Evening star., 1922-03-20
"CH|NA'S SORROW"
CLAIMS THOUSANDS
0verfIowing Yellow River
Brings Death and Famine.
Aid Is Sought.

Inhabitants of the provinces of
Anhwei. Shantung and Kiangsu are
faced with Il famine equally as severe
as the one that swept large parts of
China during the winter of 1920. This
fact was brought to light in a letter
received by Lawrence Il. Lee of 1852
Massachusetts avenue from his
brother Rev. Edward ]. Lee, secre-
tary of the Anhwei international
famine relief committee, who made
an urgent appeal for funds to save
many lives and relieve unprecedented
suffering in those. provinces.
The continuous rains of the latter
part of the summer of last year caus-
ed the Yellow river. rightly known
as Nhina'S Sorrow" to break it's
banks and send its waters. sweeping
everything before them. to find d new
outlet to the sea. the letter said. The
Grand canal in the same w:1 over
ioWcd IN Il numher of places and
large sections of the provinces of
aautunG and kianSSu are undo r
water. So suddenly did the floods
come that il great number were un-
able to escape, whole villages were
swept away and thousands were
drowned. Great numbers of the people
! refuge on the dikcS, with little food
and no shelter. and their condition is
pitiable in thA extreme. the letter de-
clared.
Worst Floods in Anhwci
THE worse floods, however, have
occurred in our own province of An
| hwei," Rev. Lee wrote. 1.-THE over
flow from the YelloE river served to
swell the great mass of water from
n ING
river. the perennial source of floods
in our province, burst it's banks and
has become one great inland sea.
Large parts of thirteen counties are
submerged. The governor estimates
that the flooded area is about 100
miles by IS miles. or some ten thou
sand square miles. over vast stretches
of this the villages have been en-
tirely destroyed: those who have es-
capped. have only escaped with their
lives.
Furthermore. it will probably be
impossible to drain large sections of
the flooded area unless extensive en-
gineering works are put through for
the purpose. This means that the
dispossessed people will be unable to
return to their homes even when
the water in the rivers has suosided."
Many thousands of people in the
provinces of Shantung, Anhwei and
kiangsu have been drowned. Rev. Lee
declared. and hundreds of thousands
have lost everything they had on
earth. These homeless people are de-
pendent ON famine relief. he said, and
as shelter and clothing will have to
be provided on an extensive scale, the
need can only be met by very gen.
crous response to the appeal for funds
both in China and in America.
A step toward relief of these suf-
ferers has been taken with the or
ganization in Anking of an inter-
national famine relief society, under
the presidency of the Governor of
Anking. DIR. Lee concluded "An
energetic canvass for funds is just
beginning" he said. "and the gov
ernor is backing the enterprise with
a zeal and earnestness that Is an
inspiration to all. The foreign mem
bers of the committee have promised
to get the appeal for funds before
the American public as speedily as
possible.
Let me close this appeal" Rev.
Lee said. "by sentence from the
recent proclamation of the governor,
One dollar will save one life"
Contributions may be sent to Lewis
Franklin, treasurer of the Anhwei
! international famine relief commit
| tee, at 2S1 4th avenue, New York city.