Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles
available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. The Ward Incident
was a diplomatic incident which occurred in China in 1948-1949, during
the final years of the Chinese Civil War. The American Consul Angus Ward
and his staff were held under house arrest by Mao Zedong's People's
Liberation Army (PLA) for almost a year, creating a diplomatic rift with
the United States.As the PLA swept through China during the Civil War
against the Nationalists in 1948 and 1949, they began to harass
Westerners in general and Americans in particular. As one of the major
trade centers in China, Mukden (Shenyang) was taken by the Communist
troops in October 1948. In November, the Communists demanded that
American Consul Angus Ward surrender the consulate's radio transmitter.
Ward refused. In response, the PLA troops surrounded the consulate,
putting Ward and 21 staff members under house arrest. For months,
without communication, water, and electricity, Ward and the other
Americans were completely isolated under guard by the Chinese
Communists.
