Evening star., 1922-03-10
RIGHT Thumb UP
SIGN OF GOOD WILL
However, if Chinaman Wants
to Show Contempt, He Ex-
tends Little Finger.

Chinese dispatches indicating that
the important city of Changsha may
be the scene of the long delayed bat
tie between the southern and north
ern forces, make that one of China's
many cities stand out for the moment
from its fellows. The following bull
letin from the headquarters of the
National Geographic Society tells
something of Changsha and its
changing aspect:
'In China. if one desires to express
high compliment OF a person." says
the bulletin. the right thumb is
f., stuck up in the air above closed
fist. To extend the little finger.
though. is to suggest that the person
in question is beneath contempt.
When the Changsha man refers TO
his fellow citizens, he always re-
sembles patient about to have his
thumb bandaSed. for the man OF
Changsha is China's 'top-side man.
"Yale-in-China."
Capital of a hilly province, one
part of which is occupied by large
lake, which acts as reservoir for
YangtEe floods, Changsha maintained
its exclusion of the foreign devil
until the beginning of this century.
Today it is closely linked with New
Haven, for there is, just outside the
rapidly disappearing wall, in which
the inhabitants once took great pride.
one of the best Christian mission
schools in China, which is Yale's con-
tribution to the education of the Chi
nese who cannot come to America
I'm Human the necromancer has ex-
erted much power, and Changsha was
so well protected by the lucky con-
stellation under which it was founded
and by the holy hill which guards it
that it was thought proclamation for
the foreign deviP to enter. In 1910
/, there Were serious riots, mainly di-
rected against the growing CONNER
cial power of foreign firms, but it
had. too, its astronomical accompani-
lnents. for it was the approach OF Hal
1ey's comet which touched off the eX-
plosion.
Munitions for Americas "Fourth."
Long before Yale established the
'Yale-in-China' College and Hospital
in Changsha, the city was closely re-
lated to America, for it was in the
capital of Human that many of the
tirecrackers which formerly announced
the Independence day celebration
We're made. While maintaining its
nished the explosives which enabled
the American boy to proclaim his
Glorious Fourth
"A large part of Human is an un-
worked field of anthracite and btu
mlnous coal. and at Pinghsiang,
which is connected with Changsha by
railroad. there is one of the mines
which furnishes fuel for the great
iron works at Hanyang.
Produced Great Men.
Among the great men who have
been among Changsha's chief products
the most famous was Gen. Tseng Kuo
Fan, whose cooperation with Chi
nese Gordon was largely instru-
rebellion. Gen. Tseng was not only
soldier and statesman, but a literary
man as well, and his collected works
Of 156 books were edited by Ii Hung
Chang.
"Changsha lies on the projected line
of railway which, when north and
south are reconciled, will connect
Peking and Canton; and trains have
draft steamers which make the 22o-
mile trip from Hankow. With about
100000 inhabitants, it rules a province
of 22.000,000, and is one of the clean
est cities in China.
MANY of the streets are long and
rtraight. and at one time the city it
self was divided between two magis-
tracies. The bazaars are full of life
and interest, some of the candies
being famous for miles around.
Boy Scouts Show Western Tricks.
"One of the interesting sights of
the city is the wheelbarrows that
climb stairs. Some distance ahead of
the regulation wheel there is another
smaller one. In climbing over flag
stone steps or bridges, the handles of
the wheelbarrow are lowered until
the auxiliary wheel rises above the
next higher step. Then the wheel
barrow, which often carries three or
four hundred pounds. see-saws from
wheel to wheel until the next level
stretch of f1agstones is reached
THE Episcopal Mission has a live
Boy Scout troop and the visitor who
watched tent-peggins. fire rescue,
stretcher making and other Boy
Scout activities would marvel at
Chinas quick changes. For until
after the Boxer trouble Humans cap
ital excluded the dreaded foreigner
from within it's walls, the brick bat
Elements of which. rising above the
site of a former wall constructed in
202 Be. were themselves built while
Shakespeare was alive.
Now, with foreign mission schools
vieing with the ancient university on
the Holy Hill and with Boy Scouts
teaching first aid to enlisted soldiers.
the proud walls of the City of the
Iron Gates which withstood the Taip-
InSs are no longer respected and their
Manchu bricks are going into modern
homes