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 greatest sea, where the United States is now committed to a long-term policy of keeping the peace. This is a documentary account of the situation in the Pacific, of the men and events which are today influencing world affairs for generations to come. Sing Chiang, powder keg of Asia. There's enough dynamite in Sing Chiang to start another world war. To put it another way, Mr. Wilkie, Sing Chiang here is the center of a political volcano which may blow up the top of the world. But even Wendell Wilkie did not realize how close the explosion was. The preview of what is in the wind seemed like a tornado. Hard-riding tribesmen of Central Asia are sweeping across the Turkestan border region in northwest Sing Chiang in open rebellion against the Chinese. After ten years under the regime of Governor Sheng Shi Tsai, the Muslim Uighurs and the Kazakhs are laying siege to the border town of Inning, sometimes called Kulga. The tribesmen are armed with modern weapons and led by mysterious and competent leaders. Extent of the losses has not yet been determined, but it is expected that they will not... Drive the insurgents out! Kill them! Put down the Chinese pirates! Water them! In the capital city of Tiwa, 350 miles east of the besieged town of Inning, the tension was high. It is an outrage! You Chinese did not think it an outrage to suppress us under Governor Sheng for ten years! You say that because you are our Kazakhs! It is true! You Kazakhs and Uighurs have all of us resented us Chinese. Why should we bend our necks to you Chinese? Sing Chiang is not Chinese. Sing Chiang is Chinese. Only 200,000 of our population of four and a half million are Chinese. We made Tiwa here a modern city. You imposed Governor Sheng on us for ten years! Ask Talobar here! That is right. You Kazakhs and Uighurs said yourself that you liked Governor Sheng. When he stood for cultural autonomy for us? Yes. But when he sold us out to the Guomindang and tried to make Chinese of us, ignored our racial difference from you Chinese, arrested and imprisoned and killed us by the tens of thousands, then we no longer liked him. After all, 95% of us are Mohammedans. We removed Sheng from the governorship, did we not? You removed him two months ago when you could do nothing else. And what did you do to him for his misdeeds? You did nothing. Worse than that, you tried to save his face by making him Minister of Agriculture and Forest in the Chungking cabinet. Sheng is an able man. He should be brought to trial and punished. But why do you people rebel now after Governor Sheng is gone? You have a new leader now. Yes, we have General Chang Chi-chung. But we still have the situation that Chang left. It has been only a matter of weeks. We knew what had set off the uprising in northwest Xinjiang. Three Uyghur tribesmen who had been imprisoned by the Chinese escaped. And soon the region was afire with rebellion. The Uyghurs, my people, the Kazakhs, the Tatars, the Turkeys, and even white Russians wrote together against the Chinese with hand grenades, rifles, rifles, and with a torch, discouraged the villagers. Attacking with the fury of wild men, the rebelling tribesmen have captured the town of Sui-Ding and are moving on the mountain stronghold of Erdai. The mountain stronghold of Erdai has fallen to the hard-bitten Muslim raiders and reports have reached this outpost that more than 2,000 Tungans and Kazakhs are attacking the city of Changi, only 40 kilometers north of Tiwa. In the capital city of Tiwa, the tension grew. Military guards were everywhere. They watched us Kazakhs and Uyghurs and Turkeys. What will they do to us, Tula-Bai, if Tiwa is attacked? I can only guess. If it's said the Chinese reinforcements are being grossed into Xinjiang, we can be sure that some of them will come here to defend the capital. There will be much more bloodshed before the fighting stops, Tula-Bai. The Chinese are fighting to hold the city of Changi. The Chinese are fighting to hold the city of Tiwa. Xinjiang is as precious as a jewel. Therefore, the Chinese are fighting to hold it. In this great pasture land, cut up by mountains, my people, the Kazakhs, have lived as nomads for centuries. When I was a boy, I herded the sheep and the goats in the grasslands of the high country. My mother and the other women did the chores around our youth. When we moved, we took down our youth and packed them on our animals and carried them with us to our next spot. In our wanderings, we met the other people of Xinjiang, the Kalmuks, the Kirghiz, the Turkmen. I remember the first time I saw a Chinese. You see, they are different from us, Tula-Bai. My father explained them to me. They come from the land called China, far to the east. Here in Xinjiang, most of them live in the cities like Tiwa and Yakon and Kazgar and Khotan and Aksu. As you see, Tula-Bai, they are the magistrates and the merchants. Whenever I saw Chinese, I stopped and studied them. Now, that one you see, he is a purebred Chinese. You see how different he is from me? We have Turk blood, the same blood as the people of Turkey. We are not Turks, but we are Mohammadan. When I was small, I wondered why the Chinese, who were so few in Xinjiang, were the magistrates and the merchants. I used to watch those in charge of the camel caravans. They are carrying merchandise to trade, my son. These caravans have been going over the silk roads of this country for thousands of years. As I grew up and became a hunter of the herder, I came to understand the caravans. The camels carrying up to 600 pounds of freight across the sandy waste, through the rushing streams of the mountain gorges, up through the rugged canyons and over the snow-covered passes of the Qianshan Mountains. Those goods they are carrying there, my son, they will sell in the lands far, far beyond. In the summer, we rode our horses in the grazing country of the Qianshan. And when we went to the gardens outside Kashgar and to the country of the Great Tulfan Depression, we saw them using bullocks to draw plows that were made entirely of wood. I remember standing in the Tulfan Depression country and listening to my father. Right here, where we stand, my son, there's more than 900 feet below the level of the sea. If the sea should run in here, it would flood this entire countryside. But we did not fear, for the sea is nearly 2,000 miles to the east. I thought about that a long time. The Great Pacific Ocean is 2,000 miles to the east of us. I tried to imagine what an ocean was like. I stood there at the Tulfan Depression and looked to the east. My father knew what I was thinking of. He said nothing about that, but turned me to the south. Almost 1,000 miles straight south of where we are standing here, my son, is the highest mountain in the world. They say it is more than 29,000 feet high, and hundreds of miles south of that is another sea, the Bay of Bengal. That was the first time I realized where St. Young was, where I had been born and where I had grown up. In the years since then, I have come to understand the relationship between St. Young and China. To the south of us here in India and Tibet. An old Uyghur used to answer my questions. To the north is Outer Mongolia. To the west, Russian Turkestan. I remember when I learned that St. Young is also sometimes called Chinese Turkestan. That is because of the hole China has upon St. Young, tallabye. What, St. Young is not Chinese? It was a long time before I learned to make this distinction. And a long time before I learned why St. Young is so important. I'll tell you why it is, Tullabye. This was the American who had spent so much time in St. Young. You see, St. Young is right up against Russian Turkestan. That is, against several of the Soviet republics in Russian Turkestan. That is one reason. In effect, the British in India and the Russians in Turkestan are separated only by St. Young. Therefore, both the Russians and the British are vitally interested in what happens in St. Young. The British and the Chinese, for example, would be very much concerned if the Russians had too much influence in St. Young. And of course, the other way around too. I learned the Russians had a special reason for concern. You see, the Russians have a great industrial empire in what they call the Ural-Kuznets-Karaganda region. Because this region is so well-screened from attack by the great distances of Russia, the Soviets are secure here except for one thing, St. Young. Should St. Young fall into hands unfriendly to Russia, then this entire Soviet industrial empire would be endangered. Conversely, should St. Young be lost to China, or to put it another way, fall into hands unfriendly to China, then China proper would be wide open to attack from the West. Never! Pulabuy, pulabuy! What is it? The Chinese troops are falling into the oasis south of the Tian Shan. How many? No one knows. The general at Woltshic Tau O is moving them in so fast that the rebels will have no chance in South St. Young. on in the north and the northwest but how long can our people succeed in the north if the Chinese hold us out soon they will be coming north yes we Muslims must make no fault smooth here in Shiva or we shall not live day by day reports came in of the Chinese troops moving into the oasis around the Tatumakan Desert a detachment of troops has moved into Tarsan more Chinese troops are arriving in Aksu and Kashgar strong force of Chinese has arrived at Yankee side reinforcements are coming into your camp the Chinese soldiers and great numbers are pouring into hot pants another detachment has arrived at Kutcha from the South King words which stir the Uighurs of Tiwa the government troops have requisitioned the food raised by our people in the oasis the Uighurs are supplying the Chinese troops the troops have told them there is no other way of getting supplies there are no trucks and almost no highways they come to fight us and they requisition our food to feed their troops yes my people raised this food to sell on the open market now the government takes it at its own price in Teewa we watched the Chinese were marching they were in the mountains they were moving toward the strategic centers they were approaching the mountain stronghold of our die which only recently has been taken by our people air die has been recaptured by the Chinese fighting flares in the Soviet border region 300 miles to the west the trace of Teewa echoed with a marching of the Chinese all possible forces are being mobilized you Chinese may need more troops than you think it is foolishness for you people to continue to resist yes yes the number of troops China can send into think yang is endless soon now even those civilians here will be conscripted here you two is better get off the street before this happens new battles have been reported between Chinese troops and Turkey tribesmen the outcome isn't known yet but it may be bad here for the side that loses yes the streets of Teewa cleared our blood brothers were fighting against the blood brothers of the Chinese who were in control of Teewa armed Chinese guards were everywhere we stayed on the cover word filtered in on what was happening out in the border region our people have deceived the town of Ening for nearly three months now the Chinese garrison is still holding out they cannot hold out long they are shot on supplies more than 300 miles of wasteland lay between Teewa and the fighting in the border region to move Chinese troops across this barrier with almost no road in time to save the garrison at inning was almost impossible we waited on the 87th day of feeds inning fell Teewa think yang January 30th 1945 the bloody fighting in the illy Valley in northwest think yang Chinese Turkestan culminated today in the capture of the city of inning by the Turkey tribesman with hideous cries the mounted Muslims of Central Asia rolled into the doom city set fire to many parts of the town and massacred the Chinese garrison and all the Chinese residents they could lay their hands on with this disaster the Chinese had ruled in the outpost city of inning an autonomous government was set up the Eastern Turkestan Republic this is the first step to the by yes but that is all it is our people have dislodged the Chinese from the Ely region there is no reason why we should not have slugged them from all of think yang that is another thing think yang is large and the Chinese are bringing in more and more troops there are many of us because of many Uighurs and many kyrgyz and the other minority people that think yang will help us to after all the aroma Hamadans yes why should we not be autonomous like out of Mongolia we are not saying the fighting went on it went on until general Chang Chi Chung got representatives of the three rebellious regions to come to parley with them here in Tijuana our price is independent from China I present here the 14 demands of the people of the border regions general Chang won the respect of the delegates with his sincerity and with his earnestness will you remember well the admonishments of Sun Yat-sen unfair and equal treatment for minority people it is our wish to abide by the principles laid down by Sun Yat-sen I therefore say to you that it is to your advantage to have self-government as a part of China rather than independence from China my people listen they agreed to the withdrawal of three of their demands and on January 2nd 1946 signed an agreement government shall give the people the power to elect local administrators the government shall give the people freedom of religious belief both Chinese and local languages shall be official languages the government shall give the people freedom of publication assembly and expression six months later the treaty was formally signed in Tijuana and soon after this more than 300 political prisoners my people were connected with the inning incident were released but the trouble was not settled important Chinese came to Tijuana they came to smooth over this strange relations between the national government and us Muslims there were experts people who knew about industry and about engineering if we are to develop plans for the industrialization of Xinjiang we must at least have the use of the resources of Xinjiang the petroleum of the wu hu oil fields and the minerals and the grain and flour and meat of the border region that is one of the big problem you refer to the military frontier on the Manchus River general Chang under our agreement we cannot send our troops or civil administrators west of the Manchus River that is what I mean general Chang and that is an impossible arrangement yes the Manchus River is only 70 miles west of Tijuana here and everything we need all the resources we need for the development of Xinjiang are beyond that I know certainly something can be done it is ridiculous that there is gasoline only 150 miles west of here and we are almost without it and cannot get it let me remind you that we have just had a rebellion on our hands with hundreds of thousands of Muslims against us either actually fighting us or sympathizing with those who fought us yes I know that and let me remind you further that the Muslims have a well-equipped army trained and ready in the border region around in a both cavalry and infantry I will appreciate this general Chang but if we are to solve this problem we must certainly find ways of access to the use of the resources of thinking and it is not that the Muslims do not wish to use these resources they are using them you refer to the rumors of their trade over the border of Soviet Pakistan yes and my information indicates that it is more than rumors general Chang so this almost open trading is going on across the border and not only that but I have information that some of the Soviet goods are being smuggled right into Piyah here and meantime we are languishing until proof is given these reports must be regarded as rumors yes a message has come general Chang message from home it is a petition from the Muslim petition bring it in excuse me gentlemen it is from the Muslim author mm-hmm yes thank you yes sir general Chang it is a petition all right yes look at it yes what is it about general Chang it asked the provincial assembly to try Chang Chi Chi bring him to trial yes for what they say are his wrongs against the minority people they accuse him of confiscation of their properties of wholesale imprisonment and of unwarranted cruelties do I understand that they want Shane brought back to be tried here in Tiwa apparently yes the brother me and some of the other Kazakhs and we're going to be one and that's asked about change we had lived for ten years under his rule he ruled us like a desperate the tax person took the best of all we had besides he's a Chinese and we are not Chinese but is it not true that think yang has been regarded as a part of China and has been governed by China for centuries we have always regarded you Chinese only as the ruling great yes and 95% of us here in sinking and our Mohammedan and you Chinese are not Mohammedan yes and thank was our schools and open Chinese schools to try to make us like you and he permitted many Chinese immigrants to come into think young and crowd us in our cities and oasis for some years he prohibited immigration did he not in the beginning yes but then he changed and he not only brought in many Chinese farmers but he also put many of us in prison but the worst thing is that when it's last you remove Chang you removed him with honor as the what he had done here in think yang was right it was not right it was wrong and if you Chinese are to have peace here in think yang shang must be brought to justice I should like to ask you as minority peoples a vital question it is a touchy question after we will answer to the best of our knowledge this dislike of change is more than dislike well does this resentment of shang arise out of your own experience with shang out of what he did to you or has it been artificially promoted it comes from the people he wronged what would you say what do you mean when you say artificially promoted well could someone possibly foreigners have an interest in finding this hate of shang that is not necessary shang generated enough hate against him in think yang to last a long time let me say this to you Chinese you cannot escape the consequences of failing to bring shang to justice by trying to impute our resentment to him to foreign interest as long as you take the position that shang was right you Chinese will have trouble in thinking yang he was when trading with Russia was stopped in 1943 and no more consumer goods were brought in hoarding started at once prices went sky-high and thinking yang by his very nature must have trade with no adequate industry thinking was unable to make for itself the things it needs and even with the commodities it has it was solely put to get distribution for them without adequate transportation after this the resentment of the people of thinking yang against the immigrant Chinese and their opposition to the Chinese central government and he gets some idea of the situation in thinking and there were still other complications even though some machinery for thinking yang was available in China proper it could not be brought in by air the Russians hold a commercial aviation monopoly and Chinese commercial planes are not permitted to operate with the army which is 325 miles east of the wall in this respect the Russians have a certain control of the economic development of thinking so well we see many Russian commercial planes we see no Chinese ones likewise we see many representatives of the Russian trading organizations here in Tijuana but the greatest Chinese concern is for the three in northwest regions which border Soviet Turkestan then in effect general Chang these three regions are under the dominance of the Russians they are still construed to be part of China Russia has never questioned Chinese sovereignty in these regions and we have never implied that we would relinquish them but we have no troops in these border regions we have no civil officials so in effect we have only the slightest theoretical hold on these regions which are more than 300 miles from us here everyone who has watched what has gone on in these last few years in think young knows why Russia wants a friendly provincial government to think young think young is a keystone because of its strategic location the political tremors and think yang are felt in every part of the world what happens in think yang concerns not only China but also Russia and Britain high ranges of mountains stand as barriers between the British and Russians here at this point in Central Asia which is about as far from any ocean as any spot on the world but nevertheless here at think yang the British and Russian frontiers meet the Americans have a consulate here in Tijuana Britain has a consulate here we see Russians and French and people of many other nationalities besides the Chinese and we people of these deserts and mountains of Central Asia know why they're here yes the powers will be interested in think young not only for where it is but for what it is for our minerals and for our petroleum and for all of our other resources but any nation that is to benefit by what we have or where we are must first deal with us four million five hundred thousand the shooting has stopped in think young but the problems have not been so we have roamed these mountains and valleys these deserts and these oases for thousands of years are tied not to the political ways that come and go but to this soil of Central Asia and to the Mohammedism that discloses to our hearts as my name is to lab I there is nothing more certain than what Wendell Wilkie truly said there's enough dynamite in thinking to start another world war 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 the Pacific story is written and produced by Arnold Marquis the music was scored and conducted by Henry Russell the principal voice was that of George Sorrell programs in this series of particular interest to servicemen and women are broadcast overseas through the worldwide facilities of the Armed Forces Radio Service this program came to you from Hollywood and is heard in Canada through the facilities of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation this is NBC the National Broadcasting Company
