SHANGHAI LEADERS FAVOR IMPORT OF FOOD FOR RELIEF; CITIES ORGANIZE RELIEF COMMITTEES

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00809A000600310453-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 12, 2011
• Sequence Number: 453
• Publication Date: May 23, 1950
• Content Type: REPORT

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/08/17: CIA-RDP80-00809A000600310453-4
~_ CIASSI~ICATION ' cONFIDElr'PIAL CONFIDENTIA
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY REPORT
INFORMATION FROM
FOREIGN DOCUMENTS OR RADIO BROADCASTS CD N0.
COUNTRY China
SUBJECT Sociological - Famine
HOW
PUBLISHED Daily newspapers
WHERE
PUBLISHED Hong ICon~~; Canton; Shanghai; New York
DATE
PUBLISHED 11 rhsr - 22 Apr 1950
LANGUAGE Chinese
OTIlTN CC ON[IT LO lTRT 7! WITMIIM A7NLM MIAMI NIf fO[ Ltlf OMAf [OACT MfO
0, S. C.. ]1 ANO ll. A! AMCNOCD. IT6 TNAMfYI!lIOM OM TNl N/YLU7I0N
NlfIi EOC fT TLAW~' LIfRODUCTION OL TNI6 fONY/! ! OM ~NIILD. If !LO
SOURCE Newspapers as indicated.
DATE OF .,
INFORMATION 1950
DATE DIST. ~,$ May 1950
N0. OF PAGES 4
SUPPLEMENT TO
REPORT N0.
THIS IS UNEVALUATED INFORMATION
SHANGHAI LEADERS FAVOR IklPORT OF FOOD FOR RELIEF;
CITIES ORGANIZE RELIEF COMMITTEES
STATE NAW
ARMY. ~ AIR, ,
~~
CONFiDEi~TIAE
CU~SSIFICATION CONFIDFnm'raT. _ .._;
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Fi,MINE SERIGUS IN NORTH ANRWEI -- Hong Kong Hsin-sheng Wan-pao, 31 Mar 50
Shanghai, 20 March -- The famine in various provinces of North and East
Ckiina is getting extremely serious and is spreading into Cen~roae~nodCeothe
China. As a countermeasure, the CCP authorities are trying
austerity and relief program.
Many leading figures in Shanghai are of the opinion that the austerity
and relief program is insufficient to help the starving millions in China,
because it takes rice from one bowl to fill the other. The best method, they
say, is to import food from foreign countries. But i~uport of food from for-
eign countries is difficult at present because of the KMT blockade. Even if
toeobtain food nrom abroadebecauseothe communistsahaveonotforeignaexhhangeeB
The Shanghai authorities are well aware of the seriousness of the fam-
ine in East C}rina, especially in the northern Kiangsu and northern Anhwei
areas. According to a repor49orom6tmou Done m uwe4~1~1/6lacre7rofearable
Unit of Shanghai, of the 52, ,59 ~
land in more than 20 hsiens, some 28 million mou are not being cultivated and
the number of people facing starvation has already reachea 8 million. One
month ago, 4,440,000 calamity-stricken peop00e000re Unlessgspeedy reliefyise
lief. Now the number has increased to 7,5 ,
forthcoming, those people will surely starve to death..
Tt is reported that the most seriously affected sectors inanuddseverglien
in Anhwei, Yung-ch'eng Hsien in Honan, Hsiao gsien in Kiangsu,
other sectors in the Huai-hai Battle region. The Pierce and brutal battle
fought in this region turned it into utter ruino and wasteland. Incomplete
~ia~~a show that in the above-mentioned areas ~~ 1'ersonslkilledrorewounded,
pletely destroyed, 73,919 houses destroyed, , 7 P
alld 34,156 houses partially destroyed. It is also reported that there were
^00,000 calamity-stricken people and 12,002 head of dead animals. Last yesx,
there were still 742 locations where dikes were breached on the Yangtze River
and four on the Haui Ho.
 ~tQ~~~~~~~~~~.
CONFIDENTIAL
The number of calamity-stricken people mounoftfarm landeinitheesnmmeroof
4,800,000 when a flood inundated 13,420,527
~9a9. Before the flood damage was completely raPniindthehautumnrofhtheesame
were blocked off in northern Huai-hai area. Ag
year, the Shao Ho, Wo Ho,ecie $District.~ RIn theCSu Hs1en~SpecialiDistrict,
flowed in the Cho-yang SP
the heavy continuous rain brought three floods to the Sui Ho, Tang Ho, K'ue
Ho, Ch'u Ho, and Sung Ho, covering the local flatland by more than 3 feet of
water. The late autumn crops were com~heatland barley fields ore, the heavy
winter snow melted and destroyed many
The people in the famine areas have no food at all according khoseefoodth
Anhwei Production for Relief Unit. Except for a Pew rich people,
stocks include only rice, sugar, and bran, all othersarebsatisfying theirehun-
tables and grass until they were depleted. Now they
ger by eating "Goddess of Mercy" clay. -
In the last 2 or 3 months, many people in the famine areas have died from
suchinfectious iiseases as relapsing fever, meningitis, smallpox, measles, diph-
theria, and kalaazar. According to a source in Shanghai, the number of deaths
in a one-month period recently totaled one million in the northern Anhwei area.
Another cause for the deaths of so many people is that neither the central nor
local governments have the means or the plans to deliver Pood effectively to
the starving millions.
The CCP authorities think that production should be carriTd should bemfeds
of combating f~emeparticipateginitheaproduction programe hung y
before making
At present, it seems that no one knows how to help the starving aTP wing
people. Famine conditions seem to become worse each day in East China and North
China, and especially in the northern Anhwei area.
CENTRAL RELIEF COMMITTEE MEETS -- Canton Nan-fang Jih-pao, 13 Mar 50
Peiping, 11 March (Hsin-hua) -- The second meeting of the Central Relief
Committee was held in Peiping today. The meeting was attended by representa-
tives from the Central People's government, All-China Federation of Labor, All-
China Democratic Youth League, All-China Democratic Women's Federation, and the
Relief Headquarters for the Liberated Areas.
It was decided to organizantwandepnhwei malamitY areas inspection of Shan-
tung, northern Kiangsu, Pingyu ~
SHANGHAI ORGANIZES RELIEF COMMITTEE -- Shanghai Wen-hui Pao, 15 APr 50
The Shanghai Austerity-Relief Movement Committe461aswasr pPointedatheshed
on 14 April. Chen-Ssu-sheng (Ue~321,1480~'was8elected)the general manager of
chairman and Li Wen-chieh (4735,
the committee.
AIDS BOMBING VICTIMS -- Canton Nan-fang Jih-pao, 12 Mar 50
Shanghai, 9 March (Hsin-hua) -- The Shanghai Military Control Commission
has established the Shbombingsrinuthe cityT RYen Hui~c~hiin6e(Uedaelp1338o eo-
ple affected by enemy
3366, 3474) was appointed the chairman of the committee.
CONFIDENTIAL
CQ~~I~~'~~'~AC
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CONFi'~~~1T1~~
CANTON SETS UP RELIEF' UNIT -- New York Hua-ch'iao Jih-pao, 22 Apr 50
Canton -- On 4 April 1950, the Kwangtung Province Relief Committee was
established in Canton. The committee will be placed in chargwasfap ointed f
work in the province. Ku Ta-ts'un (Ueda: 1142, 1946, 2268)
to head the committee.
FAMINE IN KWANGTUNG -- Hong Kong Kung-shang Jih-pao, 11 Mar 50
Te-Ch'ing -- The people in Te-Ch'ing Hsien of western Kwangtung Prov-
ince are suffering from famine. In this mountainous arettingefood until
mostly sandy and infertile, thraenil.efttbecauseoof thegforced borrowing by
spring. The populace has no g- while others are sustaining
the CCP. Some are eating one or two meals a day
themselves by eating distiller's grains and grass roots.
HELPS FAMINE VICTIMS -- Shanghai Wen-hui Pao, 15 Apr 50
Wu-hsi -- At the fourth meeting of the Consul~awasedeci~dedtto establish
Wu-hsi all-circles conference, held on 12 April,
the Wu-hsalRnl~eofge~lreliefigrain~fortthe calamity-strickenlpeopleuin Southern
wide camp g lowing.
Kiangsu to tide them over the spring famine so they can begin spring p
SENDS GRAIN TO HELP STARVING POPULACE -- Wu-hsi Su-nan Jih-pao, 15 Apr 50
Chen-Chiang -- To help the famine-so~r~$eeHsin-paeareatin Yangcchung Hsien,
in Tan-t'u Hsien and T ai-p ing-hsiang to 250,000 cattier,
all in Kiangsu Province, anothChianganing,iLien shuitiTan-t'u, Tan-yang, Chu-
wi11 be sent from Yang-Chung, Deaths from starvation are increasing
,Jung hsiens and from Chen-chiare existing by eating "Goddess of Mercy" clay.
in the affected areas. Many
SU-CHOU ESTABLISHES REFUGEE REPATRIATION UNIT -- Shanghai Hsin-wen Jih-pao,
15 Apr 50
Su-chou -- To carry out a plan to send refugees and unemployed home to
pursue produc" on, the Su-chou municipal government established the Dispersion
Working Committee recently.
Since the start of the dispersion work on 1 March, some 1,116 refugees
have been sent home to their respective provinces.
DISSOLVES REFUGEE RF;PATRIAT.ION UNIT -- Shanghai Wen-hui Pao, 15 Apr 50
On 14 April, tli~ Shanghai committee on Repatriation of Refugees to Pursue
production for Relief was dissolved. Some 23,000 displaced persons, refugees
from famine areana Madcht1950 were sent to their respective domiciles between
September 194)
CHRISTIANS NEGOTIATING RELIEF -- Hong Kong Kung-shang Jih-pao, 22 Mar 5G
According to the Chung-kuo She dispatch, some 20 Christian representa-
tives in Hong Kang held a meeting on 28 March to discuss means to help the
calamity-stri~khenNorthlpmerican YMCA~eItewasdecidedrtoiwire the Nat onall~
representing
60~~ID~`rd r 9~~
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 Christian Council of Shanghai requesting information on actual conditions in
famine areas. After the receipt of an answer from Shanghai, the group will
meet again to discuss the relief methods to be used and the promotion of a
fund-raising and food-distribution campaign.
SENDS ANOTHER LETTER TO PEIPING GOVERNMENT -- Hong Kong Hsin-sheng Wan-pao,
30 Mar 50
Hong Kong, 29 March -- Recently a federation of 25 Chinese and foreign
charity agencies in Hong Kong sent a letter to the Central People's govern-
ment in Peiping to ask the best means to help 15 million calamity-stricken
people in North and Central China. The letter was sent in the name of Rev-
erend Ronald Hall, a bishop of Hong Kong, and addressed to Tung Pi-wu, deputy
chairman of the People's government.
Another letter was forwarded to the Board of Directors of the National
Christian Council of Shanghai to ask for reports on actual conditions in fam-
ine areas and to urge the People's government to accept the help of foreign
countries in assisting the calamity-stricken people of China.
~~E~~~~~~~T~A~
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