Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1908-07-15
SHANGHAI TEA HOUSE.
DIR. EDwORDS COMPARES 1T WITH THE
JAPANESE.
Another Letter Describing the Filthiness so
Prevalent in China. Which He Seems
to Find Wherever He Goes.

SDaHSnal, Onlna, July H:-In6
greatest shock to my precenceived
notions of Chinese life came when I
went to what is con sidered the most
famous tea house in Shanghai. l re-
membered the clean tea houses of
Japan. with all their beautiful sur
roundings, attentive girl waiting and
extreme simplicity l naturally
thought 1 should find in the Chinese
tea houses some attractive feature
which would, in measure, offset the
vileness through which had passed
all morning
The tea house was two story build
ing typically Chinese in its architec-
ture. Its quaint appearance remind
ing one of the pictures on the old blue
and white chinaware The building
rose from the center of pond, and
was reached by curious old bridge,
so zigzag in its construction that one
was compelled to wonder what a
drunken man would do if he had to go
across for a drink House, bridge
and pond were all unspeakably dirty.
The pond was covered with green
slime, and from it rose such terrible
odors that | was forcibly reminded of
che Chicago river in the old days be-
fore that city built it's great sanitation
canal The bridge was grimed with
the dirt of centuries. and as l entered
the building, it struck me as being
cold and damp. and emitted an odor
like a charnel house.
In the second story there were
tables, and taking a seat we ordered Z
tea which was brought by man,
about as dirty as the people whom
we had avoided in the streets The
tea was brought in large porcelain
cups, and accompanying them were a
lot of cakes, the appearance of which
precluded the possibility Of eating
them. The tea was good. but could
not go the cakes. so / dissected one of 2
them and il looked rs if it were COM
posed of chopped vegetables and
fruits, and the taste that took that /
felt as if | had eaten bit of mouldy
salve
No effort was made on part of pro-
prietor or attendants to serve us. and
after the tea and cakes had been put
down on the table the waiter went
about his business, unmindful OF our
desire to get something more. tried
to attract attention but it was no use.
and finally we had to content our
selves with the tea and cakes and go
away without having an opportunity
of learning what else they had to
serve
Back to the streets again we went,
wondering il we could stand to con-
tinue our Investigations until evening.
Wherever we went the same condition
met us. Filth beyond description,
people squalid. filthy to a degree in
conceivable to one who had never seen
it, odors that seemed to have been de-
fling the air since the beginning IF
time, and above all the horrible din
kept up by the thousands of hurrying
people When a palaquin, carrying
some parsonage of importance. would
pass along the street the bearers would
crowd the people to the wall. knock
ing down those who did not hurry.
and pass on as utterly unmindful of
the rights of others as il thev were
the only ones on the narrow alleyway.
Human life is the cheapest thing
there Is in all China, and as | smelled
the smells. and saw the terribly un-
nit ~ co dition of tn city, | won
dered how many generations it had
taken to make these immune to
disease Had white people lived in
such unsanitary state they would have
been swept from the face of the earth
by pestilence, but these people seem to
go along in fnll health as if dirt and
filth wefe their natural condition.
Sometimes a pestilence of cholera or
small pox comes along and kills off a
few hundred thousands, but they do
not mind it, In fact saw three men
with pustules of smallpox ON their
faces passing along the street in the
crowd unnoticed by those around
tnem
Late in the afternoon we passed
through the gate and it seemed as if
we had reached another condition in
life. Fresh air and pure conditions
made it seem as if we had passed from
some pest hole into purified region.
fully realized now the density of the
Chinese population. l no longer won
dered at the fact that there is four
hundred million people in this land,
except tn wonder how it happened
that they were not all swept off the
face of the earth by pestilence and
famine. That they die by millions in
China is no wonder That they live
at all is wonder. What saw in the
city of Shanghai startled me at the
time, but l have seen such things
since then that made me feel that it
is wonderfully good thing that the
United States government has passed
exclusion laws.
Clarence f. Edwords.