Sun Yat-sen University in Moscow and the Chinese Revolution - KU ...

taurants, tearooms, gaming houses, theaters, and opium dens could
all be found there. But upon our arrival, we did not have a single
penny left. Therefore, the representatives of the Comintern gave each
of us an allowance of four rubles per day, which we spent eating
Chinese food in Millionka.
About one hundred thousand Chinese lived in Vladivostok. Most
of them were either merchants or laborers. And while we were in
the city, the trade union for overseas Chinese laborers held a welcome
party in our honor at their May First Club. The atmosphere was
quite gay and cordial.
During our stay in Vladivostok we were also given physical examinations.
Those students who had tuberculosis or other communicable
diseases were detained in Vladivostok to await a boat bound
for China. I have always thought it was strange that we were not
given physical examinations in Shanghai before leaving China.
Leaving Vladivostok for Moscow early in December, 1926, we
traveled on the Trans-Siberian Railroad. It was winter, and as the
coaches were not heated, it was terribly cold. While it was almost nine
years after the 1917 Revolution, coal was still in very short supply.
The Siberian train on which we rode was still operated by burning
wood. This wood was piled in heaps in every railway station. Coal
was reserved exclusively for the International Express, which was the
only train on this route that had a dining car. Though the train moved
slowly and steadily along, it took a fortnight to travel the more than
7,400 kilometers from Vladivostok to Moscow.
The trip was by no means comfortable. As there was no dining
car, we were forced to eat hurriedly when the train stopped at one of
the larger stations. Once the queue was so long that some three or
four of my fellow students did not get their meal before the train left
the station. They were driven to despair when they saw the train already
gone. They went to a GPU officer stationed in the station and
asked him to help. The officer, who had probably been notified by
Moscow authorities about our trip, made quick arrangements with the
station administration to put them on the next train to Moscow. In
addition, the train's water tanks had frozen solid, and there was no
water for the toilets or for drinking. To get a drink, one had to wait in
long lines at the stations. Thus, we spent twelve miserable days and
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