The Fighting in China While the Brussels delegates discuss, China
continues her courageous resistance. In the Shanghai area the Japanese have concentrated on crossing the Soochow creek, which separated the two forces, but they have so far only secured a precarious footing at one point. In Chapei the Chinese " dare and die " brigade insisted on continuing the fight until ordered to retire from their hopeless position to the International Settlement, and the 1st Ulster Volunteers distinguished themselves by their bravery in rescuing Chinese refugees, by which three of them lost their lives. This action is of some wider significance because of its effect on Chinese sentiment towards Great Britain. In the North, the -Japanese continue to advance slowly in Shansi, under difficulties said to resemble Napoleon's advance on Moscow. The Communist 8th Route Army is reported to be preparing for battle, in which they may be less successful than in the guerilla warfare in which they are most expert. Indeed one of the errors of the Chinese has been their willingness to accept battle with the better trained and better equipped Japanese troops. Yet as significant as the Japanese victories and advances has been the morale of the Chinese in defeat ; the war seems precisely calculated to make the Chinese into a nation.
