A tragic letter from a former military attaché in Washington during the war told of the fall of Shanghai and the stampede of hundreds of people trying to get away from the Communists. “The conquerors closed the gates of the city during most of the day and night to prevent crowds from trying to reach the railway stations or river banks and wharves. Steamships anchored in mid-stream to protect themselves from the mobs that tried to board them. Had everyone been successful in the attempt, the ships would have capsized. It was necessary to go out in small sampans and junks. Ropes with knots tied at intervals, to which people could cling, were thrown over the sides of the ships. I saw one father fasten a rope to his three children, and then the family tried to scale the ship’s side. Suddenly, when they were all about half-way up, the child at the top slipped or let go, pushing the other children with him as he fell. The parents screamed wildly and jumped into the churning, muddy water after them. Their cries were heart rending.” In talking to Americans and Chinese who have returned to the United States, I caught many interesting and authoritative glimpses of life behind the Red Curtain. For instance, as with Stalin in Moscow, no one in China seemed to know where in Peking Chairman Mao lived. Some said he had taken over the Wagon Lits Hotel, others that he had a place in the country. Some said he appeared on the streets rarely, although he was seen at official gatherings now and then. At one such affair, Mao displayed a batch of letters, supposed to have been received from non-Communists, telling how pleased they were at the way the Communists had taken over and how courteous they had been. The tone of all these letters was flattering and to the effect that the non-Communists were impressed with their new masters. What Mao did not know, or did not mention, of course, was that the letters had been written and signed under duress and that, later, the writers had pleaded with friends going out of the country to tell those to whom the letters were addressed that nothing could be further from the truth. The Communists strictly censored all mail coming into China, especially from the United States. Many letters were confiscated when they contained names and information about people the Reds wished to add to their files, and almost always when there was money in them.