KOREA AND CHINA
JAPAN'S MODERNISING INFLUENCE
A GLIMPSE OF OLD PEKING
From Nagasaki in Japan to Eusan i" K s™, « only a night's trip," said Mr. i. Shailer Weston, in continuation ol his narrative of his recent tour of tlio host. The steamers only manage to steam about ten knots, but they are quito comfortable, being run in connection with the Japanese railway system, lhe trip is historically interesting, as you ,pass through the Korean Strait—the Jvnisenslern arm of it—past Tsushima Island, off which the Japanese Navy accounted lor th 0 Kussian fleet, and so helped to bring the. Russo-Japanese war to a conclusion. At Fusan the Japanese are building up a great port-one that will be the great terminal port of tho Korean and Manclrarian railway system of the future. It is curious to see fine modern buildings, which -would be an ornament to any European city, springing up among the old Korean huts, made of stone and mud, with thatched roofs of reeds and grass. "Apart from its prospective' mineral wealth and its lumber, Korea does not, oh tho surface at,all events, appoar'lo offer much of an outlook for Japanese enterprise, certainly not from an agricultural point of view. There arc* eleven , millions of Koreans, who manage to ' exist by the close cultivation of the comparatively small area of productive lands in (he valleys. Generally speaking, however, thie land seems to consist mostly of a cold, sour clay... But the Japanese are looking far ahead. At Seoul they arn spending immense sums of money on railways, stations, - roads, and public buildings. Prior to the Japanese occupation tho country had comparatively few modern works of any kind, 6aye, perhaps, a few which hnd been undertaken during the Russian regime. Japan has her eyo on tho mineral wealth ot Kprea, on her forests, and the market offered there foi! her cheaper products, for the Koreans are extremely poor. .What is, perhaps, more important is that Korea is the main laud avenue to Manchuria, which possesses tho greatest agricultural region in the world, and has enormous deposits of coal and iron. "After leaving Scoul,-a city also emerging from the primitive to the modern, wo west to Antung, the largest city on the 'great Yellow River, a noble waterway, that was ■ crowded., with junks and river craft of all description, not forgetting fretful Japanese destroyers, who keep the pence of tho river. Antung is A large and prosperous city, nominally in Chinese territory, and subject to the Chincso Customs torift, but owing to tlio ownership of the feoutli Manchurian railway having been taken over by the Japanese from the ltusiana after the war, Japan really has «• stran-gle-hold, not only of Antung, but on tho whole of Manchuria, as far as Chang Chang, about 200 miles north of Mukden, where the railway joins the Siberian system. That ownership gives the Japanese, many valuable concessions and all tho advantages'of trade within 'the territory. On the area conceded to- the Japanese at Mukden, tho Japanese are building a very fine city, and here again may bo seen two distinct civilisations rubbing shoulders, ns it wero-the big weltdesigned' modem buildings of- the Japanese alongside tho mean huts ot the Mtmclmrians. Mukden is only twenty miles from tho rich Manchurian plain, which is the largest area in ono block cultivated by man in tlio world. Mile after mile is passed without seeing a single weed-nothing 'but vast fields ot soya Ivan's, kaoliang beans, milletand, and wheat. The country suffers a little through a deficient rainfall, and as the season had been a very dry one- when we were there, tho crops were late in showing up, but given an. equable, rain-: fall tho plains would be a wonderful storehouse for : tho Orient. From Mukden to the Yellow River is about a thousand miles, and the whole of that sltretch is' cultivable. If in tho future tho policy of the Chinese Government favoured a system of afforestation, the rainfall might be bettered, and tho .output enormously increased. Tho soya bean is a most valuable fowl product, and besides being a staple food for man and beast; produces an oil from which oil cakes are made. The kaoliang bean is also a wonderful nitrogenous product in general use. The Japanese attribute the .height of the Manchnnans to the food value of the kaoliang bean. Ihe line from Mukden to Peking was built by the Chinese Government with English capital, and the. heads of the, concern are all English, whilst tho staft is wholly Chinese; but, unlike the Japanese, the Chincso are starving their railway, and none -of the improvements are being made that are noticeable in the Manchurian railwavs under Jarancw control. "Peking is tho most interesting city in the East. Although ftho whole of the 'forbidden city' is not yet open to tourists, one can now see more than an Ambassador could in the time of the liho all-powerful Dowager-Empress. Not being greatly concerned with, the past, tho Chinese National Government is, unfortunately, allowing many of the great Imperial palaces and monuments of old dynasties to go to ruin, and on all sides can be noticed signs of decay which could be easily checked did there exist a spirit of respect for the past. Even the great Temple and Alitor of Heaven, in Peking, is being allowed to fall into ulsrepair. Here and there in the country you see the old palaces going' to pieces, sometimes with trees sprouting ilhrough fino old tiled roofs, snowing that Ihe old order is changing. Peking, as you know,., was always the official 1 city, and the Chinese in common wcro never allowed to reside within its gaies, so they built a great ci.!|y outside tho city walls, and even to-day it. is In the outside city that the bulk of the business' of i'he place is transacted. It is an interesting pastime to go for a walk along tho city wall—it is fifiiy feet high and about thirty feet lyidc—and have on ono side of you the stately old garaeiia and residences of official Peking and on tho other the busy.'chattering, swarming marts of tho'outsido city. Peking would lie one of the most fascinating cunies in thp world to live in were it not for ono tiling. It is invariably enveloped m a fine, hazy dust, which permeates everyijliing and gives the very atmosphere', a misty or foggy appearance. After rain, however, tlio "air is wonderfully clear by contrast; and then is the time to view Poking in all its varying aspects. Ono of tho most delightful pastimes in Peking is the pony racing, which takes place every evening between -1.30 and (i.DO. To see these sturdy little Manchurian ponies coming along at a tremendous vate, carrying a big fat Chinaman, is j one of line sights of iho East. Thcj j don't worry about 'wasting' in the East | -these ponies seem to be able to carry j tho weight without its affett.'ng their | speed to any marked extent. Of course, i the Chinese are great ' gamblers, and i there is the liveliest boiling on every I race.
"There are no trams in Peking. The .transit arrangements aro in the hands of 30,000 'rickshaw' men, who manage their business wonderfully. The street traffic is controlled by the police, ■ the saiuo as in London, and there are troops who are hired by the big silk merchants and bankers to guard their premises from roving bands of robbers who may attempt n burglarious coup. Whilst in the district, I, in company with a gentleman from Texas, walked a distance of eleven miles through the famous Pass of Nankow—the ages-old highway to Mongolia. This road lias nerved tho people of China for over 2000 years—how much longer than 2000 years no ono knows—but daily it is traversed by thousands of camels and ponies, bringing in the trade, of Mongolia i and returning wilh manufactured goods' for people of the far interior. _ The day we were in the Pass, which is a very rough road of hard stone, over a thousand camels' passed us. and the dust was awful. Halfway through the Pass is an old archway, covorod with queer inscriptions in ninny languages. One of these inscriptions was written in a language which has been lost to tho world. Archaeologists of all the world havo tried to decipher tbe words and their meaning, and all failed until a fo\v months ago, when tho Key to tho inscription wns alighted on bv one of tuo learned. Truly, it is a case of 'Art is long, and time is fleeting'!" •
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Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 279, 19 August 1920, Page 6
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1,434KOREA AND CHINA Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 279, 19 August 1920, Page 6
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