Yesterday occurred the formal opening of the Shantung Railway. As indicated in a former letter the road is now completed as far as Kiaochou, a distance of 76} kilometres, or about 47 English miles, from Tsingtao, An excursion train, for invited guests only, made the round trip; this with other festivities marked the inauguration of regular traffic on the first railway in the conservative province of Confucius and Mencius.
At 8 a.m., the train of 1M coaches (12 of them, however, being goods vans, metamorphosed for the occasion), well-filled with European and Chinese guests, pulled out of the Tsingtao station. Among the travellers were railroad officials, Tsingtao business men (an occasional Indy added brilliance to the scene), high civil and military functionaries and a few missionaries. There was also a military band, which contributed _its share to the pleasure of the day. The distance to Kiochou was covered without unpleasant incident in four hours, the most. striking feature of this portion of the trip being the wide-eyed curiosity which the {denizens of the country showed as the train went by, even the sleepy donkeysand stolid cows evidencing striking gleams of intelligence.
At the Kiaochou station a crowd of sororal thousand people was awaiting us, and, when the train arrived, there was great enthusiasm. Among those who indicated their goodwill by being present were the futai of Haichoufu, the chou official of Kiaochou and several county magistrates. A pleasant feature of the Aecorations was the display of the yellow dragon, The native were evidently much pleased that the Chinese flag had every whit as much hon ur shown it on this occasion as the German.
The guests; were immediately ushered into the station building, where h.oging from the ceiling were some seventy silken aunbers, presented to the railroad directorate. The name of Shantung's governor, Yuan Shih-kai, was on one of the mors pretentious. Qn one side of this room a number of tables had been prepared for Chinese guests; the profusion of eatables and drinkables which covered them could not but please him who delights in feasting. At the other end of the room were long tables Inden with the delicacies which tempt the foreign palate, Beer, champagne, and other wines were there of ely behind the station was an exceptionally well-appointed thestro which the Kiaochou official had provided for the delight of the Chinese and the amusement of the foreigners. Rumour has it that the mandarin was paying 600 tiao (about $400) a day for this. If the amount named is divided by a large enough numeral the truth will not be far off.
After three hours devoted to the proper discussion of the bounty which had been provided, and return was made, the trip hack consumed only three hours, The day's programme was ex tried through without unpleasant incident, there being no hitch whatever; conditions of weather combined with man's endeavours tomake the day all that could be desired.
The promoters of the Shantung Railway are to be congratulated, both on the success of this. opening and on the excellence of the road which they ara building. If a layman may be allowed to. express an opinion, the appoint: ments of the service" are all" that could be desired. The various station buildings here are architecturally con. sidered additions to a town that is already well-known for its substantial and sightly business houses and residences. And the buildings at the other points on the lino differ from those in Tsingtao in degree only, and not in kind, The road bed is excellent; its smoothness being attested by two trips over it. The masonry and bridges are of that substantial quality which has made the name "German" a synonym for durability.
Ab present, trains will run only to Kino-chou, the service for the time being a triweekly one. 'The rails are already laid a few li beyond Kiaochou, and the embankment is complete to Kaomi, 60 li farther, It will be pushed through' to Chinanfu. However, trains will hardly be running to the provincial capital short of three years.
Tsingtao, 9th April.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.