Office of the Historian

893.00/10198

The Minister in China (MacMurray) to the Secretary of State

Peking, July 18, 1928.
[Received September 4.]
No. 1581

Sir: I have the honor to enclose copy of Decanat Circular No. 142, of July 13, 1928, describing a call made by the Dean upon Mr. Y. L. Tong, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, for the purpose of calling attention to and protesting against the large number of anti-foreign [Page 248] posters which have recently been put up all over the city of Peking.82 I also enclose copies in translation of a number of the propaganda posters and handbills including some of an anti-foreign character.82

Attention is invited to the fifth translation enclosed which is that of the Shakee poster that Mr. Huangson Young (Yang), Mr. Tong’s secretary, characterized as one of the best his party had produced and which he stated had done excellent service at Nanking. It will be noted that this poster—entitled “The Shakee Blood Stains”—conveys but one message, that of hatred for the British and French, and that as a means towards this end the facts of the Shameen incident83 are grossly misstated.

There are probably three factors which have given rise to the sudden flooding of Peking with propaganda literature. First, the large number of men to whom the continuation of the Kuomintang propaganda work represents a means of livelihood and who, together with their friends, are urging its necessity; second, the apathy of the Chinese population in the north to the benefits of coming under Kuomintang rule and the entire absence of any enthusiasm, which has so disappointed the Kuomintang leaders that they have determined to stir up an artificial interest by propaganda; and third, the desire on the part of certain groups, which are mutually striving for advantage, to bring themselves more prominently to public attention.

In general the propaganda as it is being conducted in Peking, though in the main rather meaningless and even puerile, is calculated to stir up a certain amount of anti-foreign feeling.

I have [etc.]

J. V. A. MacMurray
  1. Not printed.↩
  2. Not printed.↩
  3. See Foreign Relations, 1925, vol. i, p. 749.↩