White Bluffs spokesman. [volume] (White Bluffs, Wash.) 1907-1938, 1932-06-16

(Prepared bv National Geographic Society.
Washington. D. C.)-WNU Service.
NOLITICAL leaders in Shantung
- announce that they will again
acknowledge the central Chinese
government at Marking in mat
tiers of taxation, despite reports to the
contrary. Shantung has recently shown
independence of Marking.
Shantung is the Holy Land of China
because it was the birthplace and bur-
ial place of Confucius. Thousands OF
Chinese pilgrims visit the provinces
numerous temples every year. 1t also
is beehive of business. The Grand
canal, the muddy, moody Hwang-ho or
Yellow river, Twentieth-century-bu built
railroads, wheelbarrows and strong
coolie backs handle large volumes OF
commerce, destined to all parts of the
world
Thirty million people live in Shan
tung, which is about the size of Iowa.
Most of them inhabit villages thickly
sprinkled over the landscape, but the
province also boasts large cities that
have figured prominently in interna-
tional politics and business.
Tsinan, the capital, is city OF
about 100000 inhabitants situated on
the plains of Shantung. Although
nearly 200 miles from the sea, Tsnan
is an important commercial center
Small native boats navigate canals
that connect the city with the Yellow
and HsiaoC Ching rivers nearby. Per-
haps more important, however, are
Tsinan's railroad transportation facil-
tiles, for it is here that the railroad
which penetrates the Shantung PENN
sula connects with the trunk line join
ing Peiping, Tientsin and Shanghai.
Tsinan's Flour and Peanut OIL.
Products from the western grain
fields reach Tsinan. Grain is stored
in Tsinan warehouses and milled in
Tsinan mills. while large quantities of
peanuts and tobacco from nearby
Shantung plantations are also shipped
there for disposal. Flour mills and
peanut oil factories are among the
city's larger industries. Some of the
peanuts are cousins to American tn
bers that were introduced into Shan
tung by American missionaries And
the tobacco, some of which was intro
duced by American tobacco companies,
might claim relationship to the leaves
that had a part in bringing fame to
Sir Walter Raleigh.
In Tsinan homes and factories fine
Chinese rugs are woven. When long
hair was the browning glory OF the
American girl and speedy roadsters I'M
did the patient strokes of the boudoir
comb. Tsinan prospered making hair
nets. But each American girl who, In
recent years, has emerged from bar
Der shop with shorn locks unwittingly
did her bit to cripple this industry.
Tsinan is more than a thousand
years older than the Christian era.
Guides will tell the traveller that the
city was once situation 25 miles from
Its present site and was moved piece
by piece by a continuous line of men
stretching from the old to the new site.
From remote times, the natives have
believed that an imaginary chain from
the nearby Pagoda hill keeps Tsinan
from blowing away in the wind blasts
off the Shantung plain, or being
washed away by the frequent floods
Of the murky Yellow river. That sin
! lister stream is about six miles north
Of the city.
Two walls surround three sides or
the city. The inner wall is an irreg-
I ular SQUARE with many gates. The
outer wall fares outward on zigzag-
ging course from the northeast and
northwest corners of the square wall
Until 1906 Tsinan was strange
CITY to foreign traders. Then 1t vol
UNFAIRLY opened it's doors. Most of
the foreign trading is done at s'hang-
pu, a small commercial town west of
the walls There the traveller finds
wide western'ike streets and modern
government and business buildings
/ There are natives there, too, but one
is more likely to rub elbows with one
Of the 300 Americans in Shang-pu than
'nsid. the walls.
Seeina Tsinan Afoot.
In the quarter Of Il century that has
elapsed since the Tsinan gates were
opencd, automobiles have traversed
the few streets that are wide enough
for their passage: few modern stores
have been wedged between native
shops; and electric light bulbs dangle
from corner posts.
But off these wider streets, Tsinan
/ is a "Chirese puzzle Of mere Sits be
houses. Only rickshaws, wheelbar
rows and springless donkey carts
traverse these passageways; and when
they appear. pedestrians are pressed
against fanking walls and into door