1931 Xinjiang à Pékin | Croisière Jaune 3 | Caravan | Duke Ellington

Music: 1937 Caravan | Duke Ellington
Video: 1931 - 1932 Croisière Jaune | Xinjiang à Pékin | Citroën-Kégresse P17 half-track
1930s playlist: t.ly/TxIW
Victor Point's China group
"On June 28, the group reached the oasis of Hami , where houses were on fire and entire villages abandoned. Fighting between Chinese and Muslims has erupted in the region. The members of the expedition are, as Georges Le Fèvre explains, 'witness to scenes of barbarism and cruelty, recalling the time of the hordes of Genghis Khan'. In addition, Victor Point had to endure friction on several occasions with the Chinese delegation, which questioned its authority.
Although the oasis is under government control, it is not the same for the city of Hami . As soon as they arrived in the city, the garrison commander informed them that he had received the order from Marshal King Shu-Jen, Governor General of Sin-Kiang, to stop the advance of the expedition and to escort the members under good guard towards Ürümqi . The marshal thus broke the safe conduct granted at the start of the expedition, on the grounds that 'scenes of fighting offensive to Chinese dignity' were filmed and photographed. The real reason for this 'hostage-taking' is that Marshal King did not receive the three Citroëns promised. They were taken away by rebels. It is the 1st July that the members leave Hami, crossing the 'terrible Turfan basin' to reach Ürümqi on July 19. To prevent the half-tracks from being grabbed, Point dismantles the track plates.
Victor Point quickly understands that without outside help, the group risks getting stuck and remaining a prisoner as long as the civil wars are not over, that is to say for decades. In order to discreetly warn the Pamir group of the situation and prevent the latter from launching into the Sin-Kiang (Xinjiiang) region which was now closed to them, they imagine a clever way to emit a radio signal coded in Morse code. The group then claims to have to celebrate the centenary of the Third Republic on July 24, thus allowing them to erect one a mast to hoist the French flag - in reality concealing their radio antenna as well. When the guards wonder what the reasons are for starting an engine in the middle of the night, the group replies that the gramophone requires electricity to operate. This is how Haardt, in the Pamir group, received news of the situation on August 4. The record used by the China group to cover up the radio noise was the famous song 'Parlez-moi d'amour', recorded by Lucienne Boyer in 1930.
Marshal King's situation is very tense. Very quickly isolated from the Chinese capital due to the cut of telegraph lines, the region suffered from numerous Sino-Muslim clashes, the outcome of which was often favorable to Muslims. Nearly 8,000 Chinese soldiers are thus killed by the insurgents, putting Marshal King in a bad position. Thanks to this upheaval of the situation, the marshal requested the help of the French. On August 20, he addressed the China group: 'Although your authorizations have been canceled by Nanjing, I am ready to allow your leader, Mr. Haardt, to enter Sin-Kiang but on the condition that you make available to us. your radio operator to help us re-establish communications with the capital.'
On October 8, the Pamir group and the four half-tracks from the China group sent to meet it, meet a few kilometers from Aksou. On October 27, for the first time since the start of the mission, the expedition is fully assembled in Ürümqi . So all the groups had to do was get King's permission to continue their progress. However, King is slow to grant it, being preoccupied with his duties as governor. Haardt becomes concerned about the coming winter so starts to insulate the half-tracks and making clothing appropriate to the climate, with felt and sheepskins. King had also demanded that the promised Citroëns be sent to him again. So it is when these three replacement automobiles arrive November 20 , 1931 that negotiations between Haardt and King resume. The following week saw the final release of the expedition and its members. Five months were needlessly wasted in Ürümqi.
Haardt's climate concerns are well founded. The cold of the Mongolian plateau and the Gobi desert is such that soup freezes in a few minutes. Boiling water poured into the radiators of the half-tracks is not enough to avoid the group leaving their engines running lest they not restart. Moreover, maintenance to the half-tracks is necessary even though the metal can reach temperatures of 30 degrees below zero.
On February 12 , 1932, the expeditions finally reaches its final destination, Beijing. There, most Europeans living in the Chinese capital come out to welcome the fourteen explorers."
(fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Croisi%...)
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"'Caravan' is an American jazz standard composed by Juan Tizol and Duke Ellington, first performed by Ellington in 1936." (Wikipedia)