Show apo abl dbl A IVA W A 77 74 p Y 7 I 1 M 1 5 1 A 47 crowded shipping on the th min river at Pr pred by the national 0 grapple society D 0 which once ranked fand among the tea ports ot of the world and then two decades ngo ago bowed bided to ceylon and japan Is staging a comeback the steep slopes of fullen province of bf w which aich F Is capital and leading city again are covered with thriving tea bushes big men women and children throng the plantations picking tea leaves from dawn to dusk tea laden porters form an almost endless parade from the plantation to the tea warehouses and boats on the min piled with packages of tea recall the days when yankee clipper ships cleared with cargoes of fragrant leaves destined to american teapots port Is really not in the cites suburbs the nearest gate in the cites five mile vine clad wall Is more than three miles from the north bank of the min about 34 miles from the me sea a few travelers traveler visit to reach the port one must go 90 by boat tor for railroads and good roads are not to be found in this region ocean going vessels from shanghai and hong kong hong make regular trips up the min which penetrates the chinese coast opposite the north end of taiwan formosa the vessels may steam up the river as tar far as pagoda anchorage there passengers are transferred to launches which after nine miles n alea of dodging matting covered sam pans and grotesquely carved high pooped junks deposit their human cargo at the cites suburban docks if ono one wants to go native however he may board a native boat with the owners family fowls dogs and pigs and travel tn in the atmosphere of the min the rivers obstruction at pagoda anchorage Is artificial formed when stone laden barges were sunk there to prevent ffrench TF rench fleet from reaching the city during the franco foo chow troubles in 1884 it la Is the characteristic act of the chinese love for things as they are that business men have waited so long to take steps to clear the channel and thus avoid the endless annoyance of reloading of cargoes prom from river to city the journey from the river to the city may be made by bus jinrikisha or sedan chair frequently travelers prefer to be landed on the south side of the river where they get a glimpse of the most modern portion of the foreign settlement on a small email hill are foreign consulates western churches hospitals and handsome residences which constitute a community almost independent of the chinese city while below Is a bustness business district with streets lined with foreign and native owned shops where eastern and western merchandise Is on display commodious clubs wide sweeps of grassy lawns do dotted eted with flowering gardens a race track tennis courts and pleasure craft on the man tend to keep the small foreign population contented the visitor should not hurry harry into proper even if he could for to do so would be to miss the physical beauties and tabled fabled history that accentuate each step of the journey from the ocean to the port along the min one may see pearl divers should a diver be drowned lif his s fellows stoically conclude that he has fallen a victim to the sea turtle chinese equivalent for the legendary sea serpent of tho the west near pagoda anchorage rises sharp peak capped by a tower built by a wife to welcome home an tal knoch enoch arden who when he be saw it thought he had mistaken tile the river and sailed called away again never to return A mandarins footprint in a rock commemorates me the summary punishment of quarrymen who kept right on chopping away its companion footprint despite the flow of blood that spurted out at each stroke when removed to a place in a bridge it registered a protest by kicking its bearers into the river so the companion was not molested inside the wall adew a few modern schools and government buildings have punctuated an otherwise low flat sky eky line of rather dingy buildings bul laings telegraph keys click in telegraph offices electric lights are available to those who can afford them a few automobiles to may be seen on the main streets and western fashions vie with those of the orient but it if the traveler steps into a side street he steps into an era several centuries past streets that twist and turn and come to abrupt stops were marked features ot of foo chows early city planners for example the tortuous rouan of one street highl be visualized by drawing a diagram it begins by running eastward and then northward eastward northward eastward northward eastward southward west westward waid southward southeastward southward westward southward eastward and southward travelers use sedan chairs the whole course of this thoroughfare Is equal to but a few american city blocks in length and nowhere Is it wide enough for even a to pass without driving playing children and their playmates filthy dogs and pigs luto lato bordering doorways the sedan chair Is used by most travelers to penetrate the pas sag eways where the odors permeating the atmosphere are so overwhelming to foreign nostrils that chair bearers are urged on to the nearest breathing spaces ancient as seems to be to the westerner it la Is a sort of wild west of china to the natives of canton and Pel helping ping in the days of confucius all china looted looked upon the region that now Is fullen province as the bailiwick of barbarians the wall that encompasses the city did riot not rise until the ming period which covered the years that america was discovered and colonized while poor transportation facilities for reaching have constituted an important factor in keeping the city truly oriental cholera and the bubonic plague have also caused outsiders to give it a wide berth perhaps the pleasant est portion of a tour Is a visit to the tea factories and warehouses where tea leaves scented with jasmines jasminos jas mines roses rose and chrysanthemums are sorted from dawn to dusk by chinese women and children last year exported more than pounds offu of an fn men klen tea and re exported an additional pounds which were shipped to its tea perfumeries eries erles 11 there are more than forty tea factories in the city the open shops along the streets reveal thousands of natives eking out an existence in various industries dus tries before ones eyes artisans make wooden pillows and images of gods and odd looking beasts cabinet makers turn out fancy furniture potters shape and fire handsome vessels brick makers fashion their products in all shapes sizes and colors both men and women sit silently embroider ing or weaving the dark cloth usually worn by peasants and dyers with inky hands bands seemingly turn old gar merits ments into new of a different color trade with 27 cities and many small villages above abbye which are yea reached ched by river boats accounts for much of Foo chows commercial activity it was not until 1861 when the man was opened to forean shipping that the cites suburbs spread out along the min banks and merchants beckoned to world trade since then Foo chows annual output 0 of f tea alone once reached nearly pounds and it bids fair to repeat the dog worshipers on a mountain not far from the city one encounters the dog worshipers worshiper easily emilly distinguishable by the peculiar coiffure of their women a scaffold like effect with a cord dangling before face this la Is worn because of a myth which holds that a dog once saved the city and the gods rewarded tied him ly by subjecting him to a process by which he be wat haq to be become come human after his incarceration for seven times forty days an impatient provincial pandora lifted the cover when all but hla his licad lead had been transformed and thus left a dog headed matt in going to claim his bride his fare face covered so his canine canane features might not offend her so to this day the women of the mountain biear wear the headdress in honor of him and on new yours years day they worship the I 1 mage image of a dow dog near the city Is doctrine hill which derives this one of its anny names from the residence there of a certain learned man who accumulated a library a a volume shelf known av a the doctrine of the universe |