It is quite impossible to ascertain clearly what is going
on in China. The rivers in Chi-li are frozen, and the "armies" at Pekin and Tientsin are hanging on to the coast by a single line of railway. At present, however, there appears to be no lack of supplies, out of which the Allies are feeding the poorer Pekinese with rice. Small punitive expeditions are going out into the neighbouring villages, in which they kill many " Boxers," and from which they bring away much plunder, but no serious fighting is reported anywhere. There are rumours that Chinese troops are hovering in the neighbourhood of the capital and threatening the railway, but they are unconfirmed, as is also the rumour that a really large force is being collected on the road between Pao-ting-f a and Sian. The Chinese Commander-in-Chief, General Tung, has been sent by the Empress to Kansu, as an exile the gossips say, but as he is supreme at Court and absolute in Kansu it is probable that his mission is to raise an army. The Sansu men fight a little better than most Chinese.
