Perth Amboy evening news., 1921-12-14

lIoIN0 NOINOg
Hong Kong, show colony of
Great Britain in the Orient, and
world port where celebrities and
foreign war craft arrive so frequent
ly that the din OF official salI>es is
almost constantly echoing from the
granite peaks, is next to the oldest
and in many ways the model for
e~ign-owned community in China"
says one of the bulletins issued by
the National Geographic Society in
regard to the Eastern possessions of
countries represented at the WASH
ington Conference on Limitation of
Armaments.
Contrary to popular belief. there
Is no city of Hong Kong" continues
the bulletin. THAT we'll known name
belongs to an island of thirty-two
square miles extent which lies off
the south coast of China, and las
been applied as we'll to the wonder
full harbor between the island and
the mainland. The city of half a
million inhabitants which is the cap
ital of the island and the colony is
officially Victoria. But the name is
seldom heard. To the islanders the
beautiful terraced own is merely
the city,
Social Climbs Are Hill Climbs.
1.-The city reveals the stratification
due to wealth and social position in
a striking way. Aside from a cable
tramway which carries the visitor to
The Peak 1900 feet above the gela-
tine pond harbor with its toy ships
from many lands. the common
means of reaching the higher levels
is in chairs carried by two or four
- ..@ At. ~
tended so that twentieth century
| power can be used to some extent
| but most of the streets and stair
ways, which are cut in the varied
facade of the hillside with its build
ings of many types of architecture,
are open only to foot traffic. In the
steamy heat of Hong Kong, hill
climbing is not counted as a sport
by Anglo-SaXons so that many of
the $4,000 foreigners mount the
steep slopes in chairs carried by yell
low men.
However much the American OBJ
jects to paying three cents or more
a mile for transportation, such a
rate is very low compared with that
charged by four chair bearers, and
in Hong Kong the chairmen have
dutdHCttt ilClI idlCo " otSANS
which would make the SZechuan
chair coolies regard them as public
utilities profiteers. The higher the
climb, the higher the cost; and the
social climbers of Hong Kong fix
their level according to their pock-
etbooks.
"Along the teeming wharves,
where the local Canton and China
coast boats tie up, the hue and cry
of the dock workers alike proclaim
the Chinese. A restricted portion of
the water front is quite foreign and
here one may observe the skipper of
a fleet of motor launch tossing his
compatriot sampan oarsmen in pow
| erful waves. But on both sides of
this restricted area of modern
buildings and world famed trade
names, the Chinese extend in impos-
ing masses. Their picturesque shops
bear ornamental sign boards in
black and gold lettering or horizon
| tally lettere6 signs in English bear
ing cognomens strange and ambigu-
Gus enough to supply the jokessmiths
of the West with comedy for years
to come.
Streets Run Into Stairways.
Back from the water but parallel
to it run Des Voeux Road and
Queens Road. the main business
tho~oughfares, thanking which is a
fairly level section of the city. But
back a few blocks, steep stairways
close the ends of most of the trans
continental divide.