Perth Amboy evening news., 1922-07-20
Geographic News
Bulletins by the
National Geographic Society
FORCED OPEN DOOR

Canton, which was the seat of the
Southern Republic of China, and
which has recently fallen before the
armies of the north. is described in
the following bulletin from the
washington, ID. =, headquarters of
the National Geographic Society as
the most important portal through
which Western influences have en-
tered China:
IF the well-worn phrase the open
doo to China were applied specil-
cally, Canton would undoubtedly fit
the description more truly than any
other city" says the bulletin. Blu
the explanation would nave to be
added that at times the Canton por-
tai has been kept open only by the
forcible planting in it of the heavy
foot of the powers.
Where Europeans First Traded.
There In Isl the first commercial
contacts were made between China
and the West when the Portuguese
obtained permission to trade with
the Cantonese. Later the Dutch,
the English, the French, and fl
nally the Yankees sent their ships
and traders to tn ecity. For a
time it was the only city which the
authorities of China permitted to
have intercourse with the Western
barbarians.'
"Canton's priority was not alone in
trade. The first Roman Catholic
missionaries to China settled in 1871
at Macao, a few miles down the riv-
er from Canton, and ten years later
began work in Canton itself. The
city, too had one of the first Mo-
hammedan mosques to be establish
ed among the Chinese, and there in
1907 the first Protestant missionary
to China settled.
Pricked by Western Ideas
although the Cantonese were
probably more alert to begin with
than the Chinese of other regions,
they undoubtedly have been quick
ened and made more progressive by
the constant stimulus of contact
with Westerners during the past 400
years. Their western visitors arous-
ed their curiosity, with the result
that the Cantonese are, par excel
lence, the emigrants of China.
Thousands of them have graduated
from the United States and Canada,
South America, South Africa and
Europe, where while serving as
cooks or laundrymen, re~staurateurs,
shop-keepors. or lottery magnates,
they hav in some measure absorbed
Western ways and ideas. Back in
Canton, they have not failed to
leaven somewhat the oriental lump.
1t is not strange, then, that from
Canton have come on numerous &C.
casions pressure against conserva-
tive PekinS for reform, and at times
revolution. Some sort of breach be-
tween north and south China was in
evitable in recent years; and 1t was
equally inevitable that Canton.
greatest city of the South, should
lead il
But though the leaven of West
ern ideas is working in Canton. 1t
has not lifted the teeming old city
of a million souls from its thorough
ly Chinese appearance and customs.
Its narrow, alley-like streets, none
too clean. hemmed in bl low houses
and set off by great black and gold
and black and red signs, are the
streets of any typical Chinese town.
Through item patter the bare feet
of coolies like those of their count
less predecessors whose calloused
soles have worn deep channels in
the ~f1agstones. Along the river
banks are anchored acres and acres
of small, bcown, flimsy boats in Zach
of which a family lives as their an
cestors did in the time of Marco
Polo.
"Cat Meat Means What 1t Says
The food Of a large part of the
Canton populace is not that OF
America. In the markets n may
buy not only the flesh of cattle and
horses, but also that of dogs n
snakes. And an order for cat meat
in a CCanton market doesn't mean
hat the house pet is to he fed; vt
means just what it says. The gour-
met shopping in Canton may nave
the choice of rats ON the hoof in
cages, or may purchase the more
convenient dried article with its
long curled tail. And if this variety
in meats is not enough, he will find
for sale the flesh of lizzzards n
the fins of sharks, and for meat
substitutes, ancient eggs and dried
oysters.
The white residents of canton for
the most part live oil an island or
made land in the river. separated
from the Chinese settlements by a
wide canal Two wars were fought
by Great Britain. however. largely
for the admission OF foreigners to
the city of Canton proper, and some
few whites take advantage OF TINS
L,xa o,rpad priyi1icp"