THE WAY THEY NAME THE STREETS IN CHINA.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 6, Issue 1688, 17 May 1884, Page 4

THE WAY THEY NAME THE STREETS IN CHINA.

They are very narrow and dirty, in the first place, with an average width of from three to five feet. They are paved with long narrow slabs of stone. Their names are often devotional and poetical. We saw Peace street, and tho street of Benevolence and Love, Another, by some violent wrench of the imagination, was called the street of Refreshing Breezes. Some contented mind had given a name to the street of Early Bestowed Blessings. The paternal sentiment, so sacred to the Chinaman, found expression in the streets of One Hundred Grandsons and street of One Thousand Grandsons, There was a street of a Thousand Beatitudes which were enjoyed by its founder. Thero were streets consecrated to Everlasting Love to Accumulated Blessings, while a practical soul named his avenue the Market of Golden Profits. Other streets are named after trades and avocations, There is > Betel nut street, where you can buy.the Betelenut, and the Cocoanut, and Drink Tea.: There is a street where Chinese,'hats are sold. There is Eyeglass street where: the compass is sold, and, if you choose to buy a compass, there is no harm in remembering that we owe tho invention of that subtle instrument- to China. Another street is given to the manufacture of bows and arrows, another to Prussian blue, a third to tho preparation of furs. The shops have signs in Chinese characters, gold letters on a red and black board, which are hung in front, and droop before you as you pass under them, producing a peculiar effect, as of an excess of ornamentation, like Paris on a fete day.