The Coolidge examiner., 1931-07-17

wall bordering the Bund other
small craft are tied ten deep. float
ing at high tide and settling in the
mud at low.
1t is estimated that about a quar-
ter of million Cantonese are
housed in the boats on the Pearl
and in the canals through The city.
Some boats accommodate three to
four families as well as their flOcks
of chickens, geese and pigs. Talka-
tive parrots are popular pets among
among the river folk. Their
squawking and the loud monoto-
nous chatter of their owners create
bedlam on the river front from
early morning until midnight.
Scenes in the Street.
Two bridges span the canal that
separates Shameen from Canton.
The river front is disappointing to
anyone expecting to see a typical
Chinese city Flimsy buildings fac
ing the Bund have given way to
modern, many-StOried structures
housing offices of foreign corpora
tions, and here and there bamboo
scaffOlding indicates that another
bit of the Orient is passing to add
to Canton's occidental sky line. All
these Improvements have been
made by men and women masons
and hOdcarriers, without such mod
ern equipment as steam ShovelS and
cement mixers.
In the street. Chinese with Euro
pean coats and trousers, leather
shoes, and straw and felt hats, rub
elbows with their countrymen In
loose-fitting oriental garments. cloth
footwear, and skull caps. Now and
then a farmer from the suburbs
with his umbrellalike hat mingles
with the throng.
But from Shameen and the Bund,
one can throw a stone into Canton.
unchanged for many centuries.
Here many of the ancient thorough
fares are so narrow that one can
stand in the middle and touch the
side walls with the tips of his fin
gers. Sh0pkeepers add to the con-
gestion by signs which protrude be-
yOnd the doOrwayS.
Kwangtung's leading salt water
port is SwatOw, noted for coolies
and embroidery. The coolies 90
south to the Straits Settlements.
whence they send home much
money and come themselves when
their toll in the tropics has won
them competence. Just as the
Canton Chinese have impressed
themselves on America, the Ningpo
merchants made their way in most
of the trade marts of China, and
the Shantung cOolie became known
on the battlefelds of France, so the
SwatOw cOOlie has had his share
in the development of the Straits
Settlements and more than one has
risen to affluence thereby.
Swatow also produces a peculiar
grass cloth or native linen, made.
not from flax. but from a form of
hemp. Table sets of this material.
embroidered in white or contrast.
ing cOl0rs. with stOrks and dragons
and other fanciful designs. are ad-
mired and priced throughout the
world. This industry was started
by missionary as a means of re-
lief during one of the many dis
asters from which SwatOw has suf-
fered. and it has attained huge pro.
portions. SWatOw embroidery.
drawn work and grass cloth today
form "best seller" in native shops
from Hongkong to Shanghai.
If in China you Overhear a ref
erence to "Swatow Blues" do not
conclude that the city is going in
for jazz. An important Swatow
product is indigo, and the city has
a full share in making China "the
land of the blue gown"
The influx of money from the
straits and the Philippines is so
great that SwatOw can always i'm
port more than it exports and it has
been one of the best markets for
foreign goods to be found on the
whole wrinkled coast of China.
Sugar is also one of Swallows
chief products and the British and
cOnsulates are situated
near the main refinery on Kak-
chiOh. HOngkOng, however, is wip.
ming away the sugar trade from
SWatOw, which was once the center
Of sugar production. The fields in
land from SwatOw produce huge
crops Of sugarcane and the Manda.
rim oranges of the rpOioO ara faua6