Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-07-02
OUAKE-STR|CKEN
CITY ONCE GREAT
LiangChowfu Is Second Most
important Town on Great
Wall of China.

JlangehoWu scene or a disastrous
earthquake in China, is the second
city in importance on the Great Wall
Of China, according to bulletin from
the headquarters Of the National Geo
graphic Society.
China has just found this earth
quake" says the bulletin. Seismic
observatories in various parts of the
world reported shocks on May %.
In less than week the United States
Coast and Geodetic Survey, in Wash
ington, d. c. had fixed the area of
the shock.
But not until June 81, nearly a
month later. did Shanghai get word
that Liangchowfu, a large city on the
Great Wall OF China, had been shaken
May %.
"Liangchowfu is called the 3 by 3
town because its walls, conforming
exactly to Chinese standards, measur-
ed Az Ii on the north and south and
IA Ii on the east and west Add the
parallel lengths together and the mys-
teriously significant proportion of 3
by g. appears. Expressed in miles
Liangchowfu is a walled city mile
and a half by a half mile, housing
10000 families, monasteries, and s
large temples.
Former Border Fort
1.-THE fact that Liangchowfu oc-
cupies a position on the Great wall
of China suggests correctly that it
was an outpost. border fort, OF
China. Perhaps the greatest mystery
of all is that news from this town,
900 miles west of Picking and 500 miles
from the nearest railroad, should have
arrived within months time.
mo word has yet been received con-
corning the fate of foreign mission
aries in Liangchowfu. Although the
number Of white people there at the
time of the earthquake is not ascer'
tainable, sometime ago two English
women were serving there and q
bishop Of the Roman Catholic Church
was directing a mission outside the
town.
"Iiangchowfu feared trouble from
quite another source than earth trem
ers. One of the wonders of the city
was a suspended sword which pointed
toward a pass in the South Mountains
Out of the pass flowed the waters from
melting snow. Citizens believed that as
rection of the pass flood waters could
not enter and submerge their city.
House of the Prayer Wheel.
zone of Liangchowfu's leading insti
buttons is a Buddhist nunnery housing
1000 women. The favorite temple OF
the main nunnery is kept securely
locked to keep a competing body Oh
nuns from worshiping at the shrine
Three idols occupy the dais, mascu
line god fianked by two female gods
AS it happens the prayer wheel useo
by the nuns stands before the male
diety.
"Iiangchowfu nuns go on no err
rands of charity and mercy. They take
no part in educating children, nor DC
they nurse the sick. Their existence is
taken up with prayer, burning incense
and begging. The few white mis-
sionaries in Liangchowfu accomplish
more good works in a day than the
whole colony of 1000 nuns do in q
year.
"ControIIer OF Measles"
Zone feature of the nunnery is the
Controller of Measles god, which
sits at the end of a very dark passage
way. Inc LuIlUeI W TIC )OiCio
goes by the name of tube for curing
measles Mothers bring children tt
the nunnery and land them through
the tube Apparently the recovery
rate from this treatment is not hlgf
for along the tunnel are II arches fol
II children who have been cured.
Chlna's Great Wall at this end was
not built with the care and the gooc
material employed nearer Picking
Mostly it was of mud, so far many
miles it stretches like a grass-growr
dixie of earth Joining larger humps
which show where watch towers once
stood. Especially in times of raids OF
calamities produced by nature. the
population of this region has taker
up residence in numbers within cave:
dug out of the rampart's Hanks
Liangchowfu was an important station
in the old days because it stands or
the very edge of the Cobb desert, IRON
which the Mongol hordes descended
Now it welcomes Mongols, bringing
sable skins and other furs to market