22 APRIL 1922, Page 2

The real masters of China, Chang Tso-lin of Manchuria and

Wu rei-fu of the Central Provinces, are reported to be massing their troops for a battle to decide which of them shall control Peking and the shadowy Republican Government. The exist- ence• of these rival Tuchuns, or war-lords, is too often ignored in political discussions concerning China, but the truth is that the Chinese Government, who send representatives' abroad and receive foreign diplomatists, has no real power at home. If one of the Tuehuns could dominate the rest and set up a stable administration, Northern and Central China would benefit greatly. There would then remain the question of Canton, where Sun Yat Sen rules independently of Peking. China's troubles are due at least as much to these internal dissensions as to the ambitions of foreign Powder:, and • her best friends would do well to recognize the fact.