CITY OF CANTON

Evening Star, Issue 22444, 15 September 1936, Page 10

CITY OF CANTON

HUB OF SOUTH CHINA JEALOUSY OF NORTH Speak of China to an exiled Chinaman, and he is only mildl.y interested, but mention Canton and his eyes glow (says a writer in the Melbourne ‘Age’)- Canton was the place to which the rich merchant, the successful general, would return, and build among its hills and streams and trees a foreign-style residence for himself and his wives. Alas for such dreams unless the exile is prepared for the merciless exactions of the tax gatherer to support a horde of bureaus and national industries. But, however much the modernising of Canton reduces its leisurely attractiveness, nothing seems likely to destroy that spirit which has drawn there the curiosity of the world student and globe-trotter —a curiosity likely to expand with lightning rapidity anv day of the year. _ According to the guide books, Canton is the commercial metropolis of South China, eighty miles north-west of Hongkong. But one’s contact with international affairs need not extend far to know that the above description leaves very much unsaid. Canton is the hub of Southern China, and the hubbub of the geographically great Chinese republic. It is the hot bed ot China, idealogically, and m the summer, meteorologically. A Chinese saying is, “ everything new originates m Canton,” but the peasant and northern Chinese is somewhat conservative, and not everything new has his unqualified support. Canton bred and harboured the spirits that led the revolution for the overthrow of the Manchu dynasty, and it is Canton which in the midst of its commercial activity and anti-Japanese drive finds time to keep green the memory of its famous modern son, Dr Sun Yat Sen, with a striking memorial hall seating 4,000, equipped with amplifiers, and to remember the 72 martyrs • whose devotion to the New China ideal ended only with the loss of their heads, A VENERABLE HISTORY. The city has a more venerable history than the most ancient cities of Europe, and can boast a longer link with the genesis of the earth than the northern Chinese cities. Centuries before the Christian era immigrants from the basin of the Yellow River in the north formed on the present site of Canton the most southerly frontier for the Chinese dispersion. Very ancient folk-lore has a story, that about that time five men clothed only in their rich growth, of hair arrived from the north on the Lacks of goats, bearing a stalk of grain and a ) essage to the people to live in peace and prosperity. But the Cantonese seem to have believed that it was not possible to follow both pieces of advice at once, and have concentrated, with moderate success, on the attainment of the material object. Monuments to the goats can be seen in their stone effigies in the Temple of the Five Genii; and this story 'explains Canton being known as the City of Rams. For many centuries the centre of the city was within a wall and moat six miles round, which protected streets, little more than alleyways, but was not able to- strain the native aroma, which enjoys world-wide repute. But a visitor to-day can find little trace of the wall or moat, and must pry with a guide behind hundred feet wide streets for the slum mazery and the sources of the unique perfumery. These modern streets carry a fascinating flow of traffic. Motor buses, lowslung carts drawn at snail’s pace by Chinese with ropes; 1925 model cars for hire; rickshaws lacking the polish seen in Hongkong, but with coolies excelling their southern brothers in speed and enterprise. A foreign face is rare in Canton proper. Shameen, once a muddy island, is the name of the new attractive foreign two-thirds of it is British and one-third French. Connecting Shameen and Canton is a stone bridge over a 30ft canal, and as recently as last May the writer saw on the well-kept grassy embankment rolls of barb wire, used not so long ago as a protection against the volatile Chinese neighbours, and ready for the next emergency. A LABORATORY. Canton is the industrial laboratory of China. The writer’s visit coincided with a local manufacturer’s exhibition. Every branch of activity was represented, even to the heavy industries, and the interest shown by young Canton was a thing to ponder on. The Australian Natives’ Association could not have devised any more striking slogans than appeared on the flimsy walls . of the straggly structures that housed the display. Examples were interpreted to us by a keen young guide, as “ if you buy foreign goods you are no better than the bandits; to buy Japanese goods is to be a traitor.” For skill and patience the Cantonese workman, in some unique occupations, is unexcelled : for centuries he has been famous for his lacquerware, pottery, furniture, carving, working with tortoise shell, ivory, bone, inlaying, kingfisher’s feathers, and silver, silk weaving, and glazing cloth with half-ton stones without heat. Part of old Canton is preserved oc the water. One is not accustomed to thinking of John Chinaman as a son of the sea, and so the_ sight of a fleet of some thousands of junks moored as close as sardines, or out fishing over several squai-e miles of the high seas, or riding the wind with their great bat-like sails full spread, strike a visitor as a little out of place. Many of the junk population hardly set foot on land from birth to sea burial. They are a complete community, tinkers, tailors, beggarmen, thieves, and even priests; their families living in the unlovely manner of their fathers before them. Since the overthrow of the Manchu regime in 1912 Canton has developed a system of municipal and provincial government. In the tenth year of the republic a municipal department was established, and next year the project took shape with the organisation of six bureaux—public safety, education, health, finance, works, and utilities. In the fourteenth year a municipal committee was created, and four years later a democratic mayoral system was established. PERIODIC FRICTION. At present the municipal planning is directed by a middle-aged Chicagotrained doctor of philosophy, by the name of Wu Paakshing. The writer met him on one of his busy days, and he had such an evangelical enthusisam for his mission that he had only two minutes for an interview, in which he said in flawless English that China was gong through a political and social revolution at the same time, and if unity could be arrived at by the many conflicting interests China would be saved from the foreign yoke. Dr Wu left one with the impression that unless he realised his quota of tire plan for that day the whole scheme would collapse. Since the National Government established its headquarters in the

north at Nanking, there has been periodic friction with the southern city. Canton’s political leaders are jealous of Nanking’s domination and suspicious of its flirting with the Japanese. Yet unity of action is not impossible; it will come by a compromise between the Fabian tactics of General Chiang Kaishek in the north and the impulsive war-lusting leaders in the south. The cable news item that General Chang Chi Tung, military war lord in Kwantung province (which includes Canton) has been given notice of dismissal by Nanking, may prove to be the opening shot in a decisive test of the strengths of the two policies. Dr Kam, the northern liaison officer in Canton, had more time for foreign interruptions than his administrative confrere, and his summary of the stuation last May was that the whole country was psychologically ready to counter Japanese penetration, and the first leader to step out would find a united China under his’banner.