Dushiqiao

Saturday, 2 December

I woke at 7.00 a.m. and I slept for ten and a half hours but still I felt it was not enough. Probably it was due to the humid climate here.

At 9.00 we had the monthly meeting of the Legislative Yuan. Vice-President Ye Chucang (葉楚傖)[1] delivered a speech. He reported in a detailed manner about the election of the National Assembly, and said that with regard to the implementation of the constitution our party was the most enthusiastic, but surely did not want to take it as a tool to humour other parties. Therefore it was decided that the most important things for the implementation of the constitution could be summarized in three words as “speed”, “sensible” and “appropriate”. But all parties only wanted “speed” but not “sensible” and “appropriate”, which he thought was quite inappropriate.

At 10.00 we had the Legislative Yuan meeting. There were not many important motions. After the end of the meeting Wei Tingsheng (衛挺生) stood up to express his great dissatisfaction concerning both the affairs in the Legislative Yuan and the implementation of job duties. Mr. Ye Chucang immediately declared the end of the meeting and changed it into a discussion session. He also stated that the various matters could not be negotiated and reformed until Sun Fo was back. He also told people that everyone knew his character and that he was an understanding person, but when he was doing things he could not be either tough or soft. Perhaps it is because of this manner that he can stay on. With regard to the affairs of the Legislative Yuan and the financial affairs in particular he never asked about them. His wordings were marvelous. Mr. Ye Chucang was an extremely clever person and he could hide his wit deeply, which was like what we said, that we could accommodate his wisdom but not his foolishness. Since the founding of the Nationalist Government, I only knew Mr. Tan Yankai (譚延闓)[2] and Mr. Ye Chucang who possessed such wit.

When I first came here many friends and colleagues visited me. In my room there were only two rattan chairs which I felt quite embarrassed about. I heard that in this place a bomb was found and a child was hurt. Therefore I did not dare take a walk after having meals.

Today the newspapers reported that the Soviet Union had dispatched its armies, navies and air forces to launch a strike on Finland. Also that the Soviet air forces bombarded Helsinki, the capital of Finland. The capital was the city with the best scenery. In the twenty years since the Finns recovered their country, they have worked hard on construction. The capital was rejuvenated and its congress was particularly good. If this war could not be avoided, the Finnish capital must be destroyed. It is a great pity. Finns originally belonged to Asian races and their knowledge level is quite high. Their productivity is not weak either. But in such a world which just emphasises strength but not reason, one stayed weak which was an unforgivable sin and they are doomed to be eliminated. It is really a great pity.

[1] Ye Chucang(1887-1946) was a novel writer and politician.

[2] Tan Yankai (1880-1930) was a scholar, calligrapher as well as politician from Hunan. He was the father-in-law of Chen Cheng.