Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1911-11-14
CHINESE RAILROADS.
Graves Have Precedence Over Right
Of Way in Kingdom.

| GraVes rave Proc0dence over Right
of Way in Kingdom.
So great was the distrust of the
Chinese government and people of the
first railroad built In the Middle king
dom that after 1t had been in oper-
| alton a very short time they tore 1t
up. Fearing that even the materials
might be the cause Of bringing down
ill-luck upon them, they had the whole
thing-rails, sleepers and rolling stock
loaded on ships and carried to the
Island Of Formosa, then a Chinese
possession. This was done under pre-
tense Of giving the Formosans the
benefit Of the enlightenment Of the
west" as an imperial edict put 1t. But
there never was made a serious effort
to install 1t properly, and the rusting
and rotting materials lay there until
the Japanese picked them over In 1898
and used what they could In the con-
struction of a real railroad.
This heritage of mingled fear and
hatred has met foreign railway build
ers wherever they have pushed into
new territory in China, and every
road, Of course, Is practically In new
territory. In many instances whole
villages have been temporarily de-
serted on the approach of the first
locomotive, and more remarkable still.
hundreds Of coolies who had worked
for months on cuts and fills have fed
in dismay ct the appearance Of the
forerunning construction train.
A gang Of coolies which had STAN
peded to the hills on the coming of the
first locomotive was induced to re-
turn and get acquainted with the qui-
escent monster. Approaching 1t by
ones and twos in fear and trembling.
they gradually regained their cour-
age, and ultimately allowed them
selves to be grouped for a photogra-
pher. After couple Of plates had
been exposed, the Chinese engineer
seasoned veteran from another
road, who appears to have been some-
thing Of a joker-released the fun
pressure of the pent-up steam through
the whistle, at the same time allowing
the cylinder to blow of hot clouds Of
kissing vapor. The effect upon the
only half-assured coolies was some-
thing beyond description.
Several dozen sprang helterskelter
into the nearby canal, and the only
one who did not take to his heels-and
the hills-was man who attempted
a high dive from the top Of a cab
and broke his neck,
A few months after the railroad
was opened some of the inhabitants
of a village who had decamped en-
through. were found taking their
MONDAY siesta upon the track. These
particular coolies, who had been en-
gagged as section hands. after their
fright and distrust had worn of. were
not long in discovering that an 80
pound steel rail was almost identi-
cal In height and hardness with the
regulation Chinese wooden pillow.
7
of broken stone ballast were brushed
from a half dozen of the expensive
Australian hardwood sleepers, and
when the company's photographer
came along on handcar a half hour
later he found an equal number of
sleepers that were neither expensive
nor Australian.
A running fire Of peremptory orders
from the general managers office In
Shanghai was finally successful in
putting an end to what was rapidly
becoming a regular practice on the
part of section hands all along the
line
ever, 1t has been impossible to exer-
else much authority, and not even the
beheading Of several coolies caught
sleeping on curves, where the engi-
neers did not have fair chances to
stop their trains, has seemed to have
dampened the enthusiasm for sleep
ing on the sleepers" Of such villagers
as chance to become aweary on their
way.
One of the most persistent obsta-
cles in the way Of railway construc-
tion in China Is the presence Of the
old graveyards. There Is no way or
instituting condemnation proceedings
in China, and the man who does not
care to accept a monetary salve for
the injury to his feelings caused by
the obliteration of his ancestral tab
let's cannot be forced by public ex-
pediency" to move the sacred ashes
by which he sets so much store.
Most Of the concessions granted by
the Chinese government stipulate
that, as far as possible, graves OF all
classes shall be left undisturbed, and
to the credit of the foreign commits
sioners it may be said that even when
involving considerable losses Of time
and money these agreements, for the
most part, seem to have been scrupu-
lously observed. One Of the most
striking instances Of this difference
to the feelings of the Chinese came
to my notice while out with q party
which was on q brief trip Of inspec-
ton over the recently completed Kow-
loon railway.
The visit of inspection was in honor
of Mr.. A. w. U. Pope, general man.
ager of the Shanghai-Nanking rail-
ways, who was on his way to Europe,
and who, it may be said, has very
good chance of returning to the spe-
cialiy created position Of railway ad-
wiser to the Chinese government. Mr..
Pope's quick eye had noted the fact
that long steel, and concrete bridge
at which the special had halted ap-
peared to be several feet higher and
a good many feet longer than was
necessary, and he promptly called the
circumstance to the attention OF Sir
Frederick Lugard, the governor OF
Hongkong, on whose invitation we
were making the trip.
The latter smiled rather wearily.
as one who has to tell an oft repeated
story, and led the party to position
Of vantage on one Of the concrete
abutments.
You gentlemen see that group OF
graves down there" he queried.
pointing to little cluster Of horseshoe
shaped hollows, faced with concrete.
couple of hundred yards on the
downstream side Of the bridge. They
are the earthly resting places Of the
ancestors of the head man Of the lit
tie village around the bend, and the
oldest of them date back don't know
how many centuries. Now up there"
pointing on the other side OF the
bridge-"you see that temple and the
nine story pagoda? So. Well the
fengshui has 1t that unless man silt
ting on the topmost grave down there
has a clear view from the bottom TO
the top Of the pagoda none OF the splr-
its of the departed housed thereaDout