The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-04-03
MANCHURIA'S BIG CITY
KIRIN's DENSE POPULATION, VAST
WEALTH AND CIVILIZATION.
A Russo-Chincse Flag Waves Over AZ
An Arsenal THAT Turns ont Dol
Iars-A Glance at Past History.

The Picking correspondent of the London
Times recently Travelled across Manchuria
along the course of the projected Trans
manchurian Railway. From Vladivostock he
went up the Amur and Shika rivers to
| Strettnsk, the limit of practical navigation.
and then returned to Vladivostock across
country. KiTin, enc of the principal cities
of the peninsula. is In the gIanary Of Man.
churia, the writer says. From Petuna to
Kirin is three days Journey by steamer.
| Concerning Kirin the correspondent says:
'Kirin, with it's 100000 people, is the sec
! ond greatest city in Manchuria- 1t is beau
ufully situated on a bend of the Sungari.
Its wealth is enormous and the standard
of comfort of its inhabitants a very high
one. No advantage OF position or environ
ment is wanting TO justify the Russians in
selecting this as the chief center Of the
Transmanchurian Railway. There Is, first,
its position in relation to Port Arthur, to
which point, as to the eventual terminus or
tbs railway. Russian engineers are now
making preliminary surveys; there is. sec
ondly, the richness of the surrounding ter
ritory, where foodstuffs could be procured
sufficient to provision the whole army of
Siberia; and, finally, there is its vulner-
ability. for the Russian frontier posts, Pol
tafka and NovoSievsk are both within
fourteen marches of the CITY,
Wood is abundant in Kirin foated down
In huge RATS from the mountain sources OF
the Sungari. in the Chang Pai-Shan There
is timber sufficient to supply sleepers to
half the railways of Asia. Coal is also
abundant, but of inferior quality. Household
black coal is delivered al the door for SIS per
ton. Twenty miles north of the city, how
ever, an excellent brown coal is found,
which is stated to be equal to the brown
coal used on the Hungarian railways. 1t
is worked cd only IN shallow pits with the
vision and by the aid of modern machinery
the output is capable of indefinite expan-
sion. For two years past this field has been
carefully studied by a Russian mining eX-
pert.
CLASSIFICATION OF KIRIN
"The classification of the city is proceed
ing. Samovars are seen in every inn. Rus
sian engineers, escorted by Cossacks, drive
in tarantasses through the crowded streets.
The Russians have little more to gain in
Manchuria. They have the right to mine,
the right to build houses and import all
kinds of machinery for railway and mining
USE They have the right to unrestricted
navigation Of inland waters, and they have
the right to protect themselves by force, in
dependent of Chinese. And with it all the
Chinese are content, and they are pre-
pared to welcome any further change
which would remove them from the exac-
tons of their own officials. The dread OF
the Chinese during war is not of the en-
envy much as of the undisciplined rab-
bic called Chinese braves, who enlist solely
to pilage the people whom they are sent
to protect The Russian colonel. GroE1bt-
chefSky, was in Kirin in August, in river
steamer belonging to the government at
no official went out to meet him. He
thereupon anchored his steamer abreast or
fnn
whistle until the whole city knew OF his
arrival. The respect that was shown him
was abject.
Russians to the number of two or three
hundred live m Chinese barracks beyond
the west gate of the city. The flag that
waves above them is typical of the Russian
Chinese imperial flag with the Russian col
ors set in the upper right-hand corner me
Chinese in Kirin regard the Russian occu-
patton as unavoidable, and are therefore ar
ranging to take advantage of 1t by intro
ducing wares acceptable to Russians and
by learning Russian. No branch of the
Russo-Chinese Bank has yet been estab-
lished here, the important Russian ex-
change business being satisfactorily handed
by the Heng Sheng Ching, Chinese bank,
whose correspondents are in every I'M
portant town in North China. Kirin has an
arsenal consisting of a number or large
buildings crowded with a medley of ma
chnery mostly German rejects. The ar
sci al is mainly a repairing shop, though 1t
is capable of manufacturing ten thousand
Hotchkfss and nine thousand Mauser cart
ridges per day. Since the war with Japan
YingallS are the only weapons mace mere;
they are long weapons with a barrel like
gas pipe, and their advantage IN Chlnese
estimation is that the detonatlon on hs-
not a Chinaman's. To much better service
has the arsenal been put in the minting or
out the province They have the arbitrary
exchange value of 200 cash, they are rougn
in workmanship, and made of debased sill
yer, but they are an immense advance upon
the native currency.
OTHER INTERESTS IN KIRIN.
apart from it's position as one of the
chief markets of British goods sent inland
from Nuchwang, Kirin possesses local
Interest to Enelshmen the spot where
In December, 1895, peculiarly gross insult
was offered to our nation by Chinese off,
Gals The case is worth recalling, as it
proves once more, though further proof is
hardly needed, what absolute bad faith the
Chinese ever show in their dealings with
civilized powers. In Kirin, in December, 1895,
40 Ling. the project, summoned before him
the native evangelist Of the Irish Presby-
terrain Mission, and without trial caused
him to be cruelty beaten. His offense was
that he had acted as intermediary in the
purchase of site for the new mission hos
pital. He was thrashed in the presence OF
two English missionaries who had accom-
panied him to the Yamen, and who between
the blows were foully reviled by the pre-
feet. A guard of soldiers specially sent by
the military governor kept order during the
fiogging. 1t was some time before the insult
could be made known, for by order of the
authorities messages from the foreigners
were refused at the telegraph Office. Once
it was reported demand was made that
the project should be dismissed. In April,
1886, the project was recalled to Peking
llominally for degradation, but actually to
receive unofficial appreciation of his act In
September assurance was given that the
project would never again hold office vet
two months later he impudently re-
stored to his former post in Kirin. Remon-
STRANGE on our part again caused his re-
moVal but the removal was in the nature Of
a reward, for the Chinese government at
appointed him project of Kuang-
Cheng-Tzu, post in the same province still
more lucrative than that of Kirin. This
post he still holds
AT Kirin the railway will cross tho
Sungari and go east to Omoso 100 miles,
and then northeast to Ninguta 100 miles
further. Two mountain ranges of no great
altitude, densely wooded with elm and pine
lie athwart the course. They will have to
be crossed; then the valley of the Hurka
will be entered and followed down past
Lake Bitten TO Ninguta. Large inns pro-
vide for a considerable traffic. Every twen-
ty miles along the route there is a guard
house, with thirty or forty soldiers of the
usual type of the look see Chinese brave
The first pass t2,000 feet) is the Lao Yeh
Ling-"His Excellency'' pass-so called be-
cause the summit is crowded by temple