The Chinese Mongol Front in Suiyuan

X\WHERE do the Mongols stand in relation to Japan's attempt to conquer China? What is the nature of the Chinese resistance in Inner Mongolia? These were some of the questions that impelled me to travel to Suiyuan in the spring of I938. It was known that Japan had occupied the Peiping-Suiyuan railway. It was known that the most influential of the Mongol princes, Teh Wang, had, albeit with some reluctance, allied himself with Japan. Political and economic penetration of Suiyuan and Chahar had been conducted by the Japanese for years, and the military penetration by Japanese-inspired mercenaries had been initiated months before the Lukoukiao incident. But no important inroads had been made into China from that region. The situation was far from clear. My journey to Suiyuan was over the ancient highway that extends north from Sian to Yulin. There it connects with caravan routes that spread fan-like over the Ordos desert. Over this route, which rambles across the loess hills to Suiteh, drops into the valley of the Wu TVing river, and follows this verdant valley to the desert oasis of Yulin, had come the legions of Khubilai Khan. Near Yulin, where the river passes southward through the Great Wall, I found the name of Tso Tsung-t'ang carved in the limestone hillside. Tso had put down the Muhammadan rebellion in Shensi, Kansu and Sinkiang in the i87o's. And it was at Yulin that I began to understand something of the current situation in Suiyuan. The Mongols, it seemed, were more or less the fence. They felt that they had a legitimate grievance against China. The Chinese colonization of Suiyuan and Chahar, which had followed the building of the railway, had resulted in the confiscation of many of the grazing lands of the tribes. The autonomy which the Mongols sought had not been allowed. The question of the raising of the heavy duties on goods which passed into China had not been adjusted. On the other hand the Mongols were not pleased with the

Ancient history · Archaeology · China · Front (military) · Geography · Inner mongolia · Meteorology · Penetration (warfare) · Political science · Politics · Chinese history and philosophy · Engineering · History · Law