The Washington times., 1928-12-14
RIVER
To LET SHIPS
To CAN TON

OAN1H -
American engineers are about to
deepen Pearl River so that ocean
going vessels may reach Canton,
China. ninety miles upstream from
Hongxong, according to the Ma.
tional Geographic Society. Foreign
flags will be curiosity to the Can
tonese of the present generation,
but the waters of the Pearl off
Canton have reflected the colors of
many Western nations in the past.
More than four centuries ago a
Portuguese merchantmen rounded
the Cape OF Good Hope and sailed
up to Canton The first American
ship arriving there, the Empress Of
China, from New York in 1874, was
gretted by traders from Holland,
Portugal and England, who already
mad an established trade with the
Chinese
Even without large ships, Canton
Row ranks with the great inland
ports of the East. Travellers APP
preaching the city by boat are be-
wildered by the shipping in the har-
DOR. Thousands of sampans, junks
and other small river craft nearly
ODllterate the surface of the water.
While the wharves bristle with
activity. The boats in the channel
move here and there with small
Ehort-haui cargoes, but along the
sea wall bordering the Bund other
small craft are tied ten deep, float
ing at high tide and settling in the
mud at low
25O.O0O Live in Boats
It is estimated that about $50 900
Cantonese are housed in the boats
on the Paerl and in the canals
through the city. Some boats ac-
ccnirnodate three to four families, as
well as their fiocks OF chickens,
geese and pigs. Talkative parrots
are popular pets among the river
folk. Their squawking and the loud
monotonous chatter of their owners
create bedlam on the river front
from early morning until midnight.
Travellers usually see Canton by
way of ore of the most occidental
spots in the Orient-the foreign set
tlement on Shamaen Island. In the
middle OF the last century foreigners
were not safe in the Chinese quar-.
ter. 50 they made an island out of
mud flat in the Pearl. Today that
flat is a little oval Of luxury and
comfort, with palatiaI residences,
modern buildings and parks, bor-
dered by boulevards that in some
places are wide enough for tennis
courts as well as ordinary traffic
Two bridges span the canal that
separates Shameen from Canton.
The river front is disappointing to
any one expecting TO see typical
Chinese city F'lin1sy buildings fac
Ing the Bund have given way to
modern, many storied structures
housing offices Of f0reign corpora.
tiOns. and here and there bamboo
scakfclding indicates That another
bit of the Orient Is passing to add
TO Ganton's occidental skyline. All
these improvements have been nade
by men and women n1asons and hod.
carriers. without such modern auip.
ment as steam shovels ana cement
mixers. IN the street Chinese witl1e
European coats and trousers leather
shoes and straw and felt hats rub
elbows with their countrymen III
loose-fitting oriental garments, cloth
footwear and skull caps. Now and
then farmer from the suburbs
with his umbrella-like hat mingles
with the throng.
Streets Are Narrow Passages
But from Shameen and the Bund
one can throw a stone into Can.
ton, unchanged for many centuries.
Here many of the ancient thor
oughfares are so narrow Chat one
can stand in the middle and touch
the side walls with the tips of his
fingers. Shopkeepers add to the
congestion by signs which protrude
beyond the doorways. Rickshaws
cannot traverse these lanes and
sedan chairs can only pass at in
tersectiops. Travel-wise strangers
usually takes the chair for sight.
seeing tours. Pedestrians dodge the
wood supports of passing chairs and
are jostled about by chair carriers.
Among orientals in the Chinese
quarter Americans may pass many
natives who have spent some time
in the large cities OF the United
States for most of our Chinese i'm.
migrants are from Canton. Some
Of them return and live in luxury
but many slip back into the shops
and take up the same work thev
left. The Bund and the new Can.
ton road on the old walls site ap-
parently do not have the fascina.
tion OF the dark workshops in the
rear of the stores.
The traveller wonders whether the
idea Of establishing Automobile
rows and real estate rows" in our
cities did not originate in Canton.
One Canton street is lined with
shops selling articles in jade: shops
on another street display silks. while
embroidery work shops. furniture
shops and fan factories are grouped
on other streets.