Beautiful day. Freda Utley came to interview me about economic situation in China. Three of Yunli’s 【永利] directors came to talk about the company undertaking some of the chemical business. During lunch, talked things over with C. M. Li 【李卓敏]. We agreed that the present allocation man is weak. I suggested certain expenditures for the benefit of the provinces far from the coast, such as Honan, Hupeh, Hunan, Kiangsi, and Kwangsi, to be met out of the US$1,000,000 from UNRRA 【聯合國善後救濟總署]: cotton from Shensi for winter clothing in Honan; seed and grain for Kwangsi, medicines, winter clothing for the refugees, etc. The million, sold by the clearing board, would net Ch$1,200,000,000. We talked also about the work for Dison Poe 【浦薛鳳].
Evening, dinner with 張禹九【嘉鑄] and wife 【張肖梅]: Franklin Ho 【何廉] and wife; Chang Chun 【張群]; Wu Ta-chuen 【吳鼎昌(達銓)] and wife, etc. Chang is handling the negotiations with the communists. He said that in many places it is only the presence of the Japanese that prevents the communists from taking the bigger cities.