893.00/13754: Telegram
The Counselor of Embassy in China (Lockhart) to the Secretary of State
[Received December 13—7 a.m.]
604. Embassy’s 603, December 13, 11 a.m.94 Apparently under the initial stimulus offered by the funeral services of Tuan Chi Jui,95 some 400 Peiping students met yesterday afternoon upon the invitation of Sung Che Yuan after previous demonstrations which threatened some disorder and in which several students received injuries. The gates of the meeting place were first locked and troops put in position. Sung did not arrive but the Mayor came instead and spoke to the students in a conciliatory manner. The meeting apparently had anti-Japanese aspects and hand bills were distributed. These demand the breaking off of relations with Japan; resistance to Japanese troops in Suiyuan and Tsingtao; attack on the East Hopei regime of Yin Ju Keng; retrieving of North Chahar and Manchuria; support of the 29th Army and other patriotic defense organizations.
It is reported without confirmation that a demonstration along somewhat the same lines and incorporating the same general demands occurred at Sian on December 9 and that Chang Hsueh Liang “gave his acceptance” to the program of the meeting after which the demonstrators made a long march to present to Chiang Kai Shek the demands for an anti-Japanese policy.
Repeated to Tokyo.