Evening journal. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1888-1932, 1901-06-26
MILLIONS
STARVING in CHINA
atk ShadOWOf Hunger Over
Two Provinces
iIdren Are Sold for Bread-Li.
Hung Chang Appeals to Amer
lea for Aid

II 3
# rched fields and a drought Of three
lars duration; whole villages aban-
med to The dead, and the pOpulatiOnl
IS bsisting on roots and herbs; mothersl
Hing their children for bread. and
e horrors of cannibalism.
iuch is the awful picture that has re-
ntly been brought to the attention
the world from beyond the noun
y ms which enclose the provinces oil
#iansi and Shensi, in China.
The first break In the silence OIL
q spair. the first signal of distress from
s e millions Of starving in their iso-
Fl tion came in the fern Of a cable
am to America from Iii Hung Chang,
Ahinas Grand Old Man"-'the Bis
/. arck Of Asia
The cablegram in itself was a strange
3ling. For the first time in that long
history which began in the dawn OF
me, China was appealing for aid to
be newer world beyond the Great Wall
hid The great sea. Never before had
be like occurred. Calamities and wars
Ind pestilences there have been in
Nhina during the long, mOnOtOnous
Nynasties, but none that she consider
ID impossible of relief from resources
ithin her borders. All the traditions Of
Ter past, all precedent and religion
Mere opposed to a plea for aid from a
Foreign power Sad indeed, must be
he plight of the twenty millions,
when Ii Hung Chang says to Christian
America: Help, or we perishl"
Very serious famine Earl Ii ca
+ lled; spreads over whole province
shansi. over eleven million popula-
ion affected. Urgent relief necessary.
Conditions warrant immediate appeal "
WI Ting Fang, Chinese minister to
. he United States, supplemented the
.riceroy's words with an urgent mes
iage OF his own, and forwarded a
Translation of The following touching
appeal from the governor and native
Relief Committee Of Shansi
ITO Our Own People and Foreigners:
This time the famine is more seri-
bus than ever, because in the north
lre the allied TROOPS. and I'm the south
I'VE have several places in rebellion
nina is very poor now, and the people
.Bre in such a straitened position that
no very big assistance can be expect
1 ed from Them. Since more than sew
|eral months now, the famine has
been beginning in places in this prov
|ince. In some villages they are eating
human flesh.
"An our brothers in the world should
be very sorry for us. and should know
|how unfortunate we are. We wish all
our people to share some of your money
which you spend amusing yourselves
land for travelling, and for dressing
land for all kinds Of comforts, to res
cue these poor people 1t is much bet
ter to save the starving and dying
men. women and children here, than
TO build a pagoda or temple, or even a
church-because from ten to twelve
million people are suffering to death"
The two provinces OF Shansi and
Shensi are side by side in the Northern
part of the Chinese empire, COO miles
from the sea coast, their combined
area Of 157 900 square miles, about
that Of the New England States with
New York and Pennsylvania; yet
crowded into this small territory are
10000 600 human beings. more than
one-qualaer the entire population OF
the Uuited States.
shansi and Shensi we're once beauti.
full and fruitful. They are mountain
Gus and fuIrowed by picturesque val
legs In fact, liberal translation o.
Shansi would mean Mountains of the
East" For centuries before Western
history began, the dense population
cultivated rice on the terraces on ths
hillsides. Shansi is old even for China
It's principal city, Tai-yuen. was tn,
CAPITAL Of the empire when Pekin was
new. It's people were simple, con
tented and peaceable.
During the last decade. European
and American civilization has driver
an entering wedge into the prejudice'
and superstitions Of the mountain
provinces. Especially was this true o
lShansi, the nearer Of the two to the
sea coast. Until recently IL was the
scene Of the labors of more than 1SI
missionaries. Agents OF foreign firms
in Hong Kong and Shanghai have
crossed the mountain passes and have
made a beginning in what will some
day be undoubtedly a large impcr
trade with the farmers of the terracet
valleys.
There are comparatively few streams
I'm the two provinces. and water for uh'
rice fields is supplied by irrigatinl
ulfcnt8 anu Wells. lueSe ufN up WNel
rain fails, and the result is a failur
Of crops and famine. Such is tn
condition now. For two years scarce
~ any rain has fallen in Shansi an,
SlhensL
Before the last of the missionarie
left Shahsi. the black shadow G
hunger hung so low over the land a
to make even the famine horfers of In
dia small by comparison. And tn
shadow has continued to deepen. N
one will probably ever know the exac
number of victims but receut &C
counts give some idea cf the deatl
harvest that is being cleaned in TN
parched fields Rice, the one import
ant staple of food. is worth its weigh
in gold AS a substitute the reorie. il
sheer despair, eat grass and the leave
of trees.
Deaths are too numerous to max
funerals any longer possible Outsid
Of every village a doom pit Is dug an
every morning are laid the bodies q
those who have died during The night
covered only by a thin layer Of earth
Later in the day another ghas Nv lave
e nlaced upon them and the process
continued until tho rit Is nlei. viii
Seldom takes longer than a few DAYS