The National tribune., 1908-04-09

D
| nese Empire has excited the feeling
of the civilized world and there is now
pronounced movement against 1t.
Secretary Hay took a vigorous position
in favor of the integrity of the. Chinese
Empire against all other nations, and
we are still adhering rigidly to this in
a way that has recently attracted the
attention of the world. Secretary Root
informed the American Consuls at Har-
bin and other places in Manchuria,
which had been taken by the Russians
and japanese, that they must get their
exequaturs from the Chinese Govern
ment and not from either Japan or
Russia, which are exercising government
over the district. This means that the
United States will not acknowledge their
exercise of any permanent government
al authority over that great country.
but continue to regard it as a portion
of China in which they are temporarily
stationed.
| Shanghai.
The city of Shanghai is the principal
port of central China, and is situated on
| the Hwang-pu, or, as 1t IS sometimes
spelled, Whangpo River, about II miles
from where that river empties into the
great Yangtsze Kiang (kiang means riv-
err, with fine large harbor and of
easy access to the ocean. One gets his
first sight of China while sailing up the
| Whangpo, which is a rather narrow
river with low banks. To the traveller
who is visiting the country for the first
| time, and who has imagined China to
be something like human ant-hill, the
| small number of people seen along
these banks awakenS surprise. Occa-
sionally a blue-clad figure is to be seen,
and occasionally, too, house, and the
| ground appears to be almost entirely
under cultivation. But if the signs of
I l. 60, I,n
ancestors are plentiful enough, appear
| ing everywhere in low mounds and in
brick and mud tombs. In some places
they are so thick that one could with
difficulty step between them. The Chi
neSe junks, SampanS and other wa.er
craft seen in the sail up the Whangpo
make also a very interesting sight, being
so strikingly different from anything we
have in this country. The Chinese junk
is particularly picturesque, and looks
exactly like the pictures one sees of il.
1t is black, with big brown bamboo
ribbed sails, and on its PROV are painted
two big eyes, for, as the Chinese say,
| IF no eyes, how can see?" The sides
are decorated with curly lines and
splotches in black and white, with per-
haps a dash of red here and there, and
the tout ensemble is very curious and
interesting. AS the city is neared the
buildings and people become more nu
merous, among the former several large
factories being particularly noticeable.
''The Paris of the East"
Shanghai is called the Paris of the
East, and people from all parts of the
| world are gathered there. 1t was first
| thrown open to trade in 1912, and con-
cessions of land soon after granted the
French, British and Americans who had
| gathered there for residence quarters.
This foreign part of the city is laid out
| in fine streets, lined with handsome
! buildings, and looks just like any other
| European or American city. A fine
bund runs along the river frontage of
the three foreign settlements,Sand the
public buildings in the, British settle
ment are particularly large and costly.
The old Chinese city is inelosed by a
high wall laid out in dark, Shiny, alley
| like streets, filled with people rushing
here and there, curious, interesting, but
unutterably filthy and foul smelling.
Many Chinese occupy the European
quarter, and there are streets in this
| part, narrower than the others, filed
with the Chinese shops. These look so
| like the pictures seen Of them1hat one
feels strangely at home when passing
! thru them Here are the weIl-known
| panel-shaped signs hanging from the
shops, some black with gold or red Chi
nese lettering, or gold with black. Each
SHOP Is also nuUS "ltn IniHeSe
| lanterns, and at night, when these are
| lighted and the open shops filled with
natives who also crowd the streets, 1t Is
a sight not soon to be forgotten. 1t Is
| especially exciting to ride thru these
gay, bright streets at night in the novel
rickshaw, meeting the little sing-song
girl, seated gracefully on the shoulders
| of a coolie, her tiny little pointed, de-
| formed feet crossed IN front on the way
| to the tea hOuSe. where she is to sing
These bewildering little creatures are
attired in gorgeous embroidered COS.
tunes, with their foreheads, chins and
lower part of the cheeks cover d with
a white paste, the upper part of the
cheeks and center of lower lip bril-
| liant scarlet, the glossy black front hair
| cut in a curious way and plastered
down, and the entire head covered with
| gold and fancy pins and sort of head
dress of pearl beads. Sometimes half
a dozen of these girls are met as they
lare being rushed thru the narrow streets
to the different tea houses.
The fashionable drive is along the
"Bubbling WelF' road, where one meets
all Shanghai. Here are to be seen the
rich Chinese youths, lying back indo-
Iently in their victorias, their sickly
yellow faces telling the story of indul-
gence IN the vice that is sapping China's
strength; middle-class Cinnamon in
rickshaws; poor people in the wheel
barrow SO common in use here, which
has a board in the middle and holds
three people on a side; dear little Chi
nese ladies with their painted faces and
lpearl-decorated heads; handsome young
English women in their elegant equip
ages; Chinese mandarins in their rich
sedan chairs, so curtained as to be near
lily concealed from the vulgar gaze; big