The herald. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1905-1953, 1922-09-14


Society. Washington. d. c.
Canton, seat of government Of SUI
Vat Sen, president Of the South ChinG
Republic" which recently fell 10 sup
porters Of the rival Picking govern
ment, is the Seed-bed in which the
first Western ideas sprOuted in China
ideas which some optimistic Observ
ers believe will continue to grow until
the country is as fully Westernized as
Japan. There are now many centers
for the spread of Western culture In
China but Canton will always retain
the interest that attaches to the point
Of entry, and probably for long time
/ will continue to be the scene of
.reatest progress.
1t was In 1917 that Canton began
It's relations with the West. In that
year. Just twenty-five years after
Columbus discovered America, the
Portuguese obtained permission to
trade with the Cantonese. Later the
Dutch, the English, the French, and
finally. the Yankees sent their ships
and traders to the city. For time
il was the only city which the author
tiles Of China permitted to have inter
course with the Western barbarians."
But the Canton door was not kept
open without a heavy foot being thrust
IN IL from time 70 time. Chinese and
European commercial and government
d practices and general customs were
so different that they inevitably
FLASHED when they first met. Such
heavy trading taxes were levied and
80 many restrictions imposed at this
6rst treaty port that European traders
we're almost ruined. On their part the
Westerners introduced opium against
the wishes of the Chinese officials, and
the general misunderstanding led TO
wars with England and France. As
result Of the wars Canton was cstab-
ished more and more firmly as Chinas
open door.
Canton's priority was not alone in
trade The first Roman Catholic mis-
sionaries to China settled in 1871 at
Macao. a few miles down the river
from Canton, and ten years later be-
gan work in Canton itself. The city,
too. had one of the first MOhammedan
mosques to be established among the
Chinese; and there in 1907 the first
Protestant missionary to China settled.
II has since become one of the most
important missionary centers in the
country.
Contact with the Oecident.
Slight racial differences seem to have
made the Cantonese, TO begin with,
more alert than the Chinese of other
regions; but they undoubtedly have
been quickened and made more pro-
gressive by the constant stimulus of
contact with Westerners during the
past 400 years. A spirit CT cOmpeti-
ton and emulation was awakened
among the merchants and men in pub
lie life (which by degrees reflected it.
self In numerous ways In the life of
Canton. But above all things, the
Western visitors aroused the curiosi-
ty Of the Cantonese, with the result
excellence of China. Thousands Of
them have sojourned in the United
States and Canada, South America,
: South Africa, Australia and Europe.
More important still, I'm recent years
young Chinese have been returning
from the United States and Europe
after Western college training; and
considerable proportion of them have
found their way to Canton. AS fixed
as are the ways of China. these Chi.
nese who have lived under Western
Institutions or who have carefully stud
led western ways, have not failed.
when they have returned to their M
Te city. to modify conditions In some
Else. 1t Is not strange, then. that
from Canton has come on numerous
occasions pressure against conserva-
tive Picking for reform, and at times
revolution. Some sort of breach be-
tween north and south China was in
evitable In recent years; and II was
equally inevitable that Canton. great
est city of the South, should lead IT,
Although throughout most of the
400 years since the first contact with
Europeans, the leaven of Western
ideas has been working in Canton,
even as recently az three years ago
II had done little to lift the teeming
old city Of more than a million souls
from It's thoroughly Chinese appear
ance and customs. Its narrow alley
like streets. none too clean. hemmed |
In by low houses and set off by great |
black and gold and black and red signs,
were the streets of any typical Chi
nese town. Through them battered /