The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1894-05-06
CHINA is NOT ASLEEP
On the Contrary She Is Busy Max
ing Improved Arms of ALI Kinds,
And Preparing for War-Mechanieal
Skill Of the Chinese-Foundries
Covering Hundreds of Acres.

Copyrighted. 1894. by Frank G. Carpenter.)
SHANGHAI. China, March Is. lss4.-One
hundred acres of factories for the making
of arms and munitions of war!
Vast foundries for the smelling and roll
ing OF steel. O
Gun works turning out cannon as big as
the biggest now being made at the Wash
ington navy yardt Shops covering acres
devoted 10 the making Of the latest modern
magazine rifles,
blue gowns with their pigtails tightly
wound about their half-shaven heads ma
nipuiating with their slender yellow fin
gers the finest of the modern worlds inn
proved machinery, and doing successfully
all kinds of factory work under Chinese
foremen!
These are some Of the wonders I saw at
the great government arsenal near here to-
day.
Any one who thinks that China is asleep
to what is going on in the modern world
has only to visit one OF its great govern
ment gun factories to be convinced Of bis
mistake. I have spent some time at the
gun works of the Washington navy yard,
where are being built the guns for our
largest war ships. We pride ourselves Upon
them as a nation and consider them among
the finest gun works of the world. Away
out here in China there are similar foundries
doing even more wonderful work. and that
to a large extent with native-made ma
chtnery. and just now with Chinese iron
AMI Chinese coal. OF the two tho isand
men employed in the Shanghai works only
two are foreigners. and these are consult
ing engineers, one Of whom, Mr.. ". E.
Cornish, Is an Englishman from Devon
shire. who was for years connected With
the great Armstrong gun works in Eng
land. and the other, Mr.. Blunt, an English
man. who not only knows how to run all
kinds of machinery, but has invented sew
eral engines. and who. with Mr.. Cornish,
is making many improvements in the Chi
nese nuriticns of war over those of ether
nations. 1t was through Mr.. Cornish that
1 was able to go over the gun works. and
with him I had chats with the Chinese
managers. foremen AMI workmen.
Leaving the Hotel Des Colonies, in the
foreign quarter of Shanghai. / rode In a
jinriksha, pulled by two men, far out into
the country. The day was cold, raw and
rainy. but I decided to risk arrest by TAX
ing my camera with me, and, wrapped in
oiled silk, it lay between my legs as we
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with bare-legged coolies In hats as big as
umbrellas and rain coats of a reddish
brown jute. who were carrying heavy loads
swung on poles from their shoulders. We
passed many women in blue gowns Of
wadded cotton, who hobbled along on their
little feet through the mud with a knock
kneed gait. and met at every turn the
rikshas and sedan chairs of swell China
men, whose eyes were so shrouded by their
big black spectacles that they looked like
Gargantuan BROWNIES rather than scholarly
Chinese. Many of these swells had on
their winter bonnets of wadded silk and
their clothes were of the brightest Of reds,
blues and green's. Their bonnets covered
the entire head and were fastened under
the chin in a wadded cloth which protected
the neck and throat. They were so made
that only the front Of the face was ex-
posed to the weather, and they extended
out behind in a sort of cape which fell TO
the waist and concealed their queues.
The gowns of many of them were fur
lined. and the silk brocade of which they
were made seemed more fit for a ball room
than a rainy, muddy Chinese country ride.
Beside these rich worked the poorest of
the poor. We passed scores Of sweating
men pushing freight wheelbarrows, each
containing a lCdO IOr a morse, ana were
jostled by the hundreds of other queer
working characters who fill the country
roads of China with as many travellers as
you will find on the roads approaching one
of our little cities on q circus day.
CHINESE SOLDIERS.
Just outside of the walls of the native
city I passed a guardhouse filled with Chi
nese soldiers. The sun came out at the
YnOrnAnf and II affaunnfa1 70 nhafao~on nh
them. But when they saw the camera they
scowled and went inside Of the guardhouse.
Not far from this 1 came to a fertilization,
which I afterward learned was the bar
racks of the troops which the Viceroy keeps
here to guard the arsenal and TO protect
Shanghai. A white wall. perhaps twenty
feet high, surrounded them, and 1 could
only see the great flags of black network
embroidered with red Chinese figures, twen-
ty odd feet long, which 1oated from a pole
above the tent of the commander. I saw
many. soldiers, however, and / photographed
a good-natured one, who evidently did not
understand what my camera was. These
soldiers were dressed in all sorts OF bright
colors, and the uniforms of many of them
consisted Of the brightest Of blue cotton
sacques. trimmed with black velvet and or
namented with red stripes. They wore wad-
ded cotton pantaloons. which they tucked
into black short-topped wadded cloth boots
and their heads were covered with stiff
skull caps of silk. They look entirely differ
ent from the people about this part OF
China, and are much more muscular anC
are taller than the Cinnamon We have IL
America. They come from the interior. and
the best fighters among them are from tn.
rebellious province of Human. where IN,
Instruction against the missionaries OF
year or so ago originated. There are onl,
a few thousand Of them in this barracks
and they are but a small part of the arm,
of the Viceroy of Marking, who lives a
his capital in the interior.
Reaching the arsenal. we stopped for
moment under a white wall. on which wa
a gaudy painting Of one OF the heroes O
Chinese mythology. WIG is supposed to Civ.
luck TO the officers within, while one o
the Chinese soldiers took my card in e
Mr.. Cornish, and a moment later 1 wa.
inside Of these vast works and surrounded
by the din of machinery. Practically, th1
only difference between these works ant
those of any of the great gun factories
Of Christendom lies in the gorgeous colorl
Of red. green and blue In which the Chi