Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-09-14

In order to comprehend the condi-
lions 1t Is necessary, first, to know
that the great Yangste River divides
northern and southern China and is
the only channel through which COM
merce with the great fertile plain Of
the Westernmost province of SZechuan
finds egress to the Pacific Ocean and
the world. That plain, which Dor
ders on Tibet, is as large as Texas, or
four times as large as Pennsylvania,
and contains a population of 10000
600 or more. 1t produces most of the
tea and silk grown in China.
Ocean steamers ascend the river
more than 1000 miles to Hankow;
above Hankow the river narrows in
a gorge not over 800 feet wide, with
mountain walls on both sides rising
smooth and sheer 1000 or 5000 feet
and with the water rushing between
these walls like the rapids of Niagara,
a distance Of six or seven miles. The
river above the gorge widens. but no
large steamers can pass through
those rapids and the gorge. The river
Is extremely difficult to navigate be-
cause Of it's swift current, and espe-
cially because it suddenly rises or
falls $50 feet in depth. 1t sometimes
rises rs feet in an hour.
For centuries it has been navigated
with the native junks and sampans
which rush down stream with the
current, partly aided with sails.
reaching the Pacific from SZechuan
in 10 days. The sampans must be
tugged upstream, with very long
towlines of split bamboo. These
hawsers are hundreds Of feet in
length and four or five inches in
diameter. They are manned by so
or more men, skilled in the plotting
of the stream, who tug together
singing their "chantees" in unison.
They are sometimes 200 feet higher
than the boat they are dragging.
Along the banks Of this river are
a people entirely dependent upon the
business of navigating the river "by
hand"-either as crackers" pulling
the sampans or as owners of the
boats. captains, sailors, sailmakers,
carpenters, weavers Of bamboo haw-
sers and restaurateurs. who feed the
crews and crackers. and, together with
their dependents, these number a mil
lion or more. There Is no other pos
sible vocation for them. for the coun-
try is too mountainous for agriculture.
About 1909 a Capt. Frank, a for
eigner, who had long lived near the
Yangste Rapids. invented a special
steamer, $50 feet in length with a
three-foot draft. and a powerful en-
CINE, with which he successfully navi-
gated the rapids and the upper river.
BY 1923 there were 40 such steamers
on the river, capable Of making the
trip upstream in five days, in contrast
with the man-pulled sampans which
require a month; or downstream In
three days, to the mouth, as com
pared with 10 days by the native
boats.
The million Chinese saw their oc-
cupation gone. and naturally blamed
their starvation upon the modern
steamers of the foreign devils" So,
from the mountain-high banks they
showed their resentment by shooting
at the steamers.
Since all China has been in internal
wars the outlawry has increased. and
not only have native dwellers along
the river shot at the steamers, but
soldiers of this faction or the other
have claimed free passage on the
steamers. or, failing to get it. have
shot up the steamers so refusing.
This has been going on persistent
~ for the last five or six years. It
is impossible to send men.of-war
above the gorge, and, today, the two
gunboats of the British above the
gorge are stranded by the act OF Chi.
nese soldiers, whom they had refused
passage.
The Chinese forcibly boarded the
steamers and drove them into the
bank. There, British gunboat,
filled with marines. came to the res
cue, and in driving the Chinese
ashore two or three were drowned
which complexities the diplomatic sit
uation.
Copyright. 1895 By Paul V. Collins)