A Toast to Reunion

Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek was tied down in Chungking, so he asked Madame Chiang to be his good-will envoy extraordinary to Manchuria. It was the first big job she had undertaken on her own in three years. At Changchun, the Manchurian capital, it was 14DEG below zero and the snow lay deep. Bundled in a beaver coat, fur cap and ankle-high rubber boots, China's beautiful First Lady deplaned from her private C-47, smiled and waved to a waiting crowd.

For three days Madame was whisked by Russian and Chinese officials through a good-will round of luncheons, receptions, military reviews and charitable visits. For Red Army heroes, Madame brought Chinese decorations and special Chinese candies. At a Red Army banquet, the Russians toasted her and the Generalissimo in Manchurian brandy. She responded with port wine and an earnest, delicately phrased Chinese wish:

"As I know all you gentlemen have families and loved ones from whom you have been separated since the war, and are eager to be reunited, I should therefore propose a toast for the early realization of your long cherished wishes."

Then, looking to the infinitely long future of Sino-Russian relations, she said: "No other two nations have a longer common boundary than ours. . . . The future must hold for China and Soviet Russia common aspirations of live and let live, a policy which will benefit not only our two peoples but also those in every other part of the world."

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