The. traditional lethargy of the
Sackground, Vigour, vitality and vi-Eat seems to have tecdea into the Slonare to be discerned in China if She obuorver knows where to Look and Phere to gor That was the impres: Mon given on Monday, Oct. 25, by a conversation with Mr. has constructed fair motor-roads, (one of them the 200 mile stretch {o"Hengehow and the border Kuangtung) and it runs a number of motor-bus services which bring the towns of the province into close touch with the villages and generally conduce to the benefits of the Peasants and traders. ese, Corporation. find Just returned from a lightning A Wondrous Country {eon wish he, was accompani Hengchow road "parallel with, the Mr. Mayers motored along the Une representative in China. So, Pact Boothby, the Corpora projected railway. track ink Of course, the four. was much con: and ferned with oilways In Being trid Changsha with "Canton chang he and his party prospect. 5 over the low hills by sedan. chair the Reavellers first made their and on foot for a distance of some way from Shanghai and. Naiking Ewelve miles, until they touched. th Ye'Peking whicl. they found but Picturesque town of Pingshek ea Slightly perturbed by the temporary The upper reaches of the Po-kiang fexeiement of the operations against Rivers In this wondrous _unspo General' Fang Chen-wa—a pitiful country they found. scenery. Which Gispiay of an obsolete tuchun mentality combined with a. gangster's could mot be easily surpassed by the Tamed beauty spots of the world enchant for blackmail, "While in The winding river, with its gorges The North Mr. Afayers accepted att invitation to Shore visit and ite tapias and Tes eh, torn. mont of vegetation, Wag a thing 9 Manchurian "Railway" authorities Ghangehun (Hainking). The South Sheer dight.
From Pingshek, their course 185} Ferg, hin ana ie Booby every faculty and' courtesy. The. recent slong the river. Their weasels were frail coracles" manned. by blue-changes "in ""'Manchoukuo "have overalled boatmen whose, skill was Stought. the: Mukden-Tientsin alle maidied by their "simplicity and vay "under: Manchoukuo control as Unaffected friendliness. The rapic Tar a Shanhallowan, where. Dassen ers change into diferent trains on ig pony fo foot vert Proceeding either north or south. image all the more treacherous by the existence of submerged rocks between which 'a ver; eae tai was" spec showed the dangers Changchun. The capital s being the boatmen and explained an im-Hransformed with a giant' exuber pressively touching ceremony atten. tance,. 'There is no concealment of dant on the jou the Japanese driving force. "Chinese ing at' the dangerous reaches the Sffciats frankly admit that without boatmen prepare to sacrifice a cock the Japanese "nothing would. the gods. Having. slaughtered! achicveds Some. resent, "the. fact, the bird. they sprinkle the. boat's even if they look upon ie as inevit: bows with its blood. "Then, when Sie Otora reali that Ein the bark has safely penetrated the Penet of Manchara andre Rat practical development to the rapid to smooth and safe water, there ism mooring to the bank op horses. inthe mouth, "'The bal ere fore. prepared. "to look gi Dosite an ancient temple. The cock, by this time, has been trussed favours the Japanese who in. thelt fand prepared forthe sacrifice. The avn are bent on showing. the world boatman goes ashore and, in age: hat cam be done by discipline and ald reverence, instinct ' with concentration in building "up.
Signity which' only. deep sincere State with such fine matiral""re-Puppet the orities may obeisance and sacrifice to the ten ive, gratefally"oakes hi ple gods. As Mr. Mayers aptly they can 30 put it, Mr, Charles Cochran cou! of achieve such dramatic ver! will one day without reliance on the actual per Annexation is emphatically "not formers of this simple rite—a n within their programme. General which goes far back into the his-Hishikati, the new Ambassador, tory of China and typifies the close who has made a most admirable im= pression on everyone, would endorse communion of the men who go down ith the forces which pro-that view and it is "believed to be in their defiance of n2- the settled policy of Tokyo. $0, youds spaciously planned are being rapidly constructed to open out the Engineering Genius new Capital, Nothing is lacking t The river tourney ended Lok make the j job workmanlike—excava chang.
There the railway from tors and all kinds of machinery are Canton "has been carried from employed to supplement the I Snel on th tke Th Jan Canton by rail begun, a di fare enthu in their endeavour, tance of 170 miles to the Southern 'They realise that Manchoukuo must capital. be Chinese in the cultural sense Shalt any for to Tncorperate gineers who are. cor Yam' especially in the face of its Japanese territory "wou new stretch of the railway Lok-chang northwards—a heavy overwhelmingly Chinese population task along the ledges of the hills They. set themselves the task of bounding the river valley but not putting the country into running beyond capacity as the existing Line Brder "under their' guldanon. The from Shiuchow shows. That line is ultimate result. will, in "their op now 90 well established that th ion, justify. their faith. At all track seems to be part of the ni events the traveller, however super tural route through the hills. ficial in. his power' of observation, sears of cutting and. tunnelling] cannot but be impressed by the Pro have been removed. Those cars gress made and the evident success now appearing where the pro. jected track is taking shape and Railway Progress here they give an appearance of!
After this Manchurian digression, difficulty which the genius of the engineer will soon reduce to sim-Mr, layers resumed his journey Over. the Chinese railways. Going plicity. and routine. The Canter Hankow Railway administration South from Peking to "Hankow Was struck by the masked improve: pushing on. rapidly with this new ink and. Nenking is giving the nent in the discipline of the rail-scheme its blessing and financial Way. employees. The trains—ex-eases at all events—ran to time. support.
stations were. in aim.
At Canton Mr. Mayers was Armed military police on the trains frankly astonished. A. City maintained order and gave a sense of security. Although the military inclined to imagine free railway ride, the of those unpleasant, other passengers' seats and rights which so often characterised—rail-Way travel in China ten years ago Avast accumulation of idle rolling stock on the Peking-Hankow line gave an impression of ty Still, Tt seemed to point to a fear that conditions might again demand stock for other than normal traffic require: ments.
"From Wuchang the journey was made to Changsha. There a notable change perceived. The progressive policy of the provincial jovernment of Hunan has opened Out communications in a degree Which would astonish the resident of ten years ago. The Government everywhere were gressive and determined gov ment at work. The motor-car and its necessary servant the motor. road" have suddenly transported China from the middle ages to tke present. Cities, like Shiuchow and Lok-chang which formerly were just nests of Chinese are blossoming into modernity with roads, electricity and other equipment of the 'From the members of the South-West' Political. Couneil, then, session, Mr. Mayers and Mr. Boothby received the greatest courtesy and every attention, A reception was held in their honour and hi any old friends were unable, it Seemed, to do enough to make their stay, ¢omfortable" and enjoyable. 'This in four days Canton had been'
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.