The Coolidge examiner., 1937-10-21
S on the Whangpoo River.

teemlng, civilized population, living
on fertile, cultivated soil in a tenn
perate climate. These people pro-
duce and exchange goods with the
outside world. Little wonder that
the Yangtze is considered of strate-
gic as well as economic i'm
portancel
The Yangtze is more to China
than any river could be to the
United States. In a land of few
railroads and almost no improved
highways the Yangtze provides the
only reliable route to the rich in
terror of China. The Hwang, or
Yellow river, China's second l~gest
stream, is too temperamental to be
of high economic value. It's sudden
floods and shifting channels have
earned for ii the nickname "China's s
Sorrow" whereas the Yangtze is
"China's JOY" Yangtze floods, un-
like that of last summer, are gen.
orally not destructive, and they COW
er the bottom lands with new, rich
earth which more than compensates
for flood damage.
Furthermore, on the broad bosom
of the Yangtze. whose name means
''Son of the Ocean," ocean steam
ers may ascend GAO miles to Han
kow. second largest city of China.
Here, in the midst of the central
plains. is the distributing center, the
New Orleans of the Yangtze basin.
Smaller steamers can push on to
Chungking; junks to Suifu; and row.
boats to Batang. in eastern Yunnan
province-a total distance of 1900
miles from the Yellow sea.
Some see in the Yangtze, which
follows a general west to east di-
rection, the logical boundary be-
tween the north and south of China.
Geographically. however. China is
divided into three main sections.
with the great Yangtze valley form
ing a middle state. The Yangtze
basin is an entity, the people, fora
and fauna being distinct from those
to the north and to the south of it.
The Yangtze has several names
among the Chinese. only the last
few hundred miles being known as
"Yangtze Kiang," kiang being one
of the Chinese words for river Some
Chinese call the stream Tia Kiang.
or Great River.
Rising in the mountains of Tibet,
near the birthplaces of three other
mighty Asiatic rivers-the Yellow.
the Mekong. and the Salwin-the
Yangtze carves way through tall
mountain ranges, forming some of
the deepest river canyons in the
world. In one place the Yangtze
gorge is $4,000 feet deep.
Through the middle plains the
Yangtze drains some of the richest
and Oldest farming lands in the
world. Here are many shallow
lakes, which absorb the spring
thaws and act as feeding reservoirs
in the dry season, and fields of tea,
rice and wheat Mineral deposits
and ironworks around Hankow,
which is really three cities in one,
suggest a comparison between this
section of the Yangtze and Penn
sylvania's Monongahela.
Delta Densely Populated.
In the lower Yangtze delta the
countrysides are only a few feet
above sea level. The Delta has mil
lions of inhabitants to whom land is
so valuable that not a single square
foot can be wasted. Numerous ca
nails, natural and man-made, make
this region a Holland of the East.
The canals serve as safety valves
in time of food. and also carry
nearly all the traffic of this part Of
China. Thousands of Chinese, loath
to waste even foot of precious
land on a dwelling, are born, live
and die on houseboats, going ashore
only to till their little farms or to
market their produce.
Each year the mighty Yangtze
empties into the Yellow sea some
6,428, 900, 900 cubic feet of earth in
the form of silt-slightly more
than the amount eXcavated to build
the Panama canal! If Strengthened
out on the map Of the United States
the Yangtze would measure from
San Francisco to Cape Cod
Throughout its lower, navigable
stretches an unending pageant of
steamers, barges, junks and sam
pans constantly passes. Rats of
logs, with miniature villages on top,
drift down with the current. Often
these floating homes are partly COW
cred with earth, on which vegetables
grow, and pigs and chickens wan
der at will Women hang out wash
ing and children play just as if they
were on solid land.
Shanghai once was directly on the
Yangtze but the channel shifted and
the city now lies twelve miles from
the mouth of the great stream, on
the tidal Whangpoo.