'SHENG-HSIEN-CHING' AND CHAO HENG-T'I

15 August 1923

[Text] "...Since the outbreak of the West Hunan issue, Chao's position
has become precarious and cannot but use the Sheng Hsien (Provincial Constitution) as a shield to protect himself. Several days ago, he ordered
his cohorts Pang Ko-hsiang [2643 0344 0474] and Ch'u-min [2621 3446 3046]
and others to use cash bribery to buy over civic organizations or to launch
a mass campaign...attempting to support Chao by means of Provincial Constitution..." A parade has been scheduled at 8 am on the fifth..." Most of
the letters were sent to workers' organizations. They claimed that as
workers are simple-minded, more than 1,000 would come. But up to 10 am,
not a single workers body showed up. Highly disturbed, they sent out people
all over to Chinese Workers Union, Care and Relief Association, Buddhist
Speakers Group, etc., which were dominated by the bandits. Each person was
given half a yuan and a snack. More than 100 were hired. The parade started
at noon. Before the parade was begun, between 120 and 130 monks and beggars
held a meeting in front of the slide showing room of the Association of Education.

(1) The meeting was chaired by Monk Che-pei [5089 1014] who explained the
purpose of the meeting in part: 'Provincial Constitution shall better be
called Sheng-Hsien-Ching [4164 7009 4842] just as the Buddhists have the
Buddhist Bible...' All the monks and beggars attending the meeting wildly
waved their hands.

(2) The parade immediately followed the meeting. Two large flags in the
front--one bearing the words "The Association to Protect the Provincial
Constitution" and the other, 'Provincial Citizens Petition Rally.'

The First Detachment--About 20 or 30 people wearing robes and jackets,
pretending to be representatives of citizens of the province;

The Second Detachment--About five or six people representing the Chinese
Workers Union;

The Third Detachment--About 40 or 50 people representing the Buddhist
Speakers Group with bald heads and wearing Buddhist robes;

The Fourth Detachment--About 40 people representing the Care and Relief
Association;

A medley gathering...a farce, and the funniest..." (see MIN-KUO JIH-PAO)

We have been opposing the Confederation of Provincial Self-Government because it is not as what the name suggests but a confederation of military
governors who desire to control their separate domains in that name. We
have been opposing the phoney Provincial Constitution manipulated by warlords and dirty politicians because it cannot protect the people but serve
as a pretext for power struggles among warlords and dirty politicians.
Hunan serves as a good example. Chao Heng-t'i [6392 1854 1912] now unashamedly launched a "crusade to protect Provincial Constitution." But
for the last two years--since the establishment of Provincial Constitution-he coldly-bloodedly murdered the workers Huang, Lung [7806 1690] and others),
clamped down on newspapers (TA-KUNG-PAO, CHIH-CHIH HSIN-PAO, HSIN-HSIANG-
PAO), deprived the people of freedom of correspondence (postal and telegram
censorship has never ceased for a single day), deprived the people of freedom of assembly and association (shut down Risheha Police Union, Railvillers Union Association, To Back up the Nation's Foreign Policy, and repeatedly banned students and workers meetings), protected the planting and
peddling of opium by his troops, bought votes through bribery (sent subordinates to stuff voting boxes with false ballots in the general ballot on
Provincial Constitution and used cash bribery to create the new Provincial
Assembly and provincial governor), extorted contributions from the merchants (president of the Changsha General Chamber of Commerce was forced
to flee), collected land rentals from the peasants in advance (some up to
1926), used the legal budget proportion by reducing the educational portion
and increasing the military portion), and colluded with Wu Pei-fu and Hsiao
Yao-nan [5618 5069 0589]. All these show that Chao who used Provincial
Constitution as a mask, is in fact a public enemy of the people. The real
purpose for him to hold rallies and conduct campaigns this time stems from
his fight for the opium tax (the so-called special tax) with Tsao Ch'un-wu
[5580 6869 3730]. The Hunanese cannot but feel ashamed to allow such a
diabolical criminal as Chao Heng-t'i to harp on "protecting Constitution"
under false pretext.

HSIANG-TAO CHOU-PAO, No 36, Hsiang-Tao Chou-Pao Press, 15 August 1923