The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-01-07
CHINESE CITIES DIFFER
TIEN-TsrN MORE ATTRACTIVE To
STRANGERS THAN PICKING.
Civilization Makes It's Way in China
slowly-Curious Race Mixtures
Tongku Baggagemen.
Correspondence of the indianapolis Journal.


SHANGHAI, Nov. 10.--When one is told
that the railway now carries you TO the
gates of Picking, there is a feeling of relief
and satisfaction which the truth does not
Justify. From Legation street, upon which
the hotel and the legation are situated
as it's name would imply-there is a long
stretch of thoroughfares in comparison to
which our Western corduroy roads are lux
urious. These must be traversed in the
springless Picking cart. out of which the un-
Initiated alight more or less bruised and
battered At the gate OF the outer city the
cart may be exchanged for the electric
tram, which carries you to the station
more than three miles from the legations.
and which viii not be removed nearer the
gates until the Chinese dread OF flung shut
IS overcome Fung shut, as l have ex-
planned In former letters. Is the mysterious
influence emanating from wind and water.
which may be propitious or malevolent as
It is respected or defied. A tall chimney.
a telegraph pole, the railway line itself. are
all opposed to a benefcient flung shui-a be-
lief which the cunning necromancer, like
all of his craft, of every class, condition
or nationality, cleverly turns to his credit.
When the railway was opened from
Tien-Tsin 70 Picking, two years ago, IL was
looked upon with much hostility by the
more superstitious, and it required the
utmost tact and finesse on the part of the
progressive element to carry the undertake
ing toy a successful conclusion One rumor.
industriously circulated, was especially
harmful, and this was that the foreigners
had propitiated the evil spirits by muir
dering children and burying them under
the ties; the people were assured that a
dead child would be found under each tie.
and K never seemed to occur to those
who spread the story-an example OF char
acteristic rt-sightedness-that it's truth
or falsity could be very speedily demon
strated. However, even in Picking the
world moves and the Chinese must move
with it. But 1t was picturesque, to say the
least. to see the strangely contrasted East
and West-the spick and span, glittering,
jingling electric car spinning along on one
side OF the road. under the gray and an
Client walls, and the trains of camels with
their loads of skins and charcoal, crawling
along the other-just as they did when the
Queen OF Sheba went up to pay her re-
spects to the court OF King Solomon.
ENGLISH RAILWAY METHODS.
Tsin has been splendidly constructed-the
bed like adamant and the streams spanned
by admirable steel bridges of the latest pat
tern. The little stations of gray Chinese
brick are delight to the eye-the work of
an architect who was an artist as well. for,
while they serve the purpose for which
they were designed. they still conform suf-
ficiently &c the architecture of the country
TO be pleasing and harmonious. There are
no baggage cars and no checking systems.
which goes without saying, since the line
is the work OF English engineers. When
your trunk is rescued from the coolies it is
deposited on the platform outside the door
where you can keep an eye on it and be
ready to stop the train should it be jolted
off into a ditch by the roadside. A stout
Chinaman was an unconscious aid in my
responsibility. as he kindly sat on my
trunk and so held it down. One meets
many strange people in this strange quar-
ter OF the world; Americans everywhere,
a matter OF course, asking streams of
questions where they can find anyone who
speaks English: brusque British subjects.
Germans. Belgians, Russians and French.
BY the same token. there are some strange
amalgamations Of races, of which the Chi
nese, Of course. form the basis. On the
ship going north in September I met the
wife Of an official who had been the Chi
nese ambassador to France; she was No.
s, apparently intelligent, well-bred
woman, an accomplished musician and lin
guist- She had with her her FIVE French
Chinese children-all of them In complex
Ion. hair and eyes much more Chinese than
French One, a little girl, was an odious
little wretch. with the bad temper and
cruelty OF a long line of Oriental ancestry
behind her. which the Latin strain Gid
not improve.
On the return my compartment was
shared by young Czech. who introduced
himself. lifted his hat, and who begged in
broken English to be OF "any service to
me. and by Belgian gentleman who has
lived in China for thirty-four years. He
had married Chinese wife-a Manchu
woman Of large and commanding figure.
and with decidedly intelligent face. She
was beautifully dressed in a Manchu dress
an overgarment of rich black brocade,
trimmed around the neck and sleeves with
bands of embroidery. this splendid garment
being fastened by loops and buttons of dull
yellow gold and worn over a skirt of blue
with gold and jewels and became her we'll
PLEASANT TO STRANGERS.
One is impressed everywhere with the
delightful cordiality and hospitality OF the
far East No one but your own country
people. who are seeing the great world for
the first time. stares at you blankly and In
grim silence; your fellow-travelers intro
duce themselves and press upon you what
ever they may happen TO have OF food or
drink The expatriated Belgian was no
exception TO the rule. He spoke very good
English, and he Immediately introduced his
wife and told me with the greatest pride
that she had had twenty children fourteen
OF them sons, all living and doing we'll in
various parts of China, two being al
school in the Island Of Jersey One Of
them was an interpreter TO the Belgian
legation in Peking-a tall, handsome
young man who had come to the station
TO bid his parents good-bye-for they lived
In Tien-Tsin and had been paying him a
visit He wore no queue and. elegantly
dressed in weII-fitting European clothes
but for his broad shoulders and six feet Of
stature. looked much more ike a French
man than a Chinaman. When the train
started he kissed both parents affection