The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1922-02-28
Frederick Hask1n's Letter
tspsdA q Arsaa1
Watching China Change.

| ing fish and sewerage, smoldsr,,-
josh sticks, the bouquet of aneieTs
remains OF skinned dogs ana s.
offered for sale. The visitor no5s-
the fatuous titles of the strssfs
through which he has passed ~
Street of Refreshing Breezes. az
the Street of Nine-Fold Brighfnos9-
The Street OF Ten Thousand Cran5
sons is more aptly named
Against this ingrowing spirit =.
devotiC.. to old methods. whys 49,
Ciaces. the more progressive OF "a
controlling powers have al Las,
made appreciate headway. PphlIs
spirit is to large degree adinsts5
and Canton now boasts of seyer,i
broad highways, graded and ma.
cadamiZed, over six miles of navs5
avenues and one large park hasn-
titled in occidental manner. Tbgs
has occidental push" arrived aS5
the wealth of Canton, at the ara
ent time, may even discard the calm
of a sedan chair and reveI in ia
speed of a modern flivver.
Other improvements are undar
way. The famous City OF tbs
Dead" with all its weird rituals and
ceremonies will soon be trans
formed. For years the Cantopeso
have buried their dead in the lap6
surrounding the city. A recent an
thority places the graves within tia
present city limits at 1S000050
The Chinese have the greatest rev
erence and worship for the spirfts
of their ancestors, and once buried
it is a sacrilege to disturb them
The far reaching effect of the nav
forward movement can best be an
preciated when it is known the da-
cree has gone forth by the youth
full city fathers that the necessities
of the living outweigh the claims
Of the dead. The collins are being
dug up on an average of 20.0O0 a
month, and soon Canton will add
more miles to her broad macadan
streets.
Young China and the New Culture
The young officials whose orders
are magically Transforming China.
are said in some quarters to have
modelled the Young China" party
after Mazzini's Italy party-thst
their cry is save, transform, re-
juvenate China. On the other hsnS
the charge is brought against them
that they are returned students
men who have come in contact with
the destructive" influences Of
western civilization In this fluid
mass known as Young China"
largely composed of returned STU
dents, there are two elements Of
western influence One is com
posed of those who have had the
benefit of education at American
universities and are therefore in
culcated with American principles;
the other, of those who after the
Russo-Japanese war flOcked to
Japan to study, or who, living
there as refugees imbibed its in1u-
ence and culture beyond that Of
any absorbed in the west The new
culture movement is made up to
a large extent Of AmericaniZed
Chinese and JapaniZed Chinese with
varying aspirations, for western
ideas straight from the west and
western ideas gathered via Japan
are apt to have different objecttVes
However, whatever the influences
by which China is being pushed and
rejuvenated, whether it be an Out
growth of the student movement OF
1919 or a Enthusiastically Chinese
one promoted by Chinese students
who have never left home the re-
suits will be watched With IN
tagging interest.
They are working to build up 8
new regime, to create a new mind
This mind is being trained through
the new intellectual movement to
look forward, instead OF backward;
to place itself on the common
ground with changed thought NEa
conditions Of today. New China is
cleaning house and claiming ha
own in the modern world forces
Good roads are suppIanting pro
tetcing walls. Picturesque land
marks are disappearing, but the
door is beginning to swing wide