Perth Amboy evening news., 1923-05-11
Geographic News
Bulletins by the
National Geographic Society
SCENE OF BANDIT RAID

SCENE OF BANDIT RAID
"Lincheng, scene of the Chinese
bandit raid, lies along the Tientsin-
PuAow railway whose building was
interrupted in 1900 by the Boxer
uprising" says a bulletin from the
Washington, D. C. headquarters Of
the National Geographic Society.
1.-THE scene of the KIDNAPPING of
American passengers is 3T4 miles
south of Tientsin. northern ,ermi-
u OF the line, where a plity OF
Americans including Herbert Hoover
wee besieged during the outbreak
Boxer outbreak.
"Lincheng is important commerce.
ally because it is the junction OF
a nineteen mile branch railroad to
Yihhsien, a colliery town, whence
come5 the coal which is distributed
to all the towns and cities along
the 626 miles of the Tientsin-Pu-
kow line.
Road Marked Economic Innovation
This road was built as the result
OF u joint concession obtained by
Great Britain and Germany in 1898.
Its building was notable politically
because it marked the first railway
prof ect in China where the con-
struction and the control were
vested wholly with the Chinese gov
eminent,
"Wel equipped express trains,
with sleeping and buffet cars, run
daily each way between Tieptsi1
and Pukow.
South of Lincheng the train runs
among hills which rise suddenly
from the plains and shortly beyond
the town of Han-Chuang passengers
suddenly discern the high embank
ment of the Grand Canal, bordered
by busy villages and flecked with
white sailed junks laden with the
rich products of fertile Shantung.
Province of Peanuts and Hair Nets
peanuts n hair nets are two
important products of ShantunG.
Coal and iron mines are worked
wi. modern machinery. A passen-
ger on this railway would harbor
as little thought of bandits as he
would in traVersing similar wheat.
topaoco and cotton fields. ami ruck
gardens of our W country. Inc
| population is denser in this province
than in our most densely populated
| state, Rhode Island. The climate
has been compared to that OF
Maine.
Begun about fifteen years ago
| the hand manufacture of nair nets
has attained remarkable proper
tons. The hair originates in
China, is shipped to Europe and
America to be chemically treated for
'docoloring,' is sent back to mer'
chants in treaty ports and redis-
trihuted for net making among
homes of the interior. Onlv recent
ly has an attempt been made 10
prepare the hair in the province.
Were BandIls { 'nfucius' Kin?
1.-THE suggest IN that the recent
hold-up was participated in by
graz of Cor Gcius, many times
remnse6. may seem preposterous to
admirers of the peaceful and urbane
sage; yet is it probably literally true.
"Confucus was born at Kufu
barely 20 miles north of the scene
of the bandit attack and he lies
buried there, surrounded by ma1.y
thousands of his descendants. The
way in which this family or clan
has persisted and multiplied de-
serves to rank as one of the biolog-
ical wonders of the world. 1t IS
estimated that 70 e cent of the
population over a large region
around Kufu are ~descendcl from
town, which is at once the birth
place and burial place Of Confucius
lives today his seventy-siXth iineal
descendant the Holy Duke. kung.
THE towering mountain. Tai
Shan China's most holy eminence,
lies in sight OF the
railway, not many miles north OF
the point at which the attack was
maze. 1t has been deemed holy
sincve before 1900 B. c. Confucians
Taoists and Buddhists alike revere
this mountain and have erected
shrines at it's foot on its slopes n
at /. summit. 1t is a favorite poinL
for pilgrimage as many as 10000
pilgrims a day making the journey
to it during February and March.
Many of these climb laboriously to
the top and there worship.
1.-THE contrast between the barba-
rous China of bandits and the mod
ern China of Western ways was
u~nconsciously heightened by the
choice of Lincheng for the attack.
There the branch line to Yihhsien
runs to one of China's greatest coal
mines, furnishing fuel for its mod
ern factories and power stations.
This largest mine in Shantung $
operated by a Chinese company. UNI
like other mines in the province
which are being exploited by foreign
capital