President? Emperor?

Ankuo, meaning "Land of Peace" is a nice name for a new country. Japan, having seized most of Manchuria and some of Mongolia, and having set up a regime of seven heavily bribed Chinese "Generals," was pleased when the Seven chose Ankuo last week as a nice name, proclaimed that Ankuo is an independent, sovereign state and elected its Genshu.

What is a Genshu? Japanese newspapers glossed that over, but they stated who Ankuo's Genshu is to be. Pictures of this young man (in Chinese costume) and of his wife (in a Japanese kimono) filled the Japanese press last week. He is of course the puppet Japan has had up her kimono sleeve for nearly 20 years, Mr. Henry Pu Yi. Deposed at the age of six, he was until then the Emperor of China.

March 1 was announced as the date on which Ankuo's Genshu will be ... inaugurated? . . . Crowned? Nobody knew which last week. In Mukden, hitherto the capital of Manchuria, Japanese blandly professed that they did not even know where the Genshu would be. . . .

Vexed, newsmen made up their own minds that Genshu can be translated either "President" or "Monarch," and that the capital of Ankuo will be either Kirin or Changchun.

The weak, weak-eyed Genshu was not permitted by his Japanese guards to utter a word last week, remained plastic in Japan's iron fist at Mukden, where his family's Ancestral Palace stands. Manchu relatives of the Genshu talked. They said that he wants Genshu to be translated "Emperor" and that he wants to revive the Manchu capital at Mukden.

When one day old last week, Ankuo, the "Land of Peace" was mildly disturbed by one General Wang Teh-ling. Backed apparently by Koreans (who hate and fear their rulers, the Japanese) General Wang with 1,000 Chinese soldiers hastily wrecked or burned 18 flimsy bridges on the Kirin-Tunhua Railway. Promptly Japanese troops set out to slaughter or buy General Wang and his 1,000 men.

The central executive committee in Nanking dispatched a message to Marshal Chang Hsueh-liang, censuring him for failure to attempt redeeming Manchuria from the Japanese, despite the fact that he commands 200,000 troops. It pointed out that Marshal Chang's ancestors are all buried in Manchuria, that his father the late Marshal Chang Tso-lin awaits burial there. To young Marshal Chang as to any Chinese this was an offensive hint. He began mobilizing troops.

Under Japanese aegis enough local Chinese banks, whose funds have been impounded by the Japanese military, were hastily merged to create the Central Bank of Ankuo. It was capitalized last week at $30,000,000, provided with silver bullion to cover an Ankuo paper money issue of $10,000,000. Up to last week the paper money of Manchuria had been for many years an innumerable series of increasingly worthless wads of paper issued by this "general" or by that "War Lord."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.