Wong-Ka-Loong. the squatters' village situated of Vu Yuen Road, has suddenly sprung it" prominence owing to the large fire which broke out there last Sunday afternoon. This village, whose inhabitants are of the very poorest type of Chinese, covers a large area in the centre of one of the city's main residential districts. Although it is surrounded by Municipal roads the Shanghai Municipal Council disclaims any responsibility for the health or safety of its inhabitants or of those living in foreign houses adjacent to it, although the latter are taxed by the S.M.C. The dwellings are of the meanest type, composed for the most part of bamboo and matting and flimsily built "factories," which accounts for the fierceness of last Sunday's blaze. The photograph on this page were taken two days after the bre and show how the villagers are reconstructing their C" ramshackle homes with pieces of matting and corrugated iron salvaged from the fire.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.