Peking, Mar. 31, After several years of depression, accentuated since 1928 by the re" moval of the capital, business Jconditions in Peking are beginning to show definite signs of improvement. Last month, according to figures published "in the Chinese ress, house tax collections. rose from '$90,000 to, $120,000, indicating 'a considerable increase ' in population, and rising revenues are reported by the local Chinese light and power company and the telephone administration, 'Theatre managers speak of the present, season as unprecedented in' recent theatres and cinemas formance and being done by restaurants and tes houses, A leading silk store reports a daily turnover of between $6,000 and $7,000.
Inquiries" made among well-informed Chinese reveal that this return to comparative prosperity is regarded as being in the natural Jcourse of events; experience has proved that a period of depression is invariably fetlowed by a sudden boom. It seems reasonable,—how-lever, to suppose that political changes may also have had some effect. The Manchurian occupation has undoubtedly been a stabilizing influence, besides "bringing more money into the city, and the fact that Peking to longer represents a prize to be striven for by warring factions makes it. in the eyes of many a more desirable place of residence, "House rents, to, have ff moderate means are able (0 live ined to the point where
ere much more spaciously. than would be possible farther' south. Even in Tientsin the cost of living is considerably higher—so much 30 that the Peking Liaoning railway, authorities are" hoping by the, inauguration of a two-hour express, service between Peking and Tien: tsin to encourage residents of the port to transfer their families here and commute back and forth between the two cities.
Apart altogether from advent-_ tious circumstances of this kind, it! must be recorded to the credit of the local business community that it has been doing a good deal the direction of helping itself. In this respect the removal of the seat fof government may have been a. blessing well prove to blessing in disguise. For centuries polities have ranked a Peking's chief Industry; there is how general realization that the Former capital must learn to. stand fon its own feet as_an educational fand tourist centre. With the object fof boasting native products several industrial" exhibitions have been held here recently under joint foreign and Chinese ai Pi 8. Plans to. make the. city still more to visitors are cent ong houses inthe famous di tae the, Chien are Struggling to get their heads Wwater; remarkably good business is being' done by a number of well: cendiciad Chines dane ball hich have opened up within stones throw of the Legation' Quarter ig the past few situated along. the Situated along tie Tang Chang Chien, which it beeomen increasingly incongruous to render into Engl as the "street of eternal trangulll: ity," and are patronised by wel do Chinese of all ages from babies in arms to venerable grandmothers tottering along on bound feet to watch the younger generation doing fits stuff on the dance floor. Most fof the cabarets have a dozen or more attractive Chinese girls available as professional dancing partners but supply seems, inadequate to meet the demand. At all events, one establishment has found it necessary to adopt _the expedient of giving a few warning taps on the. drum before the orchestra strikes up. At this signal those who aspire to dance Face across the floor to secure a partner, unsuceessfal competitors retiring gracefully from the scene before' the music starts. Sand-wished in between three or four of these dance halls is a "wee golf" Jcourse which is proving immensely] popular with the Chinese who constitute 90 per cent. of its patrons.
In the Chung "Shan park, formerly part of the Forbidden City, there is dancing at some of the teachers on Sunday afternoons and educational authorities here becoming alarmed at the increasing freedom with which the young of both sexes are beginning to mingle in a social way. In an effort to pluck as many brands as possible from the burning, Professor Liu! Fu, principal of the Women's Col-of the National University, has issued an order prohibiting students fof his college from visiting dance halls on pain of expulsion. Parents have been advised of the new rule Eailege authorities in securing its college authorities in. securing enforcement." Professor Liu has oise forbidden his students "to Address one another as, "Miss," Geclaring that "ku niang" isa uch politer term and must hence-Forth be used exclusively on the college compound.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.