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

prepared by the National Geographi So,
"JTLs. Washington. n. Co.
The region around Shanghai. where
the first fighting occurred in China
latest civil war, is in the delta of
the Yangtze Kiang, a lowland as level
as table rising very little above the
delta Of the Mississippi if that area
instead Of being sparSely settled and
largely given over to cane-brakes and
semi-swamps, had millions of inhabi-
tants to whom land was so valuable
that they could not afford to waste
a single square foot of it.
Thanks to centuries of tireless la
Dor, the country surrounding Shanghai
is the garden spot of China. Every
bit of dry ground-much of it made
dry by main force-is intensively Gull
tivated save the plots given over to
these, straw is harvested for fuel.
The fields lie about five or six feet
above the water level Of the canals.
Thousands upon thousands of the lat
ter have been dug to take the place
of bayous in unimproved delta lands.
They have the threefold purpose Of
providing drainage, furnishing irriga-
ton when that is necessary and serv-
ing at all times as highways.
These canals are of economic value
in still other ways. Flood waters
from the Yangtze are made to traverse
%hpyV, oh ~
their threat of inflicting damage; and
the silt thus deposited in the canal
bottoms is dug out and spread on the
fields, at once fertilizing them and
raising them to a safe level. Most Of
these numerous canals are about IS
or 20 feet wide 50 that maneuvering
armies over the territory has its diff
culties,
Shanghai was once situated on the
seashore, but the land has now been
built approximately 20 miles farther
north and east, leaving 1t inland At
another time the Yaugtze ran by the
present site Of the city, but has since
shifted its course, perhaps many
times, until it now lies twelve miles
away. The city is now on a small
tidal river, the Huang Pu, which flows
into the Yangtze at Woosung. This
stream has been dredged to consider
able depth and a tidal basin is main
tanned above the city to keep it flushed
out.
: The rapid growth of the delta which
4, ho, se
derstood when the vast amount of
sediment carried by the Yangtze is
considered. In single year the
stream brings down from the hills Of
inland China enough solid material
to construct an island one mile square
and 90 feet deep. Much Of this was
captured in great lakes and swamps
that once covered much Of the region.
Through the ages many of these have
been filled up, and as fast as land
emerged it was seized and dyked by
tillers of the SOIL Along the seashore,
too, the Chinese protect their new
land Along the coast within 100
miles of Shanghai are more than 300
miles of sea wall.
Shanghai Really Occidental.
Shanghai presents something of a
paradox. In it dwell upward of two
million Chinese, yet 1t is essentially
a western, not an oriental, community.
The city was small and unconsequen-
tial from the time when it first APP
pears in the records, 1015 A. D., until
1871 when it became one of the five
Chinese treaty ports opened to west
ern commerce. A large tract of neigh
boring ground was leased TO Britons
and later concessions were made to
citizens Of France, the United States
and other foreign countries. Within
a generation or so the native city sur
rounded by its wall was ecipsed by
the international city" that had
sprung up on the foreign concessions.
The growth Of the latter community
in recent years has been so rapid as
to outclass American and Australian
boom towns. In 1910 the combined
communities of Shanghai had less
than half million inhabitants: in
fourteen years the population has
uuadrupled, practically all the in
crease being in the International and
the French territories.
The foreign section of Shanghai is
marked by broad streets. substantial
construction. cleanliness, and such
modern facilities as electric and gas
lights. tramways. paved streets and
yva+erxrorkS Much more potent in
making Shanghai attractive to increas
ing thousands of natives. however, are
the honesty of administration, reason
able taxes, and protection Of life, prop
erty and civic rights. The Chinese