Barton to Palairet,
31/Ö/2 5 , F 5 3 9 8 / 194/10; the report of
the incident in Shih Pao 23/8/25, simply referred to the
attackers as thugs, or toughs ( ta-shou), and did not claim
that they were strikers.
189
Phis date is certainly correct, as the closure is reported in both Shih Pao and Slien P a o , 19/9/25; the latter carries the Martial Law Commander's proclamation; Ton g Chung-hsia, o p . c i t ., p.2l8, also gives this date. Yet the british Chamber of
Commerce J ournal, Shanghai, October 1925, p.272, gives the date a~s 20/9/ 2 5 ; this must be a mistake.
were less f o r t u n a t e . 190
Nevertheless, the G.T.U. continued to function illegally, later a c h i e v i n g o u t s tanding successes.
Th e closure of the G.T.U., together with the ending of the strikes, is a fitting point on which to end this account of the May 30 Movement in Shanghai, a l t h o u g h the national revolution, of which Ma y 30 formed the opening chapter,
continued to develop throughout the country, and soon reached a new stage with the outbreak of the a n t i - F e n g t i e n war.
Fol l o w i n g its closure, the G.T.U., itself a product of the movement, issued a manifesto, in which the hardships and difficulties of the past months were recounted. What, asks the manifesto, had it all been for? ;
fo win glory for our country and justice for humanity, in the hope that in some small way we might h inder the imperialists, who shrink
from no atrocities the world o v e r.191
19° R , Bart o p .c i t .,
191
Barton to Palairet, 7/10/25, F5829/194/10; T e n g Chung-hsia, it., p p . ^17-8; North China H e r a l d . 26/9/25, p p . 430-1.
C H A P T E R 3 M a y 30: C h i n a O n J u n e 1 a m e e t i n g w a s h e l d i n P e k i n g to p r o t e s t a g a i n s t the S h a n g h a i e v e n t s . A t t e n d a n c e w a s n o t l a r g e , a n d t he p r o c e e d i n g s w e r e o r d e r l y . O n t h e f o l l o w i n g d a y d e l e g a t e s f r o m s t u d e n t o r g a n i z a t i o n s c a l l e d at t he W a i c h i a o p u to d e m a n d that r e p r e s e n t a t i o n s be m a d e to the D i p l o m a t i c B ody, a n d i n C a n t o n s m a l l g r o u p s o f w o r k e r s a n d s t u d e n t s p a r a d e d t h r o u g h the s t r e e t s . O n J u n e 3 P e k i n g s a w a m u c h l a r g e r d e m o n s t r a t i o n , l e d b y s t u d e n t s r e p r e s e n t i n g a l l c o l l e g e s a n d s c h o o l s , i n c l u d i n g m i s s i o n a r y i n s t i t u t i o n s , a n d n u m b e r i n g b e t w e e n 1 0 - 1 3 » 000. T h i s i m p r e s s i v e d i s p l a y w a s s o m e w h a t m a r r e d d u r i n g the m e e t i n g w h i c h f o l l o w e d , b y a d i s p u t e in f u l l p u b l i c v i e w b e t w e e n r e p r e s e n t a t i v e s o f P e k i n g U n i v e r s i t y a n d N o r m a l U n i v e r s i t y as to w h o s h o u l d be c h a i r m a n . M u t u a l a b u s e a l m o s t l e d to f i s t i c u f f s , but c r i e s f r o m t he d i s g u s t e d c r o w d f i n a l l y 1 r e s t o r e d o r d e r on the r o s t r u m , a n d the m e e t i n g p r o c e e d e d . O n t he s a m e d a y m o r e d e l e g a t e s w e r e r e c e i v e d at the W a i c h i a o p u a n d at the r e s i d e n c e o f T u a n C h ’i - j u i , a n d t h e y d e m a n d e d n o t o n l y a p o l o g i e s , c o m p e n s a t i o n , a n d d e a t h s e n t e n c e s f o r the r e s p o n s i b l e S h a n g h a i p o l i c e o f f i c e r s , but a l s o the r e s t o r a t i o n 2 o f a l l c o n c e s s i o n s a n d the a b o l i t i o n of e x t r a t e r r i t o r i a l i t y . A s the n e w s c o n t i n u e d to s p r e a d t h r o u g h C h i n a a nd the i m p l i c a t i o n s o f w h a t h a d o c c u r r e d in S h a n g h a i b e c a m e c l e a r e r ,
L e t t e r f r o m llsii K u a n g - p ' i n to L u Hsiin, bu U s ü n C h 1 iia n - c h i , v . 9, p *69.
2
so did the Chinese reaction grow in momentum, slowly enough for the first few days, as the news sank in, but then with increasing rapidity, enabling K ot e n e v to write that fol l o w i n g the second demonstration in Peking, 'three days later the
whole country was in f l a m e s'.3 D u r i n g the month of J une there can have been few towns of any size whi c h did not respond in some way. Incidents are recorded for at least 38 towns and cities, from H arbin to Hongkong, from Ningpo to Chungking, and m Honan, Hun a n and K u a n g t un g peasants also entered what was no longer referred to as the Ma y 30 incident, but the M ay 30
h M o v e m e n t .
In not a tew instances, what in other circumstances may have remained local and isolated disputes, took on a far more general character and were swept into the rising anti-
l m p e n a l i s t tide. T hus in Ningpo an argument b e t w e e n the
Chinese servant of a J a panese assistant at the M a r i t im e customs house, and a rickshaw coolie, resulted in a riot, complete
with anti-imperialist slogans, in w hi c h the junior Customs
Ibid., p .135.
4
The figure of 38 towns comes from collating the place names m e n ^ i o n e d ^ m T e n g Chung-hsia, o p . c i t ., p p . 190-2; W u- s a T ' u ns — shih, published by the P eking Ch' en Pao in late 1925, p p ^ o - f - ? i USiaaC dl tl0nal places m e n t ioned in connection with M ay 30 i n ’
the g o r t h China Herald, Shen Pao and Shih P a o . W hi l e no claims are made for its completeness, the list is as follows: Amoy, Anking, Changsha, Chengchow, Chungking, Chinkiang, Canton,
Chuohs]encheng, Chefoo, Chengtu, Changhsintien, Dairen, Foochow, lengyucm, Hankow, Hangchow, Harbin, Hsiangyang, Hongkong,
Kiukiang, Kaifeng, Mukden, Nanking, Nanchang, Ningpo, Peking, Swatow, Soochow, Sungkiang, Shanghai, Tientsin, Tangshan, _aiy u a n Tuolun, Wuchang, Wuchow, Yangchow, Yiian-te; Wu-sa _L.u.n g ghih also mentions events as h av i n g occurred inl'he
H o u s e m e s s was burnt down, as was the h o u s e of a s e n i o r B r i t i s h a s s i s t a n t . L o cal p o l i c e and s o l d i e r s were p r e s e n t but d i d no t intervene, and the local B r i t o n s felt o b l i g e d