PROSPERING HARBIN

Hokitika Guardian, 24 September 1918, Page 4

PROSPERING HARBIN

TOWN OF RICH REFUGEES (From Bernard Falk ) Harbin. June 25 Harbin is the Manchurian Babylon. It has a population of 130,000 of all the races under th 2 sun. The town is wallowing in prosperity, refugees from Russia hayingbroughi all their wealth with them and invested it in various enterprises. In addition, the town is the centre of the soya bean industry, which is assuming vast proportions. (Inuu merable things can be made from the soya bean, principally foods. ) There is much illicit opium smuggling. In many cases people are existing by a policy of beggar-my-neighbour. As a rouble changes in value three times a day, it is pos sible for ingenious financiers to coin money. It is often a question of who gets to the bank first. People who are not occupied in business apparently live by card-playing for high stakes. It is a picturesque spectacle in the afternoon to see Russian officers attired in the most magnificent gold-braided uniforms driving with smartly dressed lady friends in the new town, where the consulates aie situated. These officers are brave men who have fought and, if encouraged, will again fight bravely. Appearances in their case are deceptive. At first one is inclined to view with mixed feelings the presence of so many military men of splendid physique apparently unemployed, but I was told that many had just returned from fighting for Semenoff, the Cossack leader in Eastern Siberia, and soon would be going out again. A great contrast is afforded by the simply dressed Chinese soldier)' attired in khaki, brown or slate, according to the state of the commissariat. There are many fine buildings and every sign of the ambitious architectural pre-war plans projected by the Russians, who in their traditional way left them unfinished. I'OOD PLENTIFUL AND GOOD. Food is plentiful and the cooking is excellent, but the hotels leave much to be desired in the matter of sanitation. When I questioned an hotel proprietor as to why there are 1 not more amenities lie regarded me \ as an eccentric, saying, “ Harbin is not London ! ” In the evening musical performances in the parks amuse the population, which is remarkably lighthearted and pleasure-loving Morality is not a strong feature of the town.. Scotch whisky is obtainable everywhere. Probably there are bigger stocks at Harbin than in many English towns. The usual charge is three to four roubles a nip (a rouble is normally about 2s), but the price is going up owing to Russians having developed a taste for it. There is great excitement when the Russian fire “ engine,” manned by Chinese and having absurdly small water-barrels, dashes through the town. Life begins at midday and ends at 4 a.m. There is an enormous number of ‘ izvoslichiks (cabdrivers), Russians and Chinese competing in extortionate charges. Ladies disport themselves in white toilettes and bird of paradise hats, obviously imagining themselves to be on the Nevsky Prospekt in Petrograd. The dusty state of the roads is terrible. In public the war is not widely discussed. The chief topic is whether the rouble, will go up or down. The population is for the moment interested in the large number of American khaki-clad railwaymen, some of whom are working on the Chinese Eastern Railway, where they are speeding up the system.