893.00B/653
The Consul in Charge at Swatow (Smyth) to the Minister in China (MacMurray)89
Sir: I have the honor to inform the Legation that Mr. John S. Dick, an American missionary connected with the Mennonite Mission at Shanghang, Fukien, but now residing in Swatow, called at the Consulate today and stated that he had just received word from his Chinese colleagues in Shanghang that communists had attacked Shanghang on September 11th and 13th, and that during the attack on the 13th the mission’s property outside the walls of Shanghang had been burned by the communists.
Mr. Dick stated that the attacks on September 11th and 13th had been made by some 4,000 or 5,000 communists, of whom perhaps 250 were armed with rifles, the remainder carrying knives, clubs and other weapons. The defenders of the city, consisting of a brigade of Fukien troops under General Lu Sing-ming, repulsed these attacks but on September 19th a further attack occurred and the city was captured.
The Mennonite Mission property which was burned by the communists on September 13th consisted of eight buildings situated outside the city walls and was valued at approximately M$25,000. Mr. Dick states that he has received no news concerning the fate of the mission property inside the city but that he fears that this property, valued at M$15,000, has also been destroyed. Mr. Dick reports that [Page 474] the communists did not molest the Chinese residing in the mission property, but requested that they move out in order that the buildings might be burned.
Many Chinese refugees from Shanghang have arrived in Swatow and have issued a petition to the government at Nanking concerning the action of General Lu, who apparently concealed the danger of a communist attack from the government in order that no reinforcements would be sent to Shanghang, thus necessitating a division of the local spoils. General Lu fled from Shanghang after its capture and his troops, apart from those who escaped, were disarmed or incorporated with the communists.
The capture of the strong walled city of Shanghang, not far from the Kwangtung border and only 190 miles from Swatow, has caused serious alarm in this city. Many Chinese in Swatow have expressed the fear that the communists will endeavor to continue their advance southwards. There are some 2,000 Kwangtung troops in Yungting, Fukien, a few miles from the border, and a total of approximately 15,000 scattered about this district, but it is by no means certain that these troops could check a serious attack from the communists.
It will be recalled that the plan of the central government for the extermination of the communists in Southern Fukien, northern Kwangtung and eastern Kiangsi, called for an encircling attack by the troops of these three provinces. The Fukien troops have already shown themselves to be unequal to the task and the Kwangtung troops have confined their efforts to driving the principal groups of communists from northern Kwangtung into southern Fukien. As it is now reported that Kiangsi Province is on the point of disowning allegiance to the central government, it is probable that the anti-communist campaign will not be carried on with sufficient vigor to subdue the communists, who will apparently remain unmolested in southern Fukien, gathering strength for an attack at an opportune moment.
In conclusion, it should be noted that there is a steadily increasing dissatisfaction with the present authorities among the people of this district. This spirit is particularly evident among the farmers, many of whom are communists or would become communists if conditions permitted. The people are struggling under heavy taxation and, to add to their burden, the present crop prospects are exceedingly poor. It seems quite possible that a famine, together with the resentment against the authorities, would result in the support of the people being given to any group having as its object the overthrow of the present government.
I have [etc.]
- Copy transmitted to the Department by the Consul in his despatch No. 4, of the same date; received October 26, 1929.↩