Evening star., 1935-12-01

king there remains unchanged
VI the old Ming tower from which
L for centuries the beating of a
large drum sounded the alarm and
called soldiers to defense of the For
hidden City" Today, under its Chi
nese roof, is an electric siren which,
with hideous sQueals and angry groans.
welcomes each day the coming of
noon.
Just on the inside of the Nanking
gate along the road which leads toward
the Purple Mountain are dark, dingy
shops, selling food and wares that
for hundreds of years have attracted
the weary traveller who at last comes
within the wall. But in front of the
shops. in order to shield them against
the gaze of the esthetically- -discrimi-
mating passersby, barricades of bill
boards have been erected and plaS-
tered with modern, fiamboysnt adver-
tising and the peppy slogans of the
New Life Movement"
Sun Yat-Sen Tomb Impressive.
Up against the foot of Purple
Mountain, commanding lovely
countryside still green in November
and reminiscent of the rolling coun-
try around Frederick, Md. there was
built many years ago tomb to shell
ter the mortal remains of the founder
of the great Ming dynasty, and lead
ing to the tomb, which remains un-
changed, are broad avenues f1anked by
giant monolithic figures of elephants,
lions, camels and armor-clad warriors
who maintain their vigil undisturbed.
But not far away and little higher
up the mountain slope is a more i'm
pressive tomb surmounting a massive
flight of marble steps. In dwarfing
the tomb of the mighty Ming -Tai-Tsu,
the newer structure would recall to
the present and to generations yet
unborn the superior greatness of DR..
Sun Yat-Sen.
Inside the "a miles OF meandering
city wall which encircles Marking
there is broad, paved avenue which
passes through a group Of square,
squat houses of ancient brick. built
as barracks for the soldiers of the
Manchus. Today they are storage
places for the munitions of the army
of Gen. Chang Kai-Shek, and at the
other end of the city the avenue comes
upon a newly constructed circular
park, planted with grass and trees.
In the center OF the park, considerably
higher than the young trees, stands
the realistic model Of an immense
aerial bomb, nose buried in earth,
reminding the younger generation
that it pays to be airminded and sup
port the government in its purchase
of airplanes.
From such contrasts and many
others which impress the traveller 1t
Is possible to derive certain SYM
bolism of what is taking place in
China today. as the still infant central
government at Marking, striving
against handicaps that might easily
be viewed as insurmountable, seeks to
build new China against setting
which retains so much Of the old.
Present Government Strongest.
The impressions Of the visitor are
apt to be more colored by what re-
mains of the old than what is seen
of the new, and he is thus inclined
to a skepticism and doubt which those
who really know China and have seen
at first hand the progress achieved
during the past few years call unfair
and undeserved.
Europeans and Americans, both
civilian and military, who have lived
in China for years, will tell you with
out reservations that the present gov
ernmert in Marking is the strongest,
possessing the most enlightened ideals
and with the best record for actual
progress that China has enjoyed in
modern times. But the stranger in
China, searching for the foundations
for such confident belief, finds him
self struggling helplessly through a
fog of contradictions.
The material evidence of stable
and sound government are manifest
in busy, sprawling Marking today.
The new government structures, i'm
posing If not attractive, and the wide
spread temporary" buildings which,
until the new National government