Evening star., 1919-03-27
T|ENTS|N IS RATED
PANORAMA CITY"
Scene of Recent Disorders in
China Described by Geo.
graphic Society.

Tientsin. scene of recent disordsrs in
which Americans and japanese were in
volved. is described In the following bull
letin from the National Geographic So
ciety:
ITO walk about Tientsin is to travel.
An afternoons stroll from the native to
the British, French. Italian, Russian and
other quarters gives the sensation OF
magic tour through Peking. London.
Paris. Rome and Petrograd. And the
windmills among the salt mounds just
outside the city add a touch Of Holland.
This panorama city has had . tenn
pestuous history. There a group OF
american and other foreign residents--
Herbert &. Hoover among them-de-
Tended themselves for a month against
the fanatic Boxers in 1900.
"Since then the native city has been
known as Cheng-G or town without
walls, because the ancient barriers were
demolished during the siege. or the 500
doughty foreigners more than fifty were
killed and many others wounded before
military aid came.
Another Famous Siege.
"Tientsin was the scene OF another
famous siege, that OF the TAPPING rebels
in 1853. Followers of Hung Sin Tsuan.
who had professed Christianity and set
himself up in Nanking as the Heavenly
King. marched toward Peking- But the
Waterloo OF the long haired rebels SO
called because they could not plait their
queues and thus signify loyalty to the
Manchus. came at Tientsin.
THE success of the campaign against
the revolutionists was due principally to
the gallant Chinese Gordon'-Gen.
Charles George Gordon-and his ever
victorious army But the fact would
not be suspected from reading the impe-
rial edict. issued by the former concu-
bine who had elevated herself to en-
press dowager. The edict set forth that
This glorious victory Is entirely due to
the bountiful protection of heaven. to
the ever r-present help OF our ancestors.
and to the foresight of the empress re-
gent A tribute is paid to the Chinese
generals who have been combed by the
wind and bathed in the rain,' and one
of them was awarded the decoration of
the double-eyed peaeock's feather.
Region Known as chichou.
1.-THE region about Tientsin was
known as Chichou under the Hsia
dynasty. whose rulers 1000 years
ago already had court astronomers
who could predict eclipses. Later it
was called Yachou, in the Chou dy-
nasty. marked by the western wars
barbarians,' thought to have been an
cestors of the Huns. Tientsin dates
back at least to the fourteenth CEN
tury.
"The salt industry in the neighbof-
hood of Tientsin is prodisious. Wind
mills are used to pump salt water
into the fields along the Halo river.
where the widely known Chang-iu
salt is made. Before the war nearly
20, 900 tons were produced annually.
But Tientsin is important commer-
cialIy in many respects. 1t Is rice
market and Siberia's tea formerly
was shipped through there. Exports
were as varied as the needs or the
dozen or 30 nations which had sepa.
rate settlements along nve miles OF
the river front, and its imports were
as diverse as the commodities those
nations had to exchange.
"Tientsin has more people than Hos-
ton. 1t Is the principal city OF Chih-
Ii. and is eighty-six miles southeast
OF Peking by rail-"