Show f 11 ANT ee evv N T 01 ata A I 1 4 91 TI aff I 1 4 f if r 1 1 T LZ L Z 11 14 R ar I 1 r 2 vw ak nr an 1 4 W enigi Z N M boat homes of chinene in a canton canal prepared by tho the national geographic society Viv ashington i U L cl which has swept pretty FIGHTING much over china has lately turned south to the province of Kwang tung this ls la chinas cainas southernmost province of which canton is the capital it Is motherland to a majority of the chinese now resident in the united states canton was the farst chinese seaport to come in contact with the outside world her people in the earliest timed time became sailors traders and adventurers so it Is natural that from this southern city should have started that chinese exodus which has populated the shores of the raci pacific fic from this same region some chinese have gone to the philippines about to Ila hawaii wail and more than a million java siam formosi and singapore for most of these emigrants canton was port of 0 departure on their great adventure an aal most of 0 thorn them came from the surrounding district arabs traded extensively by sea with canton in the middle ages portuguese traders arrived at the mouth of if the river during the first quarter of the sixteenth century bringing a cargo of pepper english ships anil traders did not dot come upon the scene till more than it a hundred years later but from that time until after the opium war treaty of 1842 canton was the only chinese port permitting foreign trade it Is said that the manchu dynasty favored this arrangement since canton was the farthest great seaport from their capital thus for more than SOO years canton alone of chinese cities come came in touch ouch with western lands her peu pie grew accustomed to foreigners all anil their methods and were the first to emigrate in large numbers Chinese emigration to america began g an nith the discovery of gold in california in and chinese labor was in further demand on the transcontinental railroads py cy icso there were chinese in the united states then came the first of the exclusion measures in since that time americas chinese population has decreased sonic 40 per cent more than half of american chinese live on the pacific coast in all the united states there are fewer than chil chinese lese women cantons dialect coming from the neighborhood of canton american chinese largely use the canton dialect aich so differs from the spoken language of the rest of china as to be totally unintelligible aile to 10 a native of neiping peking cantonese speech has a range of eight tones while to in peking b but ut four tones are used written symbols are however tile same and can be readily torn in part of china as tile the ended od any same musical score can call b be e liay pla C ed d I 1 in in italy and russia tile the A american j r n sojourner in china who NOW as a rule learns the neiping or mandarin dialect finds upon his return to tile the united states that he cannot COD converse verse with tile the cantonese laundryman laundry man 0 or r restaurant walter waiter but it if he has learned to write chinese characters communication can be carried on in this medium the waters of the lie pearl river olt off canton have reflected the colors of many western nations in the past the first american ship arriving there the empress Kro press of china from new york in 1781 1784 1 was greeted by traders from holland portugal and england who already 11 had ad an established trade with the cantonese in late years the pearl river his been silted up it a condition which american engineers pla plan n to remedy but bat even without large ships canton now ranks ranks with the grea great t inland ports of the east travelers approaching tile the city by boat are bew bewildered by the shipping in the harbor thousands of tam sam pans paus junks and other email aler craft nearly obliterate the surface of the water while tile hie wharves bristle with activity the boats in ID the channel move here and there with small short haul baul cargoes but along the sea bea wall bordering the bund other small craft are tied ten deep floating at high tide and settling in the mud land a t low it Is estimated that about a quarter ot ef a million cantonese are housed in the boats on the pearl and in the canals through the city some boats a accommodate three to four families as well as their flocks ot of chickens geese and pigs talkative parrots are popular pets among the river folk their squawking squaw Ung and the loud monotonous chatter clin lter of their owners create bedlam on the river front from early morning until midnight in the street two bridges span the canal that s separate shameen from canton the river front frent Is disappointing to anyone expecting to see a typical chinese city ril flimsy rosy buildings facing the Bun bund have dhave given way to modern many storied structures truc tures housing offices ot of fa foreign rel c n corporations and here and there bamboo scaffolding indicates that another bit of the orient is passing to add to cantons occidental sky line all these improvements have been made by br men and women masons and bod carriers without such modern equipment as steam shovels and cement mixers leading salt water mater port Is noted for coolies and embroidery the coolies go south to the straits settlements whence they sell send home much money moncy and come themselves when their toll toil in the tropics has won them a competence also produces a peculiar grass cloth or native linen made not from nax flax but from a form of hemp table sets of this material embroidered in n white or contrasting colors with ith storks and dragons and other fanciful designs are admired and prized throughout the world this industry was started by a missionary as a means of relief during one of the many disasters from which has bag suffered suit ered and it has attal attained ned huge proportions embroidery drawn work and grass cloth today form a best seller in native shops from Hong hongtong kong to shanghai it if in china you overhear a r reference to 11 blues do not conclude on that the city Is going in for jazz an important product Is 19 indigo and the city has a full share in making china the land of the blue gown heavy imports at iwato W the ildur of money from the straits and the philippines Is so great that can call always import more than it exports and it has been bee n one of the best markets for foreign goods gooda to be found on the whole wrinkled coast of china sugar Is also one of 0 Swa tows chief products and the british and american consulates are situated near the main refinery on hong kong however is winning away the sugar trade from which was once the center of sugar brodu production ebion T the lie fields inland ald from produce huge crops of sugarcane sug arcane and tile the mandarin andarin Bl oranges of the reglo region n are famed through the east one of the important ports that hide here ond and there along the very irre irregular coast line of china Sw Swa atoll towa misfortune Is that of 0 being less protected from the sea pea than her neighbors to the north and south shanghai I 1 Is several miles vp up the woosung Wo WOO nang chow the city of the famous tidal wave or bore which resembles the one ode in the bay of fundy Is far enough from the sea to escape the force of the storm one ascends ascenda for miles between low ii 13 in ing banks dotted with lee ice houses for pres preserving eming fish before coming coining to Is several hours run up the buo |