The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram., 1911-06-05
Y. NJ. {. A. International Sec.
Sees A WQkening in the Orient

New York, June 5-The following
printed by the Evening Post. is from
letter written in Shanghai by Eu-
gene E. Barnett. of the international
Y. NJ. c. A. staff in China.
There are many things which I
have seen and felt and heard the last
two months about which / would like
to write. Things, especially in the in
terror cities, have seemed not simply
strange: one feels at first as if he
had landed on the Pliedes or the shores
of some equally familiar planet. and
this feeling begins to wear off only
as he begins to have some intercourse
with the people. There is one dom
inant impression constantly recurring,
however, as one moves among the
strange romantic scenes of this an
cient land, and that is that awaken
| ing China" is no mere fiction of the
days missionary oratory and litera-
ture, l might give many striking eX-
amples apparent even to the casual
| eye, which evidence this great transi-
ton, this "bloodless revolution" which
/ is affecting every phase of Chinas
| life today, but will tell only of one
most interesting and significant ev-
ent which l witnessed few days ago
/ refer to a public queue cutting
| led off by WI Ting Fang, former min
lister to Washington, and conducted at
the public garden of another promi-
nent citizen of Shanghai. Chang Su
Ho. An edict has for some time been
under advisement at Pekin permitting
the cutting of the queue. The edict
has been proposed to the throne in re-
sponse to strong growing sentiment
throughout the empire against this in
convenient and humiliating badge of
submission to an alien dynasty. Since
the appearance of the agitation, there
has been a marked disappearance of
the queue. My language teacher, who
halls from conservative and unmiti.
gatedly Chinese Hangchow told me the
last week of his intention to discard
his and went further to predict that
in ten years China would no longer
be a land of long haired men, and
that in twenty years it would cease to
be land of short footed women.
There are many who concur in this
opinion which appealed to me as sig
nificant, coming from one trained in
the old school, reared in an ancient
and conservative city, and one who
has had little touch with foreigners.
Spectators damned House
The public queue cutting to which
I refer took place in large teahouse
situated in the park mentioned above
Stewart, of the Shanghai association
and l accompanied each other to the
scene of carnage. Mr.. Soon, grad.
uatae of Vanderbilt university, a mem.
ber of the board of directors of the
Young Mems Christian Association
here, and a prominent Christian bus.
mess man of Shanghai He was on his
way to meeting of the Chinese Stu.
dent Federation, an organization OF
Chinese who have studied abroad but
very kindly postponed that engage.
ment to take us in tow. When we
alighted from the car and turned into
the wide street leading to the park a
block away, we found ourselves in the
midst of solid stream of Chinese
men and women bent on the same er.
rand as we. AS we passed through
the gate to the park, we confronted a
teeming Observation-Disclosures of peo
pie unable to get into the crowded
hall and moving in and out among the
numerous carriages, autos and rick
shas in which the more well-to-do had
been conveyed. With true American
spirit we pushed our way through the
crowd until half way in the hail.
which had been cleared of tea tables
for the occasion. l found two chairs
near to each other, each with an un
occupied corner, planting my feet
upon which / stood there like a Co