The morning call., 1894-04-29
MODERN SHANGHAI
A Foreign City in the
Heart of Asia.
IT'S BEAUTIFUL CLUBHoUsES
Europeans and Americans Who Live
LuxuriOusly = The Poor
Natives.

SHANGHAI, March 28-It is now a week
since / steamed through the mouth of the
great Yang-tse-Kiang river into the wide
waters of the Whampoa on the French
mail from Japan, and was anchored under
the shadow of the immense Notifications
tho Chinese have built at the Woosung
bar to guard this entrance to their mighty
empire. Standing on the ship could see
the guns fTOwning down upon us from the
ramparts, and could almost hear the queer
cries of the officers as they drilled their
cotton-gowned, yello w-faced, Acknowledged
troops. We lay for some time right oppo-
site the entrance to the fort. Chinese
structure of gold carving. looking much
like the gate to temple, and our vessel
was surrounded by the big gunboats of
China's modern navy. 1t is twelve miles
from Woosung up the Whampoa river to
Shanghai, but the water is too shallow for
the largest ocean steamers. and we made
the journey in steam lau nch. The coun-
try is dead fat 1t is made UP of the rich
sediment which is carried down by the
Yang-tse-Kiang River fro m the uplands of
China. Standing on the deck of the ship
you look for miles over gray mud plains,
relieved here and there by what, In the
distance, appear for all the world like
cocks of hay, but which are the graves of
Cinnamon. On some of these graves /
could see great black collins resting, and |
am told that the Chinese often leave their
dead for years outside the ground, and that
few buTials are made when the ground is
frozen. Here and there over the land
scape were thatched huts surrounded by
trees. and in the creeks, which cut the
plain like the canals Of Holland, the masts
of the ships and boats could be every where
seen. All along the river were platforms
of boo, with little sheds at the back of
them and nets hung out from their fronts
into the water for the catching of fish. We
passed hundreds of craft of all kinds. from
the little fat-eyed gond0la-like sampans TO
the ocean steamers bound for all parts of
the world. Near the forts there were
scores of great Chinese war junks, with
cannon extending over their sides, and
with great sails ribbed with bamboo, look
ing for all the world like the wings of
gigantic bats, aud the whole river was
filled with other bat-like craft, carrying all
sorts of cargo to and from Shanghai. AS
for cur boat. it was filled with foreign and
Chinese passengers. The only three
Americans were Mr.. and Mrs. Curwin
Stoddart of Philadelphia and myself. My
photographer took snapshot at us as we
stood on deck with All ShiDg. the rich
Chinese tailor of Yokohama. who was on
his way with his wife and baby TO visit his
papa in China.
Nearing Shanghai is like sailing into one
of the great harbors of the Mediterranean.
You see a'foreign city lining the banks of
the river and the smokestacks OF DOZEN
great factories send out their black clouds
into the blue sky. There are several miles
of these factories. and one l noted which
covered many acres was in ruins from a
recent fire. 1t was a big gray brick of
many stories, which the Chinese had built
for the manufacture OF cotton and in which
they have for some years employed hun
dreds Of hands and had the finest of mod
ern machinery. Until within few mopths
they have been paying for insurance to
the foreign companies about $500 year
in gold. The fall in the value OF silver to
so cents on the dollar made them grumbls
at this, and when their policy lapsed
last fall they economical by not renewing
il. The result was that the fire cost them
a million and half of dollars. and as Lii
Hung Chang and others of the officials
were largely interested in the stock the
people will probably be squeezed to make
up their loss. Going on up the river
through great house-like barges known as
opium boats, past mile or so of massive
wharves backed by iron-ro ofed warehouses.
almost touching our side wheeler gunboat
the Monocacy, we landed at the French
wharf. anu in a moment later were in the
greatest foreign settlement of China. the
Paris of the east, the city of Shanghai.
There is no town on the globe like