Superbly in One Breath

The Chronicle, Peiping's only English-language newspaper, was set by Chinese typesetters who knew no English, and written by Chinese editors who knew only a unique brand. The result was a four-page daily that contained little news but considerable delight for the old capital's foreign residents.

When two skaters fell through the ice on a Peiping lake, the Chronicle crisply reported: "They eyed ice angrily for some time before leaving in disgruntle." When a U.S. pilot dropped supplies to besieged Taiyuan and returned to Peiping, without encountering either Chinese Communist planes or ack-ack, the Chronicle reported his disappointment with crystal clarity (" 'Damn it! No striking occurance,' high-spirited Captain Bowes said, adding: 'We have not even met any slight hit of red fire on the wing' "). After the Chinese government decorated Columnist Frank Farrell for wartime services as a U.S. Marine Corps officer, the Chronicle explained that "Captain Farrell is now a World-Telegram Communist." And a London dispatch was headlined: PRINCESS ELIZABETH TO BECOME MOTHER OF HER OWN CHILD.

It was the Chronicle's social notes that attracted the most attention, with such items as, "Mr. A. T. Steele, well-known correspondent of New York Herald Tribune, decides to make a home in this lovely city to enjoy warmth with Mrs. Steele." At a recent birthday party, the hostess, "wearing Mongolian headgear glistening with colourful gems performed the blowing of 32 candles on the birthday cake superbly in one breath which received great applause and the singing of Happy Birthday"

After the fall of Mukden, most foreigners were evacuated from Peiping, and the Chronicle's circulation (once 8,000) shrank to a few hundred. Last week, with Peiping surrounded by the Communists, the Chronicle reluctantly shut up shop in disgruntle.

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