Show k S V al k x va a 4 3 crowded shipping on the M aln in river at prepared by the national society D 0 oscho W which once ranked fand among the tea ports of the world and then two decades ago bowed to ceylon and japan la Is staging a comeback the steep slopes of F oklen furlen province of which Is capital and leading city again are covered with thriving tea bushes big men women and children throng the plantations picking tea leaves leases from dawn to dusk tea laden porters form an almost endless parade from the plantation to the 4 tea ca 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 19 really not in the cites suburbs the nearest gate I 1 in n the cites five mile vine clad wall Is more than three miles from the north bank of the min about 34 miles from the sea few travelers visit to reach the port one must go by boat for railroads and good are not to be found in this region ocean going vessels from Shan shanghai and hong kong make regular app bilar trips up the alin aln which penetrates the chinese coast opposite the north end of taiwan formosa the vessels may steam up the river as far as pagoda anchorage there passengers are transferred to launches which after nine miles of dodging matting covered sam pans and grotesquely carved high pooped junks deposit their human cargo at the cites suburban burban nu docks if one wants to go native however 1 he may board a native boat with the 0 owners n family fowls dogs and pigs and travel to in the atmosphere of the min tile the rivers rivera obstruction at pagoda anchorage Anchors ge Is IB artificial formed when stone laden barges were sunk there to prevent a french fleet from reaching the city during the franco foo chow troubles in it Is the characteristic act of tile the chinese love for thing 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 from river to city the journey from the river to the city nifty may be made by bus or sedan chair frequently travelers prefer to be landed on the south side of if the river where they get a glimpse of the most modern portion of the foreign settlement on a small hill are fore foreign ign consulates western churches hospitals and handsome residences which constitute a community almost independent of the chinese city while below Is a 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 dotted with flowering gardens a race track tennis courts and pleasure craft on the he alin tend to keep the small foreign population contented the visitor should not hurry 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 part along the miu alin one may see ece pearl pear divers should a diver be drowned his fellows stoically conclude that he has fallen a victim to the sea turtle chinese equla alent for the legendary sea een serpent of via tha west near pagoda anchorage rises sharp peak capped by a tower built by a wife to welcome home an oriental enoch arden who when he saw it thought he had bad mistaken the river and sailed 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 dl 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 a few modern schools and government buildings have punctuated an otherwise low flat sky line of rather dlugy buildings telegraph keys click in telegraph offices electric lights are available to those who can afford them a few automobiles anto tomo to blIes may be seen on the main streets and western fashions vie with those of the orient but 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 of poo foo hows early city planners for example the tortuous route of one street might be visualized by drawing a diagram it begins by running eastward and then northward eastward northward eastward northward eastward southward westward 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 jinrikisha to pass without driving playing children and their playmates playmate filthy dogs and pigs into 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 ire are urged on to the nearest breathing spaces ancient as seems to be to the westerner it Is a sort of wild west of china to the natives of canton and Pei neiping ping in the days of confucius all china looked upon the region that now Is fullen province as the bailiwick of barbarians the wall that encompasses the city did 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 ot of a F tour Is a visit to the tea factories and warehouses where tea leaves scented with jasminos jasmines jas mines roses and chrysanthemums are sorted from dawn to dusk by chinese women and phildren children last year exported more than pounds of fu kien tea and re exported nn an additional pounds which were shipped to its tea perfumeries eries 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 till all shapes sizes and colors both men ind and women sit silently embroider i ing or weaving the dark cloth usually worn by peasants find dyers with inky hands seemingly turn old garments into new of a different color trade with 27 cities and many small villages above which are reached by river boats accounts for much of Foor Foo hows chows commercial activity it ii was not until ISM 1801 when the min was opened to forean shipping that tha tho the cites suburbs spread out along the alin banks and merchants beckoned to world trade |