From Straggling Town to Modern City: Building Investment of ¥.100,000,000
From Our Own sinking, Feb. 17, In o newspaper published in' Manchoukuo there appeared, not long ago, an article supplied from Shang-hint' on the date line of which was the "word, "Chanyehun." Those of us who have spent any length of Aline In that not particularly attractive. oilway" junction which had marked the northern limit of the Topaneso oilways in Manchuri ind upon inspecting the vicinity now that there ie something now and different and deserving a name of its own, When, in 1992 the former Em~ peror of China was installed Nchiet "Executive of Menchoukuo, and the proclamations were dated Hsinking" (ihe New Capital) nelthcer the new state nor its capital had Very" high studing in the world; nor was there any good and sume lent Feason why they should have. Of his Independent government, which the. oft-elted 0.000.000 people were said to have created, the world Imew very little. In' fact, to be strictly accurate, most of the said fmiliions Knew practically nothing of themselves, As for the town that was Changchun, the next winter found It before a bleak, chilly, over-crowded tank-town, with an ambitious name which merely added front to discomfort.
Omission In Ceremony Atter that 10-minute ceremony which marked the official start of the new. government, and in which, as. certain Interested new officials detightedly pointed out, the principal participant made the real declaration of independence by omitting an tem Which the programmes deseribed'ne, "The Chief Executive bows to the foreign quests," enquiries were made as to the location of the new Capital.
The. palace," we were informed, will be nosy' the heart of the new lly, at a spot now known as the Village of Apricot Blossoms. The Yemperature was 30 below zero, 20 we did not really expect many blos~ ome, but on early view of the centre of the town was indicated, 30 three, hardy correspondents charter ed one of those comic, low-necked carriages, which stilt flourish in this cold climate, and started out, far 'The new guid book shows that for' MSI5 one can, now hire a fine new car which will travel over smooth streets, and cover a little Tess of the mew town than that pioneering enrrlage ald.
The deep-rutted country road which wandered over the gently undulating plain did not Yead to Apricotvilie "directly so. the local caricature of a Russian tzvostchick bounced across frozen, ploughed folds and the passengers trotted ongside in the vain effort to warm their lee-cold feet, fore sun-down we again neared the Japanese Hallway town Changehun, by a circuitous rout To-dey a car does it tu a lit three hours, Outside—only 4 side of the town lmits—lay anu ber of corpses of beggars who ha perished of the cold, Dogs gnawed the frozen bodies, From there a nearly straight roxd took us back to the old Yamato Hotel. Ina comparatively short time that spot of Eruesome memories would be close {fo the contre of a flourishing modern city, so these khaki-clad optimists would have us believe, Capital Construction Progras 'Two years later the religious cere many' at the temporary "Altar Heaven" showed that, though roads than stretched between scattered roups of buildings, the plain was at droughty og ever. Whatever else. th enthronement may have been It was not over-heated. Three years after that ceremony, as the Lunar New Year approaches a report on the progress of the S-year plan for capital fish construction draws our attention to Hsinking, Changchun thay persist os the name ofa district. Greenwich Vile lage can stil be referred to without danger of arrest in New York, and it convenient to define districts in London by using their old names, why then does the mention of a small town, which has been swallowed "up by a now city, provoke comment. We brazenly "apeak. of - Manchoukuo's greatest city as Mukden—some writ-Ing it Moukden—and why? In 1625 founder of the Manchu dynasty ave {0 the flourishing town of Shen-yang the Manchu name of Mukden, Which translated Into Chinese reads, Shengching, or prosperous capital. Though not the oldest name, It ree mains the accepted English name of Cinoning or Fenglien as it is now called, "So we will take you Changchun as proper English name of those few sores of narrow streets ned with small old fashioned buildings, and from there ramble through a made-to-order city, complete with modern structures, broad boulevards, [specious parks and awe-inspiring 'We first salute the oldest inhabitant, the weather. July can offer 102 deg. F'n the shademit's now 18 below' zero. Snow is not abundant, but the rains of July and August were once sufllent to make the old Changchun streets impassable. Hsinking now hag sewers; 126,42 feet of pipes were laid last year and a total of Th. miles of piping ts now in place. Four years of the 8-year plan have one by, and 80 per cent. completion Seems to have been reached or passed most of the projects.
Motorists Take Notice The broad avenues range from to 106 fect in widths wile secondary streets run from 33 to 60. fect—2 miles of road building was recorded 1996, making the total of new Work about 203 miles.
Along the older roads within the Walled. Town, most of whose wall, although built only 70 years ago, has been destroyed, or at Kuanchengtze, once the terminus of the southern section of the Chinese Eastern, Rallway naw a mere "elle of "former Russian supremacy from Changehun to the Amur River, do we find anything peculiarly noteworthy. True the falter contains. the transmitters the Hsinking radio, and in the frst the temporary palace occupies the former premises of the Salt Gabelle to which an impressive gateway and a Tong approach have given a dignified appearance.
The allotted site for the proposed now palace to-day stems less remote, hat fine new Toads extend far beyond there, In tact the clearest Impression of this remarkable new city can now be had by riding. in from the new South Hsinking Station towards the old town. The trunk roads of the now city have asphalt paving on the lanes reserved for the Use of high-speed vehicles, while for rickshaws, droskies, carriages and wagons a separate road dressed with tarsbound macadam is provided. At major intersections the rotary system of non-stop trafic control is installed.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.