May 25.
While urban dwellers—Foreign and Chinese, the latter being in remarkably strong force this} year—are invading the rural delight of Henli, rustics from the surrounding country. are pouring] Into. Shangha, In "unconsciously reciprocal friendliness, the for basket fair. ness of the stal picturesque temporary mart the face of the unkind weather ofthe last few days has been Jessen to their betters. Yesterday with real sunny weather the great day of Buddha's birthday) was marked by the, influx of thousands of-men, women and chil-Gren, joyously sampling the my-atenes of town life and, at the came time, intent seizing on the more readily understood 0pportunity of bargaining for household luxuries. The work of the Municipal Police in mayshalling these crowds was arduous. but, apparently, performed in the spirit of good attired comrade-
Te is a little startling for Shanghai to find bucolic simplitity $0 close at hand and so} abundant in. its varied types. The orderliness, the happiness and the generally prosperous appearance] of these crowds justified the that the country finds proximity) to.a.big industrial and commercial centre no slight asset. syguld be idle to guess how many] of; the visitors saw and heard for the-first time the wonders of the radio set in the shop round which in crowds they hung throughout} the day. They displayed the countryman's customary. freedom from servile admiration of the hitherto unknown. So they] crowded the buses—probably the cinemas—and the trams without} giving Shanghai the awkward] feeling that they were being] plunged into a world of unplumbed horrors and depravities. Whey took things as they came and, if they found it simpler to! walk in front of the bonnets of the motor-cars rather than to calculate how soon the journey across the road would be tree, no-one worried.. The moles-cals seemed mysteriously to catch the spirit of the carnival and abandoned their usual worship. of speed at all costs.
So while the oarsmen of Henli regatta were electrifying the local ploughmen with—the quaint misuse of physical en-orgy, the invaders from the!
Jcountry were getting to grips with Shanghai, This sort of inter change of compliments heart of the town-dweller who believes that by purchasing from a stall he or she is getting something for much less than the graceless shopkeeper would charge. It does not merely bring cumshas to deserving servants who acquire bargains for their employers, "It serves as an inrument, of concord. Shanghai will think better of the country after seeing these sturdy, weli-Kempt folk with their merry children, The visitors returning to their homes will speak with lasting pride of their safe! Penetration of, and, emergence irom the mighty village on the Whangpoo. They will, of course, explain how resolutely they upheld their own superiority. They may however have a kind-thought for some of the towniwellers—especially the men in the dark blue uniforms, At least that tribute is expected of them.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.