Evening star., 1939-02-05
BateScarred Shanghai Becomes Home Refugees and Wo
JAPANESE SENTRIES GUARD CITY
Tidy Ruins Left in Battered Oriental Section While FOREIGN
Settlement Becomes Paradise of Adventures; Evidence
Fury of Japan and Resistance of Chinese

they either escaped or we're buried
there was no in-betWeen. Some lie
beneath the debris of their homes.
But mostly they are buried in huge
pits, hundreds together, without any
mark. There are no gravestones.
The stiffness of death prevails, but
death itself seems strangely absent.
Death merely came this way, and
went on again, and nothing has
come since to take its place. Moth
Ing except the japanese sentries,
lolling in groups at the barriers,
holding their rifles slackly in their
hands, and chattering about new
triumphs in Hangkow and Canton.
There are no passport formali-
ties in Shanghai. I merely stepped
ashore in the HongkeW section. con-
trolled by Japan, and crossed the
famous Garden Bridge into the
International Settlement. Crossing
this bridge was like going from
ghost city into the living world. In
the conquered part were deserted
streets and shuttered shops. Beyond
the bridge were crowds of people
and free-moving traffic. On the
Japanese side is the dummy New
China; on the other side, all that
Is left of real China in Shanghai,
huddling for protection in the set
Elements of the powers which are
more foreign than Japan, but ap-
parently preferable.
Though the japanese think it dis
Greet not to cross Garden Bridge
(they can see the American, British
and French cruisers looming in the
harbor, they control its traffic.
They permit no streetcarS to pass,
nor even rickshas. One takes
ricksha as far as the bridgehead,
dismisses it, walks to the other side,
and hires a second ricksha. The
sidewalks are a tangle of barbed
wire; only the middle of the road
way is open, and that only at the
pleasure of the armed japanese
guards.
japanese Army Etiquette Authority.
When the japanese Army first
stationed its sentries here it took
pains to settle every question of
etiquette which might arise. BY the
thousand, handbills were distributed,
telling in Emily-Postish detail how
to avoid crudeness in meeting the
Emperors men. Remove your hat,
hold it in your hand, smile cheer
fully, bow. say good morning pleas
antly, and present your pass. When
it has been accepted thank the SEN
try, and cross the bridge at seemly
gait
The Americans and English, at
first outraged and then Wryly amused
by such instructions. decided from
the beginning to ignore the sentries.
Over the bridge we stroll casually,
scarcely glancing at the guards, pre-
tending they aren't even there; and
not troubling to halt even if they
challenge us. There is only one
phrase to express their resentment
at our lack of manners: 1t burns
them up.
But the poor Chinese, whom one
might suppose to have the only real
right to be there at all, fare very
poorly on the bridge. The Japanese
won't let them forget line of that
leaflet on etiquette. If they don't
smile convincingly enough, or bow
low enough, they aren't allowed to
cross Sometimes Chinaman's
pride overpowers his common sense,
and he reveals the rancor he feels.
In trice, the nimble japanese have
tied him to nearby lamppost and
slapped him into the proper frame
of mind or gently reminded him of