ABSTRACT
The Republican era presented numerous challenges to the security of the CMCS but 1930 onwards marked a gradual deterioration of its position in China. Challenges to the Service during this time were twofold: that of internal dissension as Jiang Jieshi struggled to maintain dominance against disaffected warlord and communist forces, and that of Japanese aggression in the north-east. These internal and external forces afflicted the Service in the form of the Tianjin Customs takeover in June 1930, the demands against the Guangzhou Customs by Southern insurgents in 1931 and finally in the takeovers of north-eastern Customs houses by the Japanese in 1932. The Customs faced the possibility that these dangerous precedents would ultimately destroy its administration. During these challenges to the Service, Maze continually drew on the assertion that the Customs needed to stay out of politics to ensure its survival. In seeking to keep the Service separate from the stresses that were buffeting the Nanjing Government, Maze believed he was returning to the vision of his uncle, Hart. Furthermore he believed that Hart was the only Inspector General (IG) who had possessed ‘real power’ but he wisely had not paraded it.1 Such comments reveal that Maze may have been not only seeking to emulate his uncle’s leadership ideals but, in doing so, hoped to attain a measure of his legendary influence in operating behind the scenes. The case studies of this chapter, however, reveal that Maze’s vision was unrealistic and that his position as IG was not as influential as he may have wished.
