893.00/3–2548
The Consul General at Peiping (Clubb) to the Secretary of State
[Received April 9.]
Sir: I have the honor to refer to this Consulate General’s despatch No. 49 of March 22, 194843 in regard to the military situation in Shansi, and to enclose as pertinent in this general connection a brief memorandum of March 23, 1948,43 prepared by Vice Consul Gerald Stryker on the subject “Attitude of Shansi People toward Various Political Groups.” Mr. Stryker made a brief trip to Taiyuan and T’aiku on March 14, 1948.
Mr. Stryker reports that there exists no popular support for Marshal Yen Hsi-shan’s regime, that they look at Marshal Yen and his officials only with fear and hatred, feeling that the provincial government does nothing for them except keep out the Communists—and it seems to be failing at that—and that it contrariwise pauperizes and starves them the while it limits their personal freedoms almost to the vanishing point in a close regimentation of their lives. Mr. Stryker reports that there nevertheless is no such active support for the Communists as is discovered in other parts of China, this in his opinion being due in large part to the violent anti-Communist propaganda campaign and the equally violent measures taken by the Provincial Government* to deal with anyone suspected of sympathy for or connections with the Communists.
I had not the time, in the course of my own short stay in Taiyuan (March 1–3, 1948) to make those contacts with the population which [Page 168] have given me data on which to base an estimate of the extent of Marshal Yen Hsi-shan’s popular support. I did note, however, the same indications of close regimentation of both officialdom and the population to which Mr. Stryker made reference. I moreover obtained from American missionaries at Taiyuan, in the course of my brief meeting alone with them, statements which threw doubt upon the voluntary nature of Marshal Yen’s popular support. It is to be noted in this general connection that, for all of Marshal Yen’s extended political control over Shansi Province, Communists have found it possible to wrest from him in the course of only one year the major part of his domain (it is my recollection of a report I obtained in Taiyuan that the Shansi Provincial Government now holds only 18 hsien out of a total of approximately 105 in the province—and that the hold over those 18 is less than 100%). In those circumstances it must be considered that General Yen Hsi-shan’s military hold over the province is even weaker than would appear on the surface.
Respectfully yours,