Norwich bulletin., 1920-01-29
IN THE DAYS NEWS
kiakhta

According to a recent report, kiakh- ta, Siberia, has been taken by bAe Reds The immediate results of the occupation may soon place Kfakhta on the front page, since the report, if true, means that bolshevik forces have turned the right flank of the anti -bol- snevists in Eastern Siberia, who must control the Ba4kal tunels or lose their main strategic barrier of defense e0 offensive line of communication But the greatness of Kiakhta lies in the past and future rather than in the present, according to a bulletin issued by the National Geographic society.
 ~Wthere the caravans have rested, railway station soon will lie" the bulletin says. Even the aefopiane follows historic trade routes. &ia@ata is an important way station on g famous commercial highway that RIak- ed two continents. It is 250 miles south Of Lake Baiizal. Although the completion of the Trans Siberia rail way to Nfadivostok caused a tempo rary detour, Kiashta is sure to be one the railway that is to connect the tea
 bibbers of Moscow and the tea ri1er- chants of Hankow.
 One rail head has been pushed
 south from the Siberian border and another line connects Peking to Kal- gan, so that there remains only a thousand miles of easy railway build ing to shorten the tea route from Hankow to the Trans Sd berian at Vefeine- Udinsk joy one half, and to ob- viate entirely the need for transport ing acress salt water the tea to which Kiakhta owes it's very being. Other beverages may have made cities fam
 ous but tea made Kiakhta itself. Just ! across the boundary line, only a fxytS AsS ic n 7.iT1e companion city, Mairnachen.
 "Kdakhda and Mainachen face each
 other across a neutral zone only a ] few feet wide, but they are as diff ferent as. two such Siamese twins
 among border cities can well be.
 Maimachen is Chinese, bare and grey, i filled with Oriental figures in the blue gowns of China, Kiakhta is Russian
 with churches and great white houses l and it's Inhabitants wear the familiar
 blouse and boots of the Russian from 1 Dnieper to the Amur.
 "In Maima chen, the teapot is king. l The samovar rules Kfakhta- The twin cities form station in the long route | between the tea packing establish ments of Hankow and the fair at Nij-
 nj Novgorod.
 With the completion of the Trans 1 Siberian, it became very simple ] thing to load tea ships at Hankow, in l the heart Of China, and unload them at Vladivostok, outpost of the czar's
 realm. whence @ direct railway led to | the heart of Russia. Then the cara
 van tea trade which had reached 50,- l eco 900 pounds a year, began to de- cline. The lons camel trains across l the Gobi desert through Yurgo, where dwelIs the Chief Lama of the Mongois,
 became fewer. The desert journey of a thousand miles, which plodding
 cSneIs finished in forty days, was 1 supplanted by a water and rail route
 much longers in distance but shorter i in time. Steamers and boxcars form 1 ed the last straw which broke the
 carnel's back as a tea carrier. But the ] tea tasters at the Mini fair on the 1 Folga declared that they could de-
 tect the deterioration in quality due l to transport over a water route and the connoisseurs of Russia have se- /; cured a considerable amount of Han Fkow tea. much of it. compressed into
 brick form, over the Ct5ibi desert. Un- | til the iron horse takes the place of
 camel caravan or ox-eaft, there will l probably be plenty for the Mongo! and Bufiat camel drivers to do along 1 the great tea trail. Recently there 1 have been about 100,0 900. camls used In tea transit alone, but with the break
 down of the ThsanI- berian cara vans have been changed from anach- ronisfn to necessity and between one and two million camels are being used in Mongolia, Trans -Baikalia and Man. ehuria.
 ''The Mongofs along this age-eid
 trail between Kalgan and Kialzhta are good -natured and hoSpitable. They are expert horseulen and they still i capture their wives in true Lochin-
 var style, although a previous arrange ment is usually made with the father of the bride. Their felt yurts or tent Ihomes, are almost bare of furniture and wealth is reckoned by the mum Der of heads of live stock which the