Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1924-10-08

residents of the foreign concessions
are welcome to enjoy Shanghars IA
cilities and share it's prosperity, but
they have no voice in the government
of the municipality. The latter is a
sort of closed corporation operated by
the foreign property holders, chiefly
British The municipality has its po
lice force consisting of Europeans,
SilIhs from British India and some
Chinese.
City of Gayety and Color.
The city is in atmosphere a hybrid
of the East and the West And of
the western element gaiety is prob
ably most pronounced. Working
hours for Europeans and Americans
are anything but burdensome. Ten
o'clock is the opening time for many
offices; the Spanish plan Of siesta
has been borrowed for the period from
y to ? in numerous lines of activity;
and it is not unusual for offices to close
at o'clock. The western community
in Shanghai enjoys it's sports, and
casinos. clubs, golf links, tennis
courts, and cricket fields are crowded
during the late afternoon hours.
Probably only Cairo is more cosmo-
politan than Shanghai. Nationals of
almost every civilized country in the
world are to be met on the streets.
On the Bund or waterfront esplana6e,
which is the heart of Shanghai, Euro
peans are more in evidence than on
most other streets, all apparently
prosperous and leisurely. In the af-
ternOons a parade of fashion that
might do justice to show streets of
Europe or America takes place on
Bubbling Spring road, where both
handsome motor cars and fine horses
are in evidence.
There is enough focal color" in
Shanghai to make even the most
strenuous globe-trotter pause. The
complexity of Shanghai life bursts
upon one as soon as he debarks at
the quay and the city's amazing array
Of transportation devices is disclosed.
Drawn up to the curb are rickshas,
wheelbarrows, pony carriages and au-
tomobiles while in the street are cleo
trio trans. Nor does this exhaust the
transportation methods In the native
quarter one may see high-bOrn Chi
nese women. all but hidden by silk
curtains, borne in palanquins; while
near the freight docks coolies stagger
under huge crates or carry strange
bales suspended from bamboo poles
Coolies and Canals.
The coolie and the good facilities
for water transportation are the two
principal economic factors that have
contributed to Shanghai's obvious
prosperity. With his wheelbarrow and
his stalwart shoulders the coOlie CT
Shanghai has reduced the movement
of package freight to seemingly
ridiculous figure, yet he is content
with his meager wage because it is
more than he could obtain in a pure
ly Chinese city. The numerous
canals make the bringing of country
produce to the city's markets an ex-
ceedingly simple and cheap matter;
and now that the river has been
dredged the largest ocean freighters
can tie up directly at the quays of the
Bund Cheap labor and cheap trans
portation coupled with western cap
ital and technical and managerial
ability have made the city an impor~
tsnt industrial center. Steel mills,
ship-building yards, cotton and silk
factories and numerous other indus
trial establishments have sprung up
along the Huang Pu. An astonishing
number of warehouses adds TO Shang-
hats large buildings, for this city has
come to be the depository of imported
goods for even remote parts of the
republic.
Costumes run the gamut from loin
cloths to gorgeous mandarin robes,
embrac cling on the way the might
shirts" and red turbans of off-duty
| Sikh policemen, Siamese panungs, i'm
/ peccable European street clothes, and
the military uniforms of almost every
nation of the earth. On almost any
/ street one may meet Chinese tops car
rying ornamental bird cages as they
give their featbered pets the air. The
/ bird market in the native city is one
/ of the most interesting sights Of
/ Shanghai. Not far off is the Willow
/ tea house, supposed to be the protoA
!! type Of the design of Chinese willow
1 ware
The first railroad built in China was
12-mile stretch from Shanghai to its
port on the Yangtze. The imperial
authorities tore it up. but it served
to plant the railroad seed which later
sprouted Justify. Shanghai also had
the first telephones In China