The commercial importance of Kashing in northeastern Chekiang is due to two features, location and products. Situated on the Grand Canal it has water connections in all directions and it is also on the railway from Shanghai to Hangchow with a branch line to Soochow. The iarms produce rice and silk of excellent quality.
After the usual procedure for passes, a small party of former residents went by railway for a short it. Whatever damage done toj? track and bridges seems to have been repaired. Along the way, farm-hands were seen at work in the fields.
Rickshaws took us from the station through the east gate section to the main street and then through the ci out of the north gate to a residence now used as a hotel.
The retail shops inside and wholesale houses outside hed been burned almost entirely. The main street, however, had been widened and long rows of two-storey cheap style buildings erected on both sides. As fast as finished, shopkeepers are opening up with a rather slender supply Foods. The wholesale district improves very slowly. The country people come in with vegetables and farm products to a limited extent. All Chinese coming or going must bow to the sentries as they pass by, each one having a badge in plain sight.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.