Morning journal and courier., 1884-09-02
s'THE BOSTON OF CHINA.o
Foo Chow, tIse Chinese City Esombarti-
 ed bV the French.


 ed by the French.
 IA New York Chinaman's Description of It.l
 Foo Chow is the Boston of China and one of the finest cities of the world. I have lived there for many years and am eonse- quently much interested to how it will withstand the French bombardment. The population of the city itself is at least 800,- GOO, and that of the suburbs about 400, ,O0O
 As a seat of learning it is pre-eminently dis tinguished. No fewer than 3200 literary graduates-a term that closely corresponds to that of "senior wrangler" at the Universi- ty of Cambridge in England-or more than a quarter of all the scholars in that part of the empire reside in FooChow It is also the home of seven thousand literary students" r" seedy but clever young fellows, who are sup ported somewhat in the same manner as the ''poor scholars" of Ireland-that is by teaching and similar scholastic pursuits. Foo Chow has q considerable inland trade and has greatly enlarged her commerce, especial ly since the extirpation of pirates As well
 as I can remember, the imports of opium last year exceeded S3, 800, ,000, of food stuhs
 S4OOO ,OG0, and of foreign goods S5J COG, GOO. Special attention is paid to the tea trade as
 the Bohea leaf fourishes in the neighborhood
 of Foo Chow. Perhaps the most important industry is navigation. The Min river, which is navigable for two hundred and fifty miles, to a city called Shau-nai where a canal meets it with a tributary of the Yang-tse-Ki- ang, is the home of over fifty thousand boat men. Thousands of fishermen also make Q good living by selling sharks fins, birds nest
 soup, devil fish, dragon fish, gourami, sea
 worm, greentish and many other species of fish.
 The mendicants of Foo Chow are almost as
 famous as it's scholars. Indeed, I doubt if
 any other city has so many professional beg gars. The majority are members of two re- 6OIO11 hot nf Tho D,o4 x,f
 the Heavenly Rest" and that of ''The Asso- citation of the Heavenly Flower"
 Foo Chow is finely paved with granite
 blocks, and most of it's streets are as clean as Broadway, while none of them are as filthy as Mott and Pell streets in this city. The drainage is also admirable, considering that the city is built on a spacious level plain and
 is even to-day liable to be inundated by the spring torrents. For this reason the city
 walls are built of extraordinary strength and the gates in them are few and small When
 heavy flood comes the gates can be blocked
 up with banks of earth in 9 few minutes and
 the city made waterproof. There is never much danger of a famine, as the food sup ply is largely furnished by boats. The city could certainly hold out for many months. A suggestion was made to us by foreign en- gineers that it would be we'll to erect leyees, but we did not act on it, as experience has taught us that the effect of levees is gradual
 ly to raise the river bed, and thus to increase l the evil which they intended to cure. The municipal government of Foo Chow is excellent, and the people are very orderly and broad minded. Will you laugh when I tell you that the British consul lives in g. splendid Buddhist temple, for which he pays the priests ESQ year? A Taonist church is similarly occupied by an American merchant An assistant priest is the head gardener of the British consul, while another acts as cook for the American merchant The people of Foo Chow are inveterate opium smokers and gamblers. There are actually over four hun dred opium joints and five hundred gambling dens in the city. Of course they are illegal but are supported chiefly by officials, in the l same manner as your policemen support the 1 saloons and drink in them on Sundays. Crimes against property and individuals are very rare
 The arsenal destroyed by the French WAS about three miles down the river It was very similar to Woolwich in England. It was started in 1851, but was of slight ac- count until 1866, when the government l changed it's policy and began to employ for l eign talent ill it's military and naval affairs l ''Chinese" Gordon made several plans for ! us and approved of many others. The en- 1 tire control of the works was given to Eng ! fish, French and American engineers, con- l structors, forge masters, machinists and metal workers, and their services were re- warded by large salaries The best ma I 1 chased and placed in the shops, and an 1 immense quantity of munitions of war was 1 accumulated. You can judge of the extent f of the works from the fact that the mum Der of natives employed has varied from | five hundred to three thousand and of Flu | ropeans from forty to one hundred. The | importance of Foo Chow as a manufactur ! ing center must not be overlooked. Among ! it's products paper, cotton, porcelain, l salted and dried pork, meats, fish and shell l fish, gelatine, glue, spices, tobacco, glass, potash, lead, sweetmeats, copper, bronze I and steel. It is also the center of the Yu 1 Nung mining country, which extends for one hundred and fifty miles, and which is l fairly rich in veins of lead, silver and cop ! per ore and in excellent iron beds. The | quality of the metals is good, though the ] mode of working the mines is very primi- tive and insufficient China would suffer
 as much from the loss of Foo Chow and ] the arsenal as America would from the loss of Philadelphia and the navy yard, in case l of war between America and a foreign l country. The indemnity demanded by 1 France is much less than the value of the 1 arsenal and the navy stationed there. As 1 for the munitions of war, ] understand 1 that they have been removed to Flu Hing. 1 Miss Julia F. Parker, of Hartford, has 1 been engaged as teacher in the High school 1 at Springfield. She is graduate of Smith