Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1908-07-08
THE CITY OF SHANGHAI
DR.. EDWORDS DESCRIBES UNIQUE
CHINESE CITY.
Native City Of Shanghai Surrounded by
High Wall, and Resembles Immense
Ant Hill, With Closely Packed
Throng Of Inhabitants.

Shanghai, China, July 1.-The 1
foreign city of Shanghai, that is the
city where dwell the foreigners, has
been described SO often that / shall
pay no attention to ir, or its beautiful
parks, fine streets and buildings, and
general air of cleanliness and sani-
tation. think you will be more in
terested in learning something about
the real Chinese way of living. and
while the story is not nice one
shall try to do justice to the occasion,
and tell how the real article compares
with our ideas of cleanliness
The native city of Shanghai is sur
rounded by high wall, that looks as
if it were built for the purpose of
forming barricade that nothing short
of ten inch gun could overthrow.
The top is crenelated as if for the use
of cannon. but no cannon have ever
been there. These walls have a num-
Der of gates which are closed at night
keeping the Chinese in and the for
eigners out. The city is divided off
into many districts, something like
wards in an American city, but these
districts are separated by high walls
with'gates. This system is so perfs ct
that if a crime be committed in one
district of the city at night the crimi-
a1 ha
open in the morning Between the
walls, surrounding the houses, are
narrow lanes which serve as streets,
and if I were to describe the filthy
and horrible condition of these pas
sage ways | am sure no paper would
print the disgusting details, The con-
ditions of fearful noise and filth in all
Chinese cities is such that no Cauca-
sian could live IN them, and as re-
suit all of the larger Chinese cities
have concessions to foreigners, where
they live and keep things clean.
AS l approached the gate of the
Chinese city of Shanghai l was re-
minded of disturbed ant hill Out
of the gate poured such jostling,
hurrying shrieking throng of human
ity that l thought Bedlam had been
let loose. AS we neared the gate the
throng became more dense and the
noise increased until / wondered how
we were going to get through. re-
membered that in Japan was treated
with politeness and courtesy wherever
l went, and consoled myself with the
thought that the same courtesy would
be extended here by Chinese. But that
is where l counted without my host.
Chinese are neither polite nor cOur-
teous, and in addition to that they
hate the 'fanquai, or foreign devils.
as they call all white men. This aver
sion applies equally 70 all foreigners.
The high walls of the city were just
beyond bridge which crossed mOat
or canal, filled with the vilest of
liquid filth, and as entered the gate
dodging the loads Of the carriers.
saw such crowd of men and boys as
l never expected to see anywhere on
earth 1t was very much like re-
production of Dante's Inferno. with
disregard of everyone. Women and
children were rudely pushed and
jostled out of the way. and l was
compelled to keep my wits about me to
avoid beiug run into by men carving
buckets of sewage 70 be deposited in
the moat Just outside the city wall.
Everything was un>peakably filthy and
dirty, and no one cared whether you
were thrown down and trampled on or
not; in fact think they would have
been glad to thus how their antip-
athy for the American.
AS / proceeded along the street in
this strange throng. some boys caught
sight of me and Immediately shouted
fanquai," which attracted the at
tention of such other boys and men
who were idle enough to permit their
taking time To say something unplea-
SAINT The boys followed me. some
slyly throwing dirt at me. and l was
forcibly reminded of the treatment /
had seen accorded to Chinese in San
+ Francisco by gang of hoodlums 1t
was quite different when l was the
victim, and l fully realized how the
Chinese must look upon our people as
a race of barbarians
Vile odors. extreme filth. noise and
turmoil were the predominant feat
ures OF these streets. and it was not
only at the gate that the crowd was
so great. but wherever l went ii was
the same-everybod in a hurry as ii
it were the last day and minute to
perform an allotted task. Everybody
was as dirty as the streets. and the
latter looked as if they had neither
been swept nor cleaned since the city
was .uilt several thousand years be-
fore. Alongside the street ran bitches
which were used for convenience sta
tions in most public and offensive
manner. Everything seemingly old
and decaying. there was not the
slightest evidence of anyone attempt
ing to repair or improve single
thing.