ABSTRACT
Peiping retains its traditional serenity, beauty, and charm. One can find a rare combination of intellectual and aesthetic satisfactions. Peiping is in many respects an anxious city. Small military engagements take place within a few miles of the city wall. There is constant fear of Communist infiltration on the part of the authorities, and, periodically, local citizens are stopped in the streets and searched for hidden arms. The critical state of military affairs has increased the importance of Peiping as the government’s headquarters in north China. The director of the Peiping Kuomintang organization is a man named Wu Chu-jen, who was formerly a member of the Central Executive Committee of the Party. Two factors make Peiping’s economic position today particularly precarious. One is the city’s isolation, its island characteristics; there is very little hinterland from which it can draw food and other supplies. The other is the fact that Peiping itself produces very few basic necessities.
