Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1924-12-28
BY FRANK G. CARPENTER
SoOcHOW, China


SoOcHOw. China
~ LIMB into q jinrikasha with
Il me and come and see the
real China Of today. Be-
hind our human horses we
shall take @ ride across 500
chow, a city larger than ST. Louis or
Baltimore, and built by the Chinese
In the time Of confueius, 500 years
before Christ was born. 1t had Its
parks and canals when Nebuch adnez-
zar was eating grass In the gardens
of Babylon, and was a commercial
center 1000 years old when the Arst
Yankee traders did business in Bos-
ton. In one Of It's temples Is an an
Client stone map, 1000 years old. on
which the streets and temple sites
are practically the same as those of
today,
Sooohow, Hike Washington, was
built TO order. The king who founded
II depopulated three big towns In or
der to All up his new capital. Ever
since then IL has been city Of note,
a center OF trade, the chief silk mar
ket of all China, and the home of SO
many authors and scholars that 1t
Is said to have been the Athens of
China. The people themselves have
always been proud Of their city and
have a saying: Above Is Heaven, be-
1t has also long been q residence
city. Here dwelt kings and their
courts. and here came wealthy men
from other parts of China to enjoy
their. riohes In consenial surround
ings. Many OF them built gardens,
costing hundreds of thousands of doh
lars. some of which can be seen today.
others piled UP fortunes on the pro-
fits of the silk industry or rents from
/ Al -s- H. 1G1 q
sort of Paris to officials grown rich
on graft; they came here TO spend
their ill-gotten gains and 70 live In
ease and security.
Sooohow Is two hours by train from
Shanghai, in the midst of lake re-
gian known as the garden spot of all
China. To the east there are nearly
one hundred lakes: to the west Is
range of mountains. beyond which is
the Great Lake. an inland sea 90
miles across. The city Is located on
way that extends for hundreds Of
m Hes through China and carries an
enormous traffic. Besides the Grand
Canal Il others crissoross Soochow,
interesting each other at right an
giles every quarter of mile These
lead out to the surrounding country
and to hundreds OF towns and viii
lagos. Within a radius of 90 miles
from the oity are more than one hun
dred market towns and no less than
one thousand villages, containing al
together about Eve niiiion people, OF
nearly as many as live In the State
of Ohio.
TT is difioult to Judge the size Of
Sooohow itself, for there are large
villages In the suburbs, and the city
has long since outgrown the great
wall IL miles in circumference built
centuries aEo to defend IL. Estimates
of its population vary all tho way
from four hundred thousand to one
million people.
Our way He's through iabyrinth
Of stores, factories, and tenements.
The raktsha boys pnlf US along on the
dead run and We cross canal after
canal on some Of the 200 bridges In
the city. These are high and arohed
under them. The houses hand out
over the water, the wallis rising up
as they do in Venice. Many Of those
on opposite sides of some Of the
smaller canals are connected with
each other by pianks extending from
window to wandow.
The streets, with the exception of
SoHao on ehc OUTSIDE OF the oity, are
not as wide as the sidewalks Of
Broadway, am told that Az were
originally feet wide, but that
they have been nArrewed by the mer-
chants building their shops fhrther
and farther out into the thorough
fares. They form . network Of high
ways. many Of which are so email
that two rikiShas cannot pass: even
one going through 10 enough to crowd
tho peoples to the walls. The whole
is a perfect labyrinth, equal to that
OF the Eayoum, an oasis not far from
the Nile, and it has as many windings
as Rosamond's bower. As the riki-
sha boys pull Us along We pass many
fine houses. We can hardly see them,
however, a. they are hidden In gar
dens shut OF from the street BY black
and whitA. WaJiA ~
The business activity n bayoaA