Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-08-06
Marking OF future
TO Be LIKE CAPITAL,
.PLANNER DECLARES
Nationalist Want Their Dis
trict of Columbia to Rival
United States.
GREAT MODERN CITY
TO RISE ON YANGTZE
60-Foot Boulevards, With Traffic
Control System, to Vie With
Golf Links.

Picture an 18-hole municipal golf
course laid out around Markings famed
Lotus Lake. Visualize 60-foot boule-
wards, dotted by suspended lights for
control of automobile traffic. winding
past tombs that were old when Marco
Polo came out of China.
Picture modern city Of great gov
ernmental buildings, suggesting Wash
ington IN the precision of coming and
convenience Of approach, city of COM
merce and industry, bolstered by rural
and suburban life and capable Of hous-
ing 100000 souls. city providing all
the luxuries of Western civilization to
OrientalS who down through hundreds
of years have known the romance of
the Yangtse River and the mystic
beauty of Chinas purple hills.
Such picture Is visualized and
promised for the future by an eminent
American engineer. who will plan for
the Chinese Nationalist government a
District OF Columbia" at Marking.
Ernest Payson Goodrich of New York
City is doing for the New China what
L'Enfant did for the New America, he
is planning a city Of Washington" for
the 10 square miles of lakeland within
the 22-mile wall of Old Marking.
Originated Chicago Loop Scheme.
At the invitation of the Chinese gov
eminent Mr.. Goodrich left New York
last January to discuss with Marking Of
ficials the possibilities of building there
capital worthy of the new China.
Since 1907 Mr. Goodrich has been de-
signing harbors In all parts Of the world,
surveying, coming and planning cities
and regions. He Is one Of the foremost
authorities on the handling of traflc.
He originated the scheme used success
fully in Chicagos Loop area and was a
prominent member of both the Hoover
conferences on traffic problems.
In Marking he has found the dream
stuff that haunts all creative minds, the
materials with which to fashion
monument to Western development and
receptive people who stand at his ell
bows while he works, concerned only
with the assurance that the city he
plans for the Chinese Is like Washing
ton"
Mr. Goodrich. who only recently re-
turned to the United States stopped in
Washington for few hours yesterday
to pay his respects to the Chinese Min
lister, Mr. Chan-Chu WI. He expressed
the opinion that Marking authorities
soon would authorize the preliminary
work on plans he has submitted. which
contemplate the expenditure of $25.-
100000 over 25-year-period. The
financing Of the project depends upon
a final approval Of officials headed by
Sun Fow, son of the late Sun Vat Sen.
who has been appointed director Of
capital construction.
Expects Most Beautiful City.
The new Marking, said Mr. Goodrich,
will be the most beautiful capital in the
world. Modernized Chinese architec-
ture Is to be the motif in building con-
struction. The city is to have its mail
development" its buses and for the fu-
ture, subways. A municipal golf course
is but one Of the twentieth century lux
uries planned for westernized Oriental
capital. Parks and canals. seashore re-
sorts and race tracks are to be provided,
all laid out In the precision that Is
will it be like Washington" as
this like Washington" Does Wash
ington have this?" These are the ques-
tions asked by officials who watch the
work of planning. Goodrich said he
told his enthusiastic questioners that
the new Marking would be as beautiful
as Washington and would have one
thing the American Capital does not
have. e.g. a traffic control system that
Is successful.
More than 800 miles of streets and
highways are to be plotted In net
work within the wall surrounding the
city, and the American engineer said
he had planned the streets SO that
traffic would be continuous at all times
on main and interesting thorough
fares. That phase of the work gave
him his first opportunity. he said. to
carry out on great scale the Chicago
plan he originated. He has it fixed so
there will be no Chinese swearing at
and by the ideal device of
continuous travel for eight
miles, despite intersections. The Sc
cret, he explained. is the block system
Of traffic lights such as Washington
knows, plus a scientific regulation of
speed on parallel and interesting
streets.
outside the city walls, there are to
be 500 miles Of streets and a similar
control of traffic will prevail.
Markings terminus on the Shanghai
railway is on the Yangtze River, but
Goodrich has planned to bring it south
within the city and center 1t in sta
ton much like WashingtonS Union Sta
ton, thus cutting down the distance to
Shanghai and to Canton.
In addition to the government center.
an industrial center, a commercial avia-
ton field and a location for commerce
are to be established. Mr.. Goodrich
found that geographical and atmoS-
pheric conditions combined to make for
ideal planning. Mountains to the east
cut off cold winds in Winter, and across
fiat lands to the south and west the
sea sends up cooling winds in Summer.
are to stretch out over the
22-mile wall surrounding the old city.
Canals and parks, monuments and re-
sort places are to complete the western
lied picture against o background OF
purple hills.
More than q hundred million peo-
the. population Of the
Yangtze River. At Marking port ia
cilities are to be enlarged, giving the
city q greater movement to the Yellow
Sea. Marking last year handled ap-
proximately 2,500, 900 tons of shipping,
a big item being the importation and
expectation of eggs. The largest busi-
ness in eggs in the world Is done in
the port, past which the Yangtze flows
I65 feet deep. For hundreds Of miles
along the river Chinese families send
eggs to the capital.
THE carrying forward of the project
ed development depends, of course, upon
the Nationalist government. After six
months there, Mr.. Goodrich observes
that. of that stability there seems no
doubt in the Chinese mind. He left
China before the controversy with
Soviet Russia developed, but through
out O constant communication with
business interests in Marking that sit
uation has not been mentioned. That,
in itself, he regards as a commentary