies by a surprise onslaught of his famed "Big Sword Cavalry."

Marshal Chiang Kaishek, foe of Yen and Feng and "President of China" in name if not in fact, was reported leading his Nanking armies on no less than three fronts at once, was rumored to have contracted gangrene from a wound in the arm, was positively declared in Shanghai by some of his closest political associates to be dead -- not that anyone exactly believed it.

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