China Chiang Kai-shek and the Nationalist Government at Nanking seem
to be holding out against their enemies much better than had been expected. These enemies are divided into moderates and extremists, and the Peking correspondent of the Times suggests that at least one notable failure of the rebels to make any progress is that the moderates discovered that they would be committing themselves to a Redder policy than they liked. He thinks that several Generals who on the whole favoured the rising stopped short when they learned that Tang Sheng-chi, one of the most important of the revolting Generals, was in collusion with the Communist leader, Wang Ching-wei. Wang was one of Sun Yat-sen's friends. In October, 1927, he tried to create an independent Nationalist Government, but, having failed, he complacently became a member of the Central Executive Council which was appointed last spring at Nanking. As for the much advertised advance of Chang Fat-kwai's " Ironsides " on Canton, it seems to have been turned into a rout. The panic of Canton has become a triumph. Chang's reversal is ascribed by the Hong-Kong correspondent of the Times to two causes—the failure of the Kwangsi troops to help him and severe aerial bombardments.
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