Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-06-25
TRAVEL IN CHINA
TOURISTS WOULD DO GOOD TO
FLoWERY KINGDOM.
No Hotel Facilities in the Interior for
Foreigners-The Celestial
View Of Things.

From the Shanghai Mercury.
Many and various have been the recon-
mendations made to China and the Chi
nese in order to induce them to join more
intimately in the comfy of nations. They
have been lectured and criticised. and criti-
cised and lectured until In all probability
the lessons which men of the west would
teach them, If they could, go in at one ear
and out at the other. This is so for va
riety of reasons. In his heart of hearts no
educated Chinaman acknowledges. even
now, that the west has anything of culture
to impart.
There are such things as steam engines.
and all that appertains to the world of ma
chinery, which he is inclined to hate with
a heartiness quite RuskinesGue in its in
tensity, and he is willing to grant that his
western lectures have gone beyond the
sageS in these but what of 1t? Smoke Is
not culture. neither is the whirr Of ma
chinery the music of the spheres. Man
kind in China has got on very we'll with
out trains rushing along at sixty miles an
hour, and could still.
Hotels Needed.
But alas! he argues, willy-nilly, China
has to do many things which she would
never have thought of doing but for the
intrusion of the foreigner. That we know
to be correct, and as the principle similia
similibus curantur ought to apply in the
far east as elsewhere, we would suggest to
him that he should set about making the
intruders pay for their intrusion. MOI
and more, as wealth accumulateS the
western world becomes a travelling world.
Everywhere in the north, south, east and
west may be found first the Englishman.
European nationalities Why do they not
come to China? A few do. The scouts
have already visited the land and spied out
the nakedness thereof in the one great
requisite Of western travel, the sine qua
non without which the occidental stops at
home-hotels.
Now these Uhlans of the great army of
glcbe-trotters have given in their reports to
headquarters at home. reports highly favor
able, but for the one thing needed, lack of
accommodation, and, added to it, the slow
ness of transit. But for these two, the
great wave of western wanderers would
come east and spread themselves over
China during the autumn, winter and
spring, and the more so that European and
American cities have become one dreary,
monotonous round of glazing light, con-
gested traffic and nerve-racking noise.
Every western city is like every other in
fifty things for one in which it differs.
Hence the constant demand for what is
new, unhackneyed. fresh. Men go to
Egypt, to Algeria and other Mediterranean
lands of semi barbariSm to get away for a
time from the rush and excitement of the
modern city. China would become the rage
in ten years If there were the requisite
facilities
Charm Of the Country.
For there is charm in up-country travel
in this magnificent land. a charm well
known to those of US who have enjoyed 1t.
something indescribable, partly because
there is nothing else in the world with
which to compare it, and partly because in
the autumn, winter and spring the climate
Is worthy of the beautifully varied assort-
ment of attractions which nature has Law
ished upon the flowery land. But it is
out of the question to hope for an influx
of tourists unless steps are taken to make
their travel at once secure and comfortable
We start away from Shanghai on shoot
ing other excursions with the house
boat loaded with provisions for the dura-
ton of the trip. Even for US it would be
pleasanter to be able to replenish stocks
here and there inland. But as yet it can
not be done. Doubtless when the railway
has come in earnest there will soon be an
improvement in this respect. The great
question for the Chinese authorities and
others is to consider whether or not 1t
would be worth their while to cater for
western travellers. They may not think
so. They will not think so If the old de-
sire for exclusiveness continues to hold
sway. But that we think is doomed to go.