Show 1 ole inn 00 tw al la I 1 1 0 01 q JL t 2 1 iff 7 4 t 4 le e V aa 4 4 scene 1 ti chinese quarter of hong kong prepared by the national society washington 0 C among all the far flung possessions of L the VL LL U emalie uong hong kong nil might lit be called the gew gem many brit esbers look upon it as their local col uny oily and it Is indeed a city of superlatives la tives it Is the pivot of c british commerce naval power an and influence in the far hiir east travelers acala acclaim im its terraced city the most li beautiful in the far east its deep commodious harbor Is one of the best in the world arid nd tn in the tonnage of slipping slapping entered arid and it Is outranked out ranked since the world war reduced hamburges Ham burgs importance only by new york it is the lie commercial gateway to the vast era of southern china and the islands to the south on the military side hong kong Is stronger than gibraltar and Is the base of one of the most pou powerful erful fleet units in existence the british asiatic squadron finally binally it Is one of the most prosperous communities to be found either east or west mud of great britaina Brit Bri ains talas pride in hong kong arises from the fact that it lias has been built from nothing in just tour our score years in uong kong vas ivas a bare granite island nominally a part of china but inhabited only by a few thousand fishermen find and groups of the pirates vilio mho made commerce off the chinese coast a thing of hazard and uncertainty in ili those days when british merchants clashed with itil the chinese in canton in 1639 and found it necessary to leave that city they retired hist first to the portuguese bett settlement lement at alacan seventy five miles down the canton river and then completely off the mainland to the rocky island of hong kong war folIO followed NNed this commercial friction and when gretat britain emerged as the victor in 1841 she demanded and the following car was given outright title to nong hong kong despite the common idea hong kong Is not a city but an island it la Is eleven miles long and from two to live fhe mile wide ulde with mith an area of more than thirty square miles tile the city nh lech ch to the popular mind constitutes hoig IOl kong lg Is officially named victoria for the queen who ruled in britain during its greatest growth but though the name victoria is used in off official iclal documents and on oil some maps to mo inott st of the islanders the bir big community of halt hall ft a million souls la Is merely the city victoria and the matchless harbor are on the inner side of the island and as the ship approaches hong kong only the little developed seaward sen side bide is seen in the distance it seems little different except for its size alze from the bare granite islands among which it ties lies As the steamer teamer Si diaks near differences appear patches of verdure are discerned the line of a high highway mily stands out on the sides of its tow rang hills an occasional pane of glass reflects a flash of if light rom from among the trees yet there la Is little hint of the presence of a great city of half a million souls on tile the far sl slit IL of the island has wonderful harbor when the ship has nosed around tile the end and of the laland island ct at the went weist or through the narrow passage near the eastern end the great harbor and city come into view due to two to peninsulas embich extend from the maini mainland and close to the island and to te the indentations of ole alie shore of alo island leliand the ne harbor covering 10 to 15 square miles seems landlocked it has the appearance a of a pond set down in a vast irregular granite bowl in tills this deep harbor nil all the worlds navies davies and a large part of the worlds combined merchant charit fleets might be anchored without undue crowding and there in truth on almost any day of the icar car muy be seen generous samples of the naval or civil craft of nearly every maritime nation while among them move busily countless cinese sampans and numerous launches laim cheji 01 ol tho the harbor for nearly dearly five miles the water front Is an unbroken quay which the dael dwellers ot of uong along kong borrowing the name from the famous quay of the portuguese at alacano call the G great mat ocean liners cau call dock directly beside tills this quay or at on one e of the many wharves which extend outward from it back from the lie sea ben wall mail a broad road extends along tile entire water front of lion hong kong and facing the harbor across it are public buildings business houses bouses and some of 0 the great warehouses which proclaim hong I 1 kongs ong a thief chief activity the distribution of merchandise to and from southeastern asia many of th structures are faed faced story upon story by the arched external galleries or loggias loggies loggi as like our porches por clies that have become characteristic of british archi jecture in tills this semitropical semi tropical island but looking at uong hong kong from a ship in the harbor the newcomer gives only scant attention to the water front interesting its as its appearance arid and activities tivi tivit ties les are for victoria a Is a city ol of terraces tile the whole city is spread out before him as though it were a map upon the wall 1119 ees are inevitably led upward to row upon row of 0 buildings clinging to the sides of a great hill past patches of bare rock and forest to dwellings perched near neal the crest of the ridge to the right at the very peak of the island rise the wireless towers of one of great bri talas most radio stations station climbing up the tha peak suburban conditions aie not reached in uong kong by moving outward as ai in most moat thickly settled communities but by moving upward on tile the leel area of the middle portion of the town near lear the water front froat much of which incidentally has been reclaimed from tile the barbor are the banks arid and counting houses the business structures arid and warehouses of the merchants and shippers to the east and vest eat chinese merchants hold sway this level mercantile region of victoria extends only a few blocks from the harbors har bori edge back of it rise steeply the lower slopes of the peak against whose green sides the ll 11 light ht buildings of the residential section of the city stand out boldly moat bloat of victorias cross streets su nender riender unconditionally at tho the toot foot of the hill and are transformed into stair steps step A few as aa though more determined to conquer the heights wind with many contortions covering rods that they way maj rise feet but parallel with the edge of the harbor the streets continue each on a different level like receding alii hea or the vers tiers of seats of a huge theater the first zone of shelf like streets that rises above the mercantile level la victorias chinatown where live the greater part of the clo closely bely I multitudes of Clil chinese nese aho ho hae conn come from the mainland to cast their lot lonii under the british lag flag the next level lit in victorias social stratification Is a closely built up section of substantial houses occupied hy by british americans portuguese and indeed by represent athes of mont Bur european nations and the unite 1 states farther up the side of the peak above the closely built section tor for westerners are the residences of the more wealthy set in ili spacious grounds half hidden lu in gardens uong kong Is in effect a colony ol oi chinese ruled by tile the british but in spite of the fact that 05 95 per cent ol of the population Is chinese Clil neso people ol of many nations and creeds have made a place for themselves in this unique community near kear the water waier front may maj be found representatives of almost any nationality or race one lukei from portuguese to norwegian and froni from south sea islanders to african and in spite of this seeming scorning stage setting tor for eternal turbulence lion K kluj Is 1 the most orderly city of the eat |