1948 July 30, Robert C. Strong, Memorandum by the Consul at Tsingtao (Strong) (FOREIGN RELATIONS OF THE UNITED STATES, 1948, THE FAR EAST: CHINA)[1], volume VII, Tsingtao, →OCLC:
In Hsuchow they found that the railway to the south had been cut and having no desire to be caught again, they booked air passage immediately to Shanghai. While in Hsuchow they learned from persons who had fled from Lin-i (Ichowfu) in South Shantung, that Lin-i had been taken by the Communists without a fight after the Garrison Commander had required the people to tear down their homes and places of business adjacent to the city walls in order that they might not provide the Communists with cover during an assault. Despite these precautions the city was evacuated and the Communists were able to move in unopposed. The whereabouts of the garrison of Lin-i, which amounted to at least 10,000 troops, is unknown. They also learned that the only rail traffic out of Hsuchow is to Linch’eng, 25 miles to the north.
Eighteen active areas totaling 565 km² scattered along both banks of the mouth of the Huang Ho and five areas totaling 119 km² near Lin-i at the base of the Shantung Peninsula, are designated as one oilfield, Sheng-li, by the Chinese (see Figure 20).
Of the various archaeological excavations published to date that have brought this new textual material to light, the two most important at this writing are the Western Han (202 B.C.—A.D. 8) tombs at Ma-wang-tui in Ch’ang-sha, Hunan, discovered in late 1973, and those at Yin-ch'üeh-shan near Lin-i city in Shantung. Portions of Sun-tzu: The Art of Warfare, the focus of this study, were recovered in the latter excavation in 1972.
