Saturday, 23 December

Snow

The United States Time Magazine published the news about Stilwell’s recall saying that it was the American Department of Defense who instructed him to ask the Generalissimo to put the army under American direction. The Generalissimo was extremely angry with this so he demanded Stilwell’s recall. The magazine viewed this act of the American Government as a very serious mistake. It also said that it was inappropriate for the United States to speak for the Chinese Communist Party and force cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Chinese Communist Party, which made the Kuomintang reluctantly accept harsh terms from the Chinese Communist Party, which was harmful in itself. If the Chinese Communist Party took control of China, the safety of the United States would be directly threatened. It also quoted what Walter Lippmann suggested that the United States should help Britain in Europe and China in Asia, which would make Europe and Asia have countries too strong to be defeated.

In the evening I went with Hu, to the Grand Theatre to watch The Sleeping Beauty. The main female character was Golovkina. She was young and pretty. Though she did not dance as well as Ulanova, Semyonova and Lapiuskaya, she was fine. In the recent few days I had noticed her portrait by A.M. Gerasimov in his studio. It was not as charming as her performance on stage. Probably A.M. Gerasimov prefers solemnity, therefore when he paints government leaders he can fully catch the spirit. But as for a dancing star, he did not have close inspection of the beauty of her posture and the charm of her expressions, so he could not quite catch the essence. Personal character matters most for painters. If something is against his/her personal character, he/she will be unable to do their best.