Perth Amboy evening news., 1922-02-20
Mr.. HASKIN TELLS OF
WATCHING CHINA CHANGE
Daily Letter by Frederic j. Haskin

of progress being the destruction OF
the restricting walls.
Influencing Public Spirit
AS the great mass Of Cinnamon
are totally lacking in what Ameri-
cans know as public spirit, and are
closely bound together by family
ties and traditions, the progressive
modern officials had to prepare
public sentiment for the physical
changes such as the destruction OF
these ancient walls and the straight
ening of streets. The latter was a
tremendous undertaking. Old Can
ton is made up of hundreds of small
twisted streets or alleyways each
darker than the other, allowing
only the passing of a sedan chair.
Tiny and crooked they were made
| at this time in order thai evil spirits
in pursuit could not travel in 2
| straight line but must zigzag aroun
| corners. High above these six-foot
streets, a mere strip of sky shows
between overlapping balconies and
signs, and through the narrow pas
sageway a babeling humanity flows.
Through it floats the odor of burn
lug fish and sewerage, sm~ouldering
josh sticks. the bouquet of ancient
remains Of skinned dogs and rats
offered for SALE, h visitor notes
the fatuous titles Of the streets
| Street Of Refreshing Breezes, and
the Street of Nine-Fold Brightness.
| The Street of Ten Thousand Grand
| sons is more aptly named.
Against this ingrowing spirit OF
| devotion to old methods. ways and
| places, the more progressive of the
| controlling powers have at last
made appreciable Roadway. Public
! spirit is to a large degree adjusted
and Canton now boasts of several
broad highways, graded and ma
cadamized, over six miles of paved
avenues and me large park beauti-
occidental push" arrived and the
wealth Of Canton, at the present
| time. may even discard the calm of
a sedan chair and revel in the speed
Of a modern fiivver.
Other improvements are under
way. The famous "City of the
| Dead with all it's weird rituals and
! ceremonies will soon be transform
7 ed. For years the Cantonese have
buried their dead in the land sur
rounding the city. A recent author
ity places the graves within the
present city limits at 100000 0 The
| Chinese have the greatest reverence
and worship for the spirits of their
ancestors, and once buried it is a
| sacrilege to disturb them. The far
reaching effect OF the new forward
movement can best be appreciated
when it is known the decree has
gone forth by the youthful City
Fathers that the necessities of the
living outweigh the claims of the
dead. The collins are being dug up
on an average of 10000 a month,
and soon Canton will d more
miles to her broad macadam 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-that
their cry is save, transform, rejuve-
nate China. On the other hand the
charge is brought against them thai
thew are returned students" men
who have come in contact with the
obstructive influences of western
civilization. In this fluid mass
known as young China" largely
composed of returned students
there are two elements of western
Influence. One is composed OF those
who have had the benefit of educa.
lion at American universities dHu
are therefore i~nculcated with Amer
lean principles: the other. OF nose
who after the Russo-Japanese wal
flocked to Japan to study, or who
living there as refugees imbibed its
influence and culture beyond that OF
any absorbed in the west. The new
culture movement is made up to q
large extent of Americanized Chi
nese and Japanized Chinese witt
varying aspirations, for western
ideas straight from the west an
western ideas gathered via Japar
are apt to have different detectives
However, whatever the influences by
which China is being pushed and
r~ejuvenated, whether 1t be an out
growth of the student movement o.
1919 or a characteristically Chimes,
one promoted by Chinese students
who have never left home the re
suits will be watched with unfiag'
ging interest.
They are working to build up {
new regime, to create a new mind
This mind is being trained through
the new intellectual movement L
look forward. instead OF backward
to place itself OF the common meet
ing ground with changed though
and conditions of today. New Chin;