The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-05-26
Students in Topeka Tell of
Their Nations Progress.
They Are Here to Study Ameri-
can Railway Methods.
NATION HAS new IDEAL
Hopes to Again Lead World
Civilization as 1t Once Did.
Students Here Are Progressive
Polished and Cultured.

and power of the far east crested
world civilization. The Manchu dy-
NASTY represented the culture and re-
finement of the universe: its royal
courts were the most gorgeous, its
industries the most gigantic. The
great wall of China was regarded the
super effort of man. The pendulum
of civilizs ton, swinging slowly thru
out the ages, cast dlmly US snauoW
of enlightenment upon the Orient,
and receded, leaving China land OF
darkness, the thrones of the Man.
chus tottering and the great wall
crumbling
far east is taking lessons in civiliza-
ton and constructive industry from
| America the country now lighted
most by civilizations swing ana
land unkr own to the world when the
Orient Graded progress. Chinese stu
dents sent to this country to stud;
culture and industry, are being tutor.
/ ed in American colleges, factories and
railroad offices.
Study in Topeka
| Topeka is becoming one of the GEN.
ters for the study of railroads by tho
Japanese and Chinese. This week, in
the Santa Fe offices here, two Chin
csc, Da Chang WI and PaqGan Sel1eu
Hsu, stood behind long drafting ia
bles and studied American railroad
construction. Three years ago they
were sent mere Dy inc SI1lHeSS SONSIIA-
ment to study railroad building and
operation. First they went to the
University of Michigan. Graduating
from there, the university placed them
with the Santa F'e to finish their ed
ucation Da Chang WI has been in
the Topeka offices for several
months; Hsu almost as long.
Today WI. having gained a work
ing idea of engineering as taught by
the Santa Fe, goes to Chicago to study
executive problems. Hsu Will work
here and on other parts of the system,
Topeka's popular conception of
Chinaman is discredited by the two
students. The average Topekan, when
he thinks of an Oriental, shuts his
eyes and sees a squat individual with
flowing garments ana queue. Da
Chang WI and Paquan Selieu Hsu
wear no queue. Neither are they
squat nor do they wear flowing gar
ments. -
High Types of Manhood.
Da Chang WI is probably one of
Chinese in America. Immaculate,
dressed neatly in the height of Amer
lean fashion, his figure is tall, slender
and his muscles supple. He carries
all the culture and refinement of a
modern Chesterfield Not only does
he carry it, he uses it. His business
cards. like his social ones, are finely
engraved; are plain, small refined
slips of linen, a contrast to the bust
ness cards of America. generally big
typed and printed in colors. Da
Chang Wu's forehead is high; his face
is slender. His dress suggests that he
buys his necllties and shoes to match
his other clothes and does not buy his
clothes to match his neckties.
But thing or two about Chinese
industries as told by WI:
Anticipated coaches and railway
equipment of China are being re-
placed with modern equipment. Rail-
roads are being built modern ones
using American coaches and engines.
The Baldwin Locomotive Works have
sent hundreds of railway engines to
China and are making more for SINH
lar shipments.
Modern methods, and modern IDEAS
according to WI are driving supersti-
ton from the minds of the Chinese.
Little opposition is shown toward the
railroads, where a few years ago the
locomotives, running with the speed CT
the wind and belching fire and smoke,
would have been regarded as devils
OF steel or some mythical dragons
come to destroy.
Troubles in China.
Ancestor worship still remains in the
interior and it is here that lies China's
problem. The railroads being built
thru there sometimes meet with oppo-
sition. Especially so if the right of
way should happen to run near or
thru graveyard. There are thou
sands of sacred burial places, guarded
by sentinel-like places of worship,
in the country, and sometimes it is
almost impossible to survey a line
without running thru them. In the
majority of cases the owners refuse
to sell and the military power has to
intervene. Sometimes the military pow
er has its doubts about such things
and the railroad builders have real
trouble. How is it overcome? The
ingenuity and determination of scions
of the men that builded the Chinese
wall answers that. The roads general
| ly go thru.
China is preparing for the return
swing of the pendulum. A few thou
sand years from now, the far east may
again lead in world civilization. Da
/ Chang WI thinks it will