"Life Is Difficult"

When Acting President Li Tsung-jen sent Dr. Kan Chieh-hou, his U.S.-educated (Wisconsin & Harvard) political adviser, off to Shanghai last week, Li hopefully quoted a proverb: "Absolute sincerity will open metal and stone." It was Dr. Kan's job to pick a delegation to plead with the Reds for peace.

The next day Li himself flew down to install members of the unofficial delegation. Heading the mission is 72-year-old Dr. W. W. Yen, former ambassador to Russia, who accepted the post only after his doctor declared him physically fit for his first airplane ride.

From Peiping the Reds sent a clearance for the plane to land, as well as reservations for all at the Wagons-Lits Hotel. Said Dr. Yen: "We have no authority to negotiate [but] we will tell the Communists how much the people down here want peace."

Meanwhile, the bulk of Li's tattered Nationalist regime streamed into raucous, reeking Canton, where it went through the motions of setting up shop.

Adding to the confusion early in the week was a startling announcement by Kwangtung's new governor, General Hsueh Yueh: he favored a southern coalition of provinces to continue the fight against Communism. The next day he meekly blamed the statement on "faulty translation," and sent a message to Nanking disavowing any intention of upsetting Li Tsung-jen's peace negotiations. Concluded Governor Hsueh: "I have no ideas of my own. Please do not worry."

At Premier Sun Fo's first press conference in Canton, he denied a rumored rift between himself and Li: "Technically, the capital remains in Nanking. The government is just functioning in a different place."

A notice tacked up in Canton's Oikwan Hotel summed up China's week: "Please pay tip. Life is difficult."

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