Evening star., 1939-02-05

night by spinning fancy yarns. had
nothing on Shangnals slim Sonias.
The Chinese damsels who reign at
most Of the dance halls share hon.
ors-or something-With the Rus
slams. They are charming and
gay. and sometimes extraordinarily
pretty When Chinese blood and
foreign blood are mixed, especially
if the foreign blood is Russian,
Portuguese or French. the devas-
tating result is something to write
home about.
More than most cities, Shanghai
offers amusement on every social
level. from top to bottom-broaden-
ing considerably toward the bot
tom. The city fathers ignore the
worst places. or deny that they exist;
but one section is so very notorious
that it fills the citizens with sort
of shame-faoed pride. This is the
block-long street famed over the
world as Blood Alley. Even the
police have forgotten its Chinese
name. The customers never knew
it. On gala nights you can hear
Blood Alley two blocks away.
The bars that line this rowdy
street are patroniZed mostly by SOL
diers and sailors-American French,
British and whatever other nations
happen to have army or navy forces
in town. They all have the same
tomorrow We die" manner Of
amusing themselves. And in Shang-
hal there is nothing to limit the
fun, for rarely, at any bar or res
/ taurant, is there any question of
any one paying cash-just sign the
chit and settle at the end of the
month. No proprietor expects cash.
The walters are quite upset if you
offer TO settle your bill on the spot.
One Memorable Hour.
One of the liveliest hours in Blood
Alleys history struck just recently.
A group of French soldiers and
American marines were gathered at
the New Ritz, the fanciest of the
alleys bars, industriously signing
chit after chit. when in staggered
contingent of Italian sailors. No
body loves the Italians very much
just now in Shanghai-nobody ex-
cept the japanese on the other side
OF the Garden Bridge. So they feel
pretty lonesome, and when it rankles
too much they are likely to become
pugnacious about their social ostra-
cism.
They got pugnacious on this
famous night. 1t began when one
of Mussolinis S men insulted French
soldier, who, since Blood Alley is in
the French concession. properly felt
he was being attacked on home
grounds. He resented the slur on
the valor of La Belle France. Then
two more Italians added pcstscripts
to the insult and three more
Frenchmen resented it, When fists
began to fly the Americans decided
1t was time to pay our debt to
Lafayette again. Soon tables and
chairs were sailing through the
cigarette haze, windows were crash
ing. the taWdry decorations were
being torn to ribbons.
One Of the ugliest of weapons is
the heavy brass buckle on the end
of a whirling military belt. and by
now the bets were whirling in fine
style. A rescue party of Italian re-
Inducements roared up in a truck.
The French sent out an appeal for
more Americans. And gobs and
leathernecks, all yelling Save
France" responded from every
neighboring barroom The war was
on in earnest-with America in
for the Duration!
1t took nearly all the police in
Shanghai to quell the riot.
This braWl was only tempest in
a teapot-or rather, in gin bottle
but the story was cabled with all
speed to Paris, London, Berlin,
Washington and especially to Rome.
For, sharply and unmistakably, this
spontaneous combustion in Blood
Alley showed whose soldiers were
ready, of their own accord, to fight
for-and against-whom.
Here in Shanghai the foreign
residents are fearful about the fu-
ture of the city, now that the Japa-
nese are more or less in control. The
Whangpoo River, by means of which
ships reach the harbor. must be
constantly dredged to keep it from
sitting up. But this dredging is being
prevented by the Japanese. Before
long the river will be so shallow
that foreign vessels may be unable
to reach the port. Japan, in this
way, seems to be attempting to
strangle International Shanghai. At
the same time her own shipping in
terests dream Of building . new
harbor lower down the river, which
will leave the old port to die Of COM
mercial starvation and allow the
new Japanese port to take over the
prosperity once enjoyed by the
Western powers.
(Copyright 1Q3Ql