When Sun was ejected from Canton, the Kwangsi militarists took control of Kwangtung, but Ch’en and his twenty battalions were safe in Fuchien. In time he built up his force until he controlled some twenty-six hsien in southern Fuchien, with headquarters at Chang-chou.

The little dancing floor in the center of the dining room suddenly was asquirm with posturing figures in mantillas and silks and boleros.

it was the custom to wear underneath their hykes (the hyke was a large woollen blanket) a close bodied frock or tunic , not unlike the Roman tunic.

It was a time of returnings. Soldiers everywhere returned home to try to piece together the broken fragments of shattered lives.