CHINA: North of the Great Wall

At a meeting of Communist functionaries in Mukden recently, a stolid, square-faced Communist named Kao Kang, one of the most powerful men in Asia, made one of his frequent harangues to party functionaries. "We . . . are in the front line," he told his lieutenants. "We must make sacrifices."

The front line he talked of is one of the richest areas in Asia—Manchuria. In the 2½ years since Mao Tse-tung's Communists captured China, it has become Red China's breadbasket, industrial heart and political bellwether. It is also the arsenal, supply depot and staging area for Chinese armies in Korea,...