20th February 1932
Letter : Herbert Davy (
c/- National City Bank of
Dear
Rustom,
The
last 20 days have been full of tension, Uni. strikes, rumours and alarms. The
Japs started their attack in Shanghai on 28th Jan., bombarded Nanking on Feb.
1st, as they were aiming at a hill just behind my hotel, we had to evacuate to
a house 6 miles away in the city. For 10 days we awaited a general
bombardement, then riots, nothing happened probably because the whole Jap plans
were held up by the staunch resistance of the 19th
I
am waiting here for further orders from
I
think it would be wiser to leave
Refugees,
thousands of unemployed, communists and the possibility of an anti-foreign
outbreak all lie ahead. There are many troops in the place. Jap boats could
very easily blockade the harbour. The war is likely to be very stubborn between
the two oriental nations.
University
work is over for some time, no students they fled when the bombardement started
of 8 shells, no money, teachers have not been paid for 4 months. 3 or 4 months
I should say. I offered my services for hospital work in
When
the order comes to evacuate what do you advise ? Go to India for duration, to New Hampshire ( Hancock ), or
to England, if the order comes too late I could try and retire to an alive
monastery ( Bhuddhist ) I am in touch now with a real practising Chinese
Bhuddhist, through him I can get in touch with the few monasteries that are
really active in Eastern China, near the Yangste. The language difficulty has
to be faced.
Meanwhile,
there is nothing to be done but to sit and wait in this none too pleasant town;
I would like to travel but it seems unwise because of the expense and the Japs
will soon begin to act very desperately, and it is better to be in reach of the
sea and of the cables ( please note the above cable address for Shanghai ). As
you suggested I have written some articles on the current situation and
forwarded them to a friend of mine to dispose of if he can ( J.B. B. ); but the post takes so long and I do not
know if they will be of any use. I am writing another now.
Your
letters have not reached me of late so I have no instructions. I sent cables on
the 13th Jan.
re
G.C.; "( 29 re evacuating to
Note : I hard to know if there were any more
pages to this letter. There was only one
page scanned and shown on the Trust’s Archive webpage.
Re-typed
by Anthony Zois