Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1908-08-26
IN SOOCHOW, CHINA
DIR. EDWORDS VISITS THE OLDEST AND
MOST HISTORIC CITY IN ALL CHINA.
Trip on House Boat on the Yangste River.
Soochow on the Grand Canal. Greatest
Artificial Waterway in the World.

Soochow, China, Aug. II This
the narrow window of my house boat,
upon the crumbling walls of what is
probably the oldest and most historic
city in all China. 1t might be we'll,
however, before l tell about this
interesting city, to tell how it comes
that l am on house boat away up
the Yangtse river. The house boat is
quite an institution in China. 1t is
nothing like the shanty boats on
American rivers. but is built for
comfort of travellers. and is navigated
at the end of rope drawn by
power launch. Foreigners in China
have house boating down to q fine
point. and naturally so. for the
country is network of canals and
there is no railroad communication
between points in the interior. The
better class of Chinese are also great
users of the house boat. and with
them it is no new institution for they
had them before the dawn of the
Christian era. The house boat of the
wealthier Chinese mandarins are most
elaborate affairs. 80 far as decorations
are concerned
Foreigners have improved the house
boats until they are comfortable
homes, and one can hire them for a
small sum. In our party there are
five of us, and we have house boat,
with six boatmen, two cooks and two
boys to wait on the table. The total
cost of this. with these men and
provisions to run us is but five dol
lars, gold, day.
Ordinarily the house boat moves
along at snail pace, pulled by men on
the bank of the canal by means of
rope, but we decided to take a trip to
Soochow and found several other
house boats going at the same time SO
we clubbed together and employed the
services Of a Japanese who owns a
steam launch, and we travelled en-
train up the canal. In the four other
boats we're lot of young foreigners.
English and American. going to the
paddy fields to hunt, and one boat
carried missionary and his wife,
returning to their work after vaca-
tion in Japan.
This picturesqueness Of the scenery
seemed uncanny and unreal. 1t was
a bright moonlight night as we came
up the Yangtse river, and from every
house boat came sounds of music and
merry voices We left Shanghai in
the afternoon and when we awoke
this morning we were at Soochow.
the city that has been the center of
much of Chinese history. Here the
Taipings made their last stand in our
own day; here "Chinese Gordon"
broke the power of the Chinese for
ever, in the bloodiest battle in all this
bloody land; it was here that Prince
Lii Hung Chang achieved favor at the
hands of his royal master by treacher-
ously beheading four rebel kings who.
under his promise of mercy. had
surrendered.
| They are very old. these walls. so
old that not even legend tells when
they were built They were old when
Solomon built the temple at Jerusa-
lem. So well have they stood the
attack of time that they are strong to-
day, and at their base the children for
Christian missionaries play, while the
track of the Shanghai. Marking rail-
base 1t is claimed that within these
walls eight hundred thousand of the
Inhabitants of Soochow fell victims of
fire and sword during the TAPPING
rebellion. but the old city rapidly re-
covered her loss and is today one of
the greatest marts in all China. The
game market is without eqnal in the
| world. for she stands at the edge of
the most wonderful game country to
be found anywhere. Deer, boar. hare.
rabbit, pheasant. partridges, quail.
WOouOoSh, P'o'OAs uuSR 0sho
geese may be bought at ridiculously
low prices, and walk through the
Soochow game market is enough to
thrill the nerves of the most blase
sportsman.
Soochow is on the grand canal. the
oldest and greatest artificial waterway
in the world. and to reach it we had
to pass along one of the numerous
canals intersecting the city. Soo-
chow, because of the canal, has been
dubbed the Venice of the Orient, but
the vile odors that rise from the
canals, which are also the sewers OF
the city, make one think of anything
except the beautiful city of Venice
1t is not pleasant to dwell upon the
sights that assail the eyes or the odors
that affront the nose, but can say
that il we had been navigating the
main sewer of New York we would
have had as pleasant trip.
Clarence E. Edwords.