You're tuned to 660 now for more drama in the NBC series, The Pacific Story. Thirty minutes from now, you'll hear the midnight news summary brought to you each evening at 12 from the NBC newsroom in New York. W-E-A-F, NBC in New York. The National Broadcasting Company and its affiliated stations present The Pacific Story. This is the story of the Pacific, the drama of the millions of people who live around this greater sea, where the United States is now committed to a long-term policy of keeping the peace. This is the background story of the events in the Pacific, and their meaning to us and to the generations to come. Hanoi, perfume and gunpowder. Hanoi, in northern French Indochina, with its foresey of high fongs, and with one of the most fantastic railroads in the world, presents a difficult knot in the tangled skein of affairs in the Pacific. The French, the Chinese and the native Anomites all have an active interest in this side door to the Pacific, and that means conflict. We Chinese have no territorial ambition in French Indochina, but in our war with Japan it was sharply demonstrated that we must exercise some control over the Yunnan-Pu Railroad to Hanoi and the foresey of high fongs. For over half a century, France has governed French Indochina. We point with pride to the culture and institutions we have fostered there. Also, we have investments and interests in Indochina which must be maintained. We, native Anomites, are grateful to the French, and we admire the Chinese, but we would like independence to live and govern ourselves in our own way. We British naturally favor the French point of view. The French have done a splendid job of administration in French Indochina. But the French closed the Yunnan-Pu Railroad to China at the most critical time. You Chinese must get out of French Indochina. Britain will back up the French. Then we shall keep Chinese troops in Tanki and Anam to ensure our interests there. You are encroaching upon our rights. They are our rights. There are many sides to the picture. There is the Chinese side, as taught in Chinese schools. It is known that in the third century B.C., we Chinese spread into Indochina. The new land was called Anam, or Pacific South. The Chinese ruled the Anomites from 213 B.C. until 391 A.D., a period of more than 1,000 years. The Anomites completely adopted our Chinese civilization and culture. Their religion, their governmental structure, their art, and their culture are all of Chinese origin. Much of this Chinese civilization is retained by the Anomites right up to the present day. And in French circles? French missionaries had established themselves in Indochina as early as the 18th century. But it was not until late in the 19th century, during the reign of Napoleon III, that we sent our admirals on expeditions to conquer Hanoi and the region of the Red River. Jacques, did you say conquer? Oui. But we used weapons. There was much fighting. Men were killed, including our admirals. But Jacques, we did not set out to conquer these Anomites and Chinese people. Well, then we set out primarily to open the Red River to commerce. Ah, that is better. So that the Anomites, as well as we, might mutually profit through the fruits of trade, eh? Oui. But there were some differences of opinion who would shake the fruit from the tree. In fact, there was quite a lot of blood spilled in the next twelve years over whether or not the Anomites wanted us to help them. You've brought us up to 1885. And finally? After a series of costly defeats, the Peking government saw the futility of obstructing the French Empire and gave up the fight. So the Abel... Gave up the fight? Jacques, they merely signed a mutually beneficial series of treaties recognizing the French protectorate over Anam and the occupation of Tonkin. By so doing, the Chinese gained a large reduction in imports across the Tocque-en-Bordeaux. And Jacques, when was the remainder of French Indochina consolidated under the French flag? In 1893, when we took Laos and Siam's Cambodia. Took? Jacques. Well, then we pacified those backworlds who re-drew it. Oui. That is better. And in Anomite circles you might hear something like this. The early 20th century saw a marked growth of native resistance to the French. Under a rather heavy yoke of taxes imposed upon us to support some of the fabulous French enterprises in our country, our peasants, artisans, and intellectuals became ripe for the wave of nationalism which swept over Asia with the Japanese victory over Russia in 1905. At this time, also the great influence of Sun Yat-sen left nationalistic impressions upon our people. And what about the communist influence upon us? This made itself felt about 1926 when the first group of Anomite communists was organized in Canton. Since then, the communist movement has shown a steady growth and today is an important influence in our thinking. Today there exists a three-corner dispute among the Anomites, the Chinese, and the French over northern French Indochina. We Chinese have played an important part in the development of French Indochina. We Anomites do not need you. We never did need your help. And we French did not need your 150,000 Chinese food station in Dongqing and Anam. The Chinese have been the bulwark of the economy of French Indochina. You Chinese have monopolized it, our rice, our fish. But we French have founded schools, colleges, hospitals, beautiful public edifices. And all of us strangled as Anomites to maintain them. That fantastic railroad you built, we did not need that. China meets the Yunnan-Fu Railroad and the terminal city of Hanoi and its fourth city, Haifeng. Hanoi, the city of perfume, is in many respects one of the most extraordinary communities of the world. As the capital of the province of Tongqing and the seat of the government of French Indochina and as the second most important cultural and commercial center, Hanoi exerts a keen influence in the political functions and intrigues of Southeastern Asia. Hanoi is a focal point in the present tri-sided dispute over Northern Indochina. Located 80 miles inland, Hanoi has access to the oceans of the world by the Navigable Red River. With a population of some 140,000 Anomites, Chinese, Japanese, Indians, and French, Hanoi is a cosmopolitan city. Hanoi is a city of hibiscus hedges, planting temples, pagodas, and rickshaws. Of exotic Oriental shops and bazaars, snuggled along teeming and such quaintly designated streets as the Street of Brass, the Street of Silk, the Street of Perfumes. Of copper-skinned street vendors, hawking food in portable kitchens, out-of-door barber shops and chanting flower vendors. Of oppressive warmth radiated from the blue tropical skies. And yet, with all its far-eastern atmosphere, Hanoi is unmistakably French. And, like French cities, Hanoi has its spacious, tree-shaded avenues, beautifully-tended parkways, ornate public buildings, European-type homes and villas, and sidewalk cafes replete with men and women almost as volatile and chic as their Parisian brothers and sisters. Hanoi is a city of military parade and pageantry, of perfume and gunpowder. What, another parade? Why, this is the third I've seen today. Is this some kind of a holiday or something? No, you will find that these parades take place nearly every day. Yes, but why march the soldiers so much in this hot sun? It is mostly for the benefit of our natives. You, you mean to entertain you? Do you like to watch these parades? No, no, we do not. We animites generally do not care for military pomp and ceremony. Our women do not like the soldiers. We are not the military keepers. Well, then why do you stand up? The French believe such military pageantry is good for us. We can see, they say, where the money of us taxpayers is spent, and our children are impressed with the might of France. Of the Parisian pageantry and lavishness which everywhere is exhibited in Hanoi, even the French residents of the city express differing opinions. Foolish, it is wasteful and prodigal. But my friend, it is beautiful and very mindful of home. But we are not home. We are in Hanoi. And why not try to make Hanoi as comfortable as possible and as much like home as possible? This is no place for such things. That Hanoi Opera House, for example, there was a miracle of wastefulness. Do you realize that as if it was planned, it would have seeded the entire European population of the city? Is there reason or wisdom in such an enterprise? And the Opera House is just one example. But the Opera House was never finished. Fortunately for the taxpayers. As it was, it cost a pretty penny. Yes, I think Briere, the academician, was right when he said, our lavishness here in Hanoi sums up all the French faults. Love of pleasure, artificiality, unreflecting enthusiasm, and wanton lack of foresight. But not all of the taxpayers' money has been recklessly squandered without producing useful results. The French have also accomplished much good for us. There is the University of Hanoi founded in 1907. Up to that time, we Anomites found it far too expensive to send our children to school in France. And so we were obliged to send them to Japan or to the University of Hong Kong. We are very proud of the University School of Medicine, for many of its graduates have won considerable recognition. And from the University of Hanoi branched other public benefits. Asylums for the insane and for lepers. Our difficult health and sanitation problem have been dealt with adequately. And the French have given us higher cultural values and living standards. Another noteworthy phase of French administration, especially to all democracy-loving people, is found in the fact that the French have governed the natives of French Indochina probably with less high-handedness than any other imperial-minded people has ruled its subjects. I say, I notice a curious thing about your French attitude in public places towards natives. Yes? I mean, you don't seem to draw any color line, do you? Uh, color line? Every shade of racial color is gathered right here in this cafe. Mongols, Ponganese, Anomites, half-castes, quarter-castes. I must say, you treat the natives as if they were your equals. We treat them all democratically. And, uh, do you find that a good idea? A very good idea, monsieur. We are, after all, visitors to these people's country. If we accept one's hospitality, why not accept him as an equal? But nowhere else in all the East is such a thing practiced. Oui, monsieur, I know. Yes, our French clubs and French drawing rooms are open to all shades and mixtures of human beings. By Jove! Just look at that! What, monsieur? A pure-blooded French woman accompanied by a dark-skinned native. Ah, but what is wrong? Is it any more scandalous than a fair-skinned Norwegian woman being accompanied by a swalded Spaniard to the theater in Madrid? No one seems to know why Indochina should be the only place in Asia where such color equality should exist, or whether it has developed there as a result of government policy or because the French people have no racial prejudices. The Unanfu Railroad Of great importance in the picture is the Unanfu Railroad. For more than one reason, this railway is one of the most fantastic projects ever conceived and built by man. It is also a powerful motivating influence in the present Chinese occupation of northern Indochina. Its building was a great undertaking. The vitality, the wealth of any nation or region, whether it be in Europe, in North America or in Asia, depends upon one thing, gentlemen, transportation. We must build railroads in France and in China. I beg to differ with you, monsieur le maire. It is quite preposterous to think that railways, merely by their passage through a country, will create wealth. Railways are useful only as instruments of wealth. They are the means, not the creator of wealth. Never in my life before have I heard such foolishness. Wait, everybody knows that to be wealthy, a country must have adequate transportation facilities. But there already is adequate transportation facilities in French Indochina, the waterways and roads. It is true there are waterways and roads in existence in French Indochina, but modern railways are also needed. But for what? There is practically nothing in French Indochina to be transported. There is no economic need for a railway system. The natives raise and produce barely enough for themselves locally to consume. They have nothing to exchange, nothing to transport. Ah, but the railways will encourage trade. Ladies and gentlemen, there are other urgent reasons for building railways in French Indochina. We must beat the British with a railway into southern China. In order to link French Indochina with China, and to beat the British with their proposed railway into China, preparations for this unanimous railroad were rushed through. It is really very simple. I just have to draw a line on this map with my pencil, thus, and we shall have our realign. Oh, it is ridiculous to think that you can build a railroad so easily with a pencil line across a map. How else? The course and direction must be plotted. But not with a pencil. Do you know anything of the terrain where you have drawn that line? Have you ever been there? No, but I have built many railroads. In France, yes, but French Indochina is different. Here you shall find mountains to toss down boulders, torrents gorgeous to slide, torrential rains to wash away road beds, rampaging rivers to wash out bridges, malaria to kill and cripple your labors, and... Ah, those rivers and mountains you speak of, let us not cross them until we come to them. One section of the fantastic Yunnanfu Railroad was planned simply by tracing with a pencil a line across a map. This, only one example of faulty planning, was the cause of unheard of difficulties encountered in the Namti Valley, which became celebrated as the mistake of 500 meters. The constant fight against nature wasn't the only problem that descended upon the ambitious but brash engineers. Men, men, we must have men to labor if this railroad is ever to be finished. Sixty more stricken with malaria this morning, eh? And the lack of facilities we have to care for them is appalling. It's inhuman. They knew the risks they were taking when they came to work for us. But that is not the point. Soon we'll have no men to work at all. There are so few people even living in this sparsely settled region. Then we just have to import more coulis from China. But the cost is prohibitive. And wait till it's learned by our headquarters that we cannot carry on with the already fabulous budget voted for us this year. For financial reasons too, the Yunnanfu Railroad several times by a hair's breadth escaped doom. A legend grew up that the railway had cost the lives of 100,000 Annamites and Chinese coulis, though facts prove that this figure was considerably exaggerated since the total number of coulis ever hired was about 80,000. Probably a third of these died, a terrific mortality even without the exaggeration. Finally, on April 1st, 1910, the first locomotive reached Yunnan from Hanoi. Well, Jean, we have succeeded. Our railroad is now a living, breathing thing, stretching all the way from Hanoi in the Pacific into Yunnan in southern China. But for what good purpose? There never will be enough brakes to justify what we've put into it. The rails practically duplicate already existent waterways and roads, and the oxy will be frightfully high. Ah, but it is an engineering feat we can well be proud of. The Yunnanfu Railroad is one of the world's boldest engineering achievements. Along its 600 miles of tracks were constructed 3,000 bridges and tunnels. Its most spectacular segment is at the Pei-Hol Gorge in Yunnan, over which a 200-foot steel span swings between sheer cliffs. Where this bridge meets almost perpendicular walls 300 feet above the river, two tunnels have been carved out of solid rock. The Yunnanfu Railroad was to become the bone of contention between the French and the Chinese. In November 1939, newscasters had something to say about this. The second stage of Japan's offensive in China, the attack on unoccupied China's links with the outside world, now seems to have been virtually completed. Today, the Imperial Japanese armies capture the ports of Yamchao and Nanning. And this, General Isomow, well, of course, nobody understands better than you what this means to China. Yes, it means that the enemy now have all of China's important seaports. We have only two lifelines left to the outside world. The Bomber Road and the Yunnanfu Railroad. We must use every means possible to keep supplies coming in over both. But surely now the Japanese will make an attempt to somehow shut off these lifelines too. The Yunnanfu Railroad, after all, is French. France is new too. But on December 30th, that same year of 1939... The Japanese bombers today made the first direct attack on the vital Yunnanfu Railroad at Main-C. The first custom station within the Chinese border. The government of France hereby lodges a protest with the Imperial Japanese government over the recent bombing of the Yunnanfu Railroad. The French government protests against the bombing of the Yunnanfu Railroad by the Japanese bombers. We demand an explanation from the Japanese government. The Japanese have been attacked by the Japanese. The Japanese have been attacked by the Japanese. The Japanese have been attacked by the Japanese. The Japanese have been attacked by the Japanese. General Governor Kattru, the Japanese Imperial government very much regrets the bombing of the Yunnanfu Railroad. Did I remind you that this railroad is the property of the French government? Unfortunately, the Yunnanfu Railway is also an important military target. That makes no difference. France still objects to... Furthermore, Your Excellency, I am instructed to inform you that unless the French government, it says, cooperates with the Japanese government and ceases to transport over the Yunnanfu Railroad certain commodities, we shall be constrained to bomb the railroad out of existing. And what are these certain commodities? Oh, such commodities as gasoline, as trucks, Your Excellency. Without much of an explanation to the Chinese or to anyone else, the French government shortly afterwards did accede to these Jap demands. Soon the list of contraband commodities was extended to include many more items objectionable to the Japanese, until on June 25, 1940... It was reported today that Governor General Kattru informed Japanese officials that the transportation of all goods to China over the Yunnanfu Railroad has been stopped, pending Japan's agreement on the itemized schedule. This means that only such commodities and items which Japanese inspectors shall find, not objectionable, shall be transported over the railroad into China. And of course, General Essamu, that means that by their action in acceding to the Japanese demands, they have in fact closed the Yunnanfu Railroad to China. And that is only part of it. At present there awaits shipments over the railroad some 150,000 tons of Chinese supplies and 2,200 motor trucks. All of this may be considered captured by the enemy. Thus, by bitter object lesson, the vital importance to China of the Yunnanfu Railroad was sharply demonstrated during the war. But even in peacetime, the importance of this railroad is not to be minimized. Our southwestern provinces of Yunnan and Guangxi have easier access to the sea by way of the Yunnanfu Railroad than they have through Chinese territory. It would be definitely to our advantage to have an assurance that the Yunnanfu Railroad and the port of Haifeng will be kept open to us in wartime as well as in peacetime. With the end of hostilities in the war and with the British occupation of Saigon and southern Indochina, Chinese nationalist troops, 150,000 strong, under the command of General Lu Han, recently appointed governor of Yunnan, has lost no time in occupying northern Indochina, Tangjin, and Enam. As commander of Chinese national forces in French Indochina, let me state most emphatically that the Chinese has no territorial ambition in this country. We are here for only one purpose, to aid the Indo-Chinese and the French in disarming the enemy. Meanwhile, General Alessandre, commander of French forces in northern Indochina, en route to participate in the Japanese surrender ceremonies, was detained for several days by the Chinese at Hanoi. I demand an explanation and an apology for such an insult to the dignity of France. We very much regret this indignity. It was an unfortunate mistake. Is it also an unfortunate mistake that the Chinese have omitted to honor the flag of France by not posting it at the surrender ceremonies? In the name of France, I refuse to participate in the ceremonies. We, Anamites, too, do not rest easy over this Chinese occupation of Tangjin and Enam. In the past, we have had good reason to be suspicious and fearful of Chinese intentions. However, our feelings toward the French are not much more cordial than they are toward the Chinese. We do not need nor want French domination in any form over our country. To prove that these are no mere Anamite words, last October 2nd, a red flag with blue and white horizontal stripes in one corner was hoisted over a French mansion in Hanoi's suburbs. With this emblem, we Anamites proclaim the new political party representing a union of revolutionary parties of the Vietnam independence movement for Indochina. The Vietnam political party, however, is only one of several Anamite parties resolved to give Indochina political independence. Another with definite communistic tendencies is the Viet Minh, headed by Ho Chin Minh. But even these native political parties, though united in their one biggest common desire, so far have not agreed on any united course of action. They hurl charges and counter-charges at each other. And so, while formal hostilities with the common Japanese enemy have ceased, all issues of the peace are not settled. French Indochina remains pretty much the unhappy subject of a three-corner dispute between the French, the Chinese, and the Anamites, who indicate a strong desire to be left alone without foreign interference. Further complicating the picture are the British forces in southern Indochina. Since the Japanese surrender, the atmosphere in Indochina has been charged with a tension which on frequent occasions has broken out in fighting, with all three or four factions, including the British, participating. Not until last February 28th was the first encouraging note sounded toward at least a partially peaceful and satisfactory adjustment of the situation. Today it was reported that China has agreed to evacuate by March 31st from the provinces of Tongjin and Annam in northern French Indochina, its army of occupation of 150,000 men under the command of General Luhan. In return, the French have agreed to give up their pre-war concession in Shanghai. And so the Chinese firecracker in northern Indochina, the fuse of which has been sputtering for six months, may not explode. But the French and the Anamites still have their differences to iron out, and the end of the conflict in Indochina is not yet. You have been listening to the Pacific Story presented by the National Broadcasting Company and its affiliated independent stations to clarify events in the Pacific and to make understandable the cross currents of life in the Pacific basin. For a reprint of this Pacific Story program, send ten cents in stamps or coin to University of California Press, Berkeley, California.
