Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1919-12-05
LEGENDARY LORE
'FEATURESFOOCHOW
People of Ancient Chinese
City Most Imaginative
in the World.

Foochow, scene of a recent clash
between Chinese and japanese. is
! termed IAN inland Bremen of the Pa
cfic. situated on the River Min. the
| Hudson of south China" in a bulletin
from the Washington headquarters of
! the National Geographic Society.
| ''The Catskills of the Min. which
! include numerous hills about Foo
! chow, are storied by scores of Wash
| ingtOn IrVlngS and the legends, CEN
| turtles old. are completely credited by
a people who seem, to the occidental
mind, at once the most matter-of-
| fact and the most imaginative in the
world the bulletin continues.
Tea Export Phenomenal.
This busy port whose annual ex
port of tea alone once reached nearly
| 100. OOO. 900 pounds. is thirty-five miles
| from the sea, thr'e miles from the
! river that furnishes its OCEAN out
let, and the river is not navigabie Tor
| larger vessels nearer than ten miles
| balow the point where suburbs of the
w,Ted town to"ch its lazy course.
Moreover. FCochow's commerce
/ thrivcs without the aid of railroads,
or any good highways. To reach II
| the traveller must go by boat from
Shanghai or Honekong. steam up the
Min for twenty-five miles, to the Pa
soda anchorage. and then take
steam launch to Foochow pier.
Nowadays motor buses compass the
! remaining distance from the water
front to the walled city. but they still
are novelties enough to attract Curl
Gus crowds of unkempt children. not
yet trained to the sophistication OF
the older CfIinaman. who is seldom be-
trayed into acknowledging that air.
planes. electric lights and wireless
telegraphy are not his racial heri-
tagcs.
Many Physical Beauties.
Zone should not hurry into Foochow
proper, even if one could. for to do so
would be to miss the physical beau
ties and tabled history that accen-
tuate each step of the journey from
the ocean to this vicarious port.
ers. Should a diver be drowned. his
fellows stoically conclude that he has
fallen victim to the sea-turtle, Chi
nese equivalent for the legendary sea-
serpent of the west.
Near Pagoda anchorage rises Sharp
Peak. capped by a tower built by a
wife to welcome home an oriental
Enoch Arden who, when he saw it,
thought he had mistaken the river,
and sailed away again never to re-
turn. A mandarin'S footprint in
rock commentaries the summary
pun Shment of quarrymen who kept
on chopping away its companion foot
print, despite the flow of blood that
spurted out at each stroke. When re-
moved to a place in a bridge it regis
tered a protest by kicking it's BEARERS
into the river so that the companion |
was not molested.
Slow to Remove Obstruction.
The rivers obstruction at Pagoda
anchorage is artificial: formed when |
stone-laden barges Were sunk there to |
prevent q French fleet from reaching |
the city, during the Franco-Foochow !
IN &c, oh ofa ,c-4;a
the Chinese love for the status quo !
that Foochow business men have +!
waited SO long to take steps to clear |
the channel and thus avoid the end
less annoyance of constant reloading |
of cargoes. Measures now are being |
considered to connect Foochow with |
the sea by a channel fit for ocean
going vessels. Boards of trade and |
rivers and harbors congresses are re-
cent civic concomitants of the nation |
Way the world has known-the Grand |
canal.
But the most conspicuous lack of |
Foochow. your nose would know, upon |
entering the congested streets of the |
walled city, is board of health. 1t |
has been said that for 'offensiveness |
to the senses no town can compare |
with Foochow. The older streets are |
SO narrow, and so tortuous, for the |
most part, that wheeled vehicles can |
not traverse them. and even were they |
wider their surface would be too I'M
even for passage. |
Cholera Takes It's Toll.
Broad streets. newly paved. now
traverse many sections. Underground |
sewers have a habit of flowing forth |
into these cramped thoroughfares, |
and the suns purifying rays are
estopped by roofs from reaching
many of them. Children, pigs and |
oil n 6D0F- 4
ways: cholera occasionally reapsg an
indiscriminate harvest of man and
beast as it did only last summer, when
the local supply of collins soon was
used up and bodies were carried OH
in baskets.
"The older city is inclosed by. a
wall some thirty feet high, twelve
feet thick. and ITS circuit OF hVe
miles is pierced by seven tort gates
one of these being the North Tower,
The population of Greater Foochow.,'
including it's numerous suburbs, is
estimated at nearly 100000. IT is
the capital of the province of Fukien,
which produces the tea that makes
Foochow important. where tigers are
to be hunted, and where formerly
grew the peoples which made it
notorious in the days when there
were said to be more opium dens
than tea and rice shops in the city.
Opium Dens Bnnfshed.
Conspicuous proof that Foochow
is capable of civic reform, when once
stirred. was its campaign against
opium. conducted with posters and
orators, after the manner of local
option drive in the wetter days of
our own country. The campaign was
successful first in having license |
and permit system established and
Ultimately in banishing the dens in |
1907.
Foreigners live on a picturesque |
island across from the city, reached |
by the Bridge of the 10000 Ages
1.-THE high-pooped junks, with elab- |
crate decorations on their sterns, |
form an interesting feature of the
river life.
"Foochow supplies much lumber
from interior Fukien. and huge lum-
Der RATS can usually be seen in the
river. An Industry Of note is that
process handed down from generation