Show china digs in at r new capital japs will have trouble driving darivin defenders from refuge n prepared by national geographic society washington D canu C service since the beginning of the sino sine japanese conflict Chung kings population has grown rapidly especially since it was recently declared the capital of the war torn republic thousands of safety seeking citizens have sought protection wit within in its for walls this deep inland refuge of the chinese government is 1500 miles up fp the yangtze from the coast c it is is sheltered in the giant bowl of szechwan Sze chwan province square miles of isolation in the middle of west central china mountain barriers hem the province in so steeply that the opium poppy is s a leading cash crop only li lightweight g exports such as opium can be sent to the outside world at a profit exceeding freight charges drug firms have headquarters in to buy up the highly taxed opium and other medical products including dried rhubarb A city of more than a halt half million perches like an eagles nest on a ledge of a cliff A stone wall feet high and five miles around shuts it in with only 8 of its 17 fortified gates open to traffic on three sides the gray cliff cites foundations drop away ano another ther feet to the river curling around its base stone staircases 20 feet wide not streets slant steeply down from the rampart gates to the river landings yangtze gorges only gateway so important are waterways in rugged Sze szechwan chwan that has become an important trade metropolis tro polis because it is situated at the junction of the yangtze river and the dialing river which rushes down from the north to meet chi nas main artery practically at a right angle serves as a center for the network of important yangtze tributaries tributa ries which gives szechwan Sze chwan province its name of four rivers the city has some of the modem qualities of shanghai at the rivers mouth and its shops display the tapestries and jewelry of tibetan mountain regions where the river has its origin missions make headquarters for work in chinas cainas rugged west and consulates here handle the wholesale trade of a deep hinterland the only way into from eastern china is the yangtze Yang tze A new air service from hongtong Hong kong has been interrupted by the war there is is no railroad A bus service over a new road to cunnan fu in the south gives a route to join the railroad through french in do china to the port of Hai phong is virtually the western limit of navigation for yanitza yangtze steamers special flat bottomed boats are necessary for year round traffic below the city the yangtze plunges down a treacherous erdus and unruly course through the he mountains of central china junks stin still popular steamboats were put to work on this stubborn stretch of river as early as 1898 only seven years after was opened by treaty to foreign commerce but junks junka of ancient design are still mom generally used though they may re rel quire more months for the upriver up river trip than a steamer takes days Chung kings riverfront population of junks is almost as numerous as that of the giant port of bankow with as much as 50 tons of freight junks are towed upstream through the g orges gorges by coolie it trackers chinas cainas Ch inas volga boatmen boa amen As aa many as four dozen of them may tug the junk along often a quarter of a mile in advance climbing over nar row tracks across faces of cliffs in spite of modern invention the coolie tracker is still the most useful motor on this stretch of river he ha converts his daily cabbage and rice into manpower which mechanical horsepower has not replaced |