Show we o ente entera r n atre 0 D tl en ow V I 1 I 1 a 0 4 in a chinese spaghetti factory prepared by the national geographic society AV washington ashington D C canton seat of government of sun yat sen president of the south china republic billich recently tell fell to supporters ot of the rival peking government is the seedbed seed bed in which the first western ideas sprouted in china ideas some optimistic observers believe will continue to grow until the country Is as fully westernized as japan there are now many centers for the spread of western culture in china but canton will al always ways retain the interest that attaches to the point if t entry and probably tor for a long I 1 ong time t will continue to be the scene of greatest progress it was nas in 1517 that canton began its relations rela tlona with the west in that year just twenty five years after columbus discovered america the portuguese obtained permission to trade with the cantonese later the dutch the english the french and finally the yankees sent their ships and traders to the city for a time it was tile the only city which the authorities of china permitted to have intercourse with the western barbarians but the canton door was not kept open without a heavy foot being thrust in it from time to time chinese and european commercial and governmental practices and general customs were so different that they inevitably clashed when they first met such heavy trading taxes were levied and so many restrictions imposed at this first treaty port that european traders were almost ruined on their part the westerners introduced opium against the wishes of the chinese officials and the general misunderstandings led to wars with england and france As a result of the wars canton was esteb established more and more firmly as chinas cainas open door cantons priority was not alone in trade the first roman catholic missionaries sion aries narles to china settled in 1571 at macao a few miles down the river from canton and ten years later began work in canton itself the city too had one of the first mohammedan mosques to be established among the chinese and there in 1807 the first protestant Prote sant missionary to china settled it has since become one of the most important missionary centers in the country contact with the occident slight racial differences seem to have made the cantonese to begin with more alert than the chinese of other regions but they undoubtedly have been quickened and made more progressive gres gre sive by the constant stimulus of contact with westerners during the past years A spirit of competition and emulation was awakened among the merchants and men in public lic life alte which by degrees reflected itself in numerous ways in the life of canton but above all ti lings western visitors aroused the curiosity ot of the cantonese with tile the result that they became the emigrants par excell excellence kIce of china thousands of them have sojourned sojourn ed in tile united states bud and canada south america south africa australia and europe more important still in recent years young chinese have been returning from the th united states and europe after a western college training and a considerable proportion of them have found their way to canton As used fixed as are the ways ot of china these chinese who have lived under western institutions or who have carefully studied western ways have not failed when they have returned to their native city to modify conditions in it Is not strange then that from canton has conle come on numerous occasions pressure against conservative peking tor for reform and tit at times revolution some sort ot of breach between north and south china was inevitable evL table in recent scars ears and it was equally lit inevitable evitable that canton greatest city of the south should lead it although throughout most of the years since the first contact with europeans the leaven of western ideas has been vio aking in clinton canton even as recently as three years ago it had done little to lift thle teeming old city of more than a million souls bouls from its thoroughly chinese appearance and customs its narrow allea alle like streets none too clean liem hemund merl in by low houses and set off by grent kie it black and gold and black and red signs vi ere the streets of any typical clil mso town through them pat terel the bare feet of coolies like those theoze ot of their countless predecessors whose calloused soles have worn deep ch channels Innels in the flagstones flag stones along the river banks are still anchored acrea and acres of small brown flimsy boats in each of which a family livos as their ancestors did in the tinni of marco polo after afler canton was made the seat ot of government for the southern republic of china changes in its appearance N were ere rapid in place of the old system or of government in which the ruling of the city was merely incidental to the government of the province a carefully worked out municipal government was wag constructed with i ith all the modern trimmings it might be des desir ibid a as s a sort of combination ot of the amt amor ican commission plan with a capitalistic soviet system A young chinese graduate of two american colleps colleges who had specialized in the study of m municipal government was made mayor with a commission of six department heads he formed the executive body cantons board of aldermen who took charge of legislation under tile new regime was called the municipal advisory council of its 30 members ten were appointed by the governor of the province ten chosen in a general election and ten were elected by certain groups including the chain chamber of commerce the educational association doctors lawyers engineers and labor guilds modernizing the city in the few years this government lasted it left its mark on ancient canton where only narrow alleys existed before thousands of oe houses were razed and broad streets put through canals were filled in to make other thoroughfares and finally the old city wall crumbling with noth the age of centuries was torn down and an encircling ift g boulevard constructed on its site the old wall had its ita usefulness in death for its stones were broken up and the material used to surface the cites new streets the city government of canton even provided public parks a hitherto unheard of thing tor for a chinese city to do but though in externals canton has seen many changes in the me past few years its customs cling tenaciously the food of a large part of the canton populace Is not that of america in the markets one may buy not only the flesh of cattle and horses but also that of dogs and snakes and an order for cat meat in a canton market mean that the house pet Is to be fed it means just what it says the gourmet shopping in canton may have the choice of rats on the hoot hoof in cages or may purchase the more convenient article with its long curled tall and if this variety in meats Is not enough he will find for sale the flesh of lizards and the fins of sharks and by way of meat substitutes ancient eggs and dried oysters tile the view which one gets of canton from the few high vantage points dis dl cloes a city of innumerable low flat topped houses with here nud and there a tower breaking the monotony two of these belong to a christian cathedral one to a mohammedan mosque and most of the remainder strangely enough to tile shops of chinese pawn brokers the construction of cheso shops in the form of towers Is said to be in order that the valuables which they contain may be more easily ea lly guarded in late years too a few office buildings and department stores have bave been constructed on the american plan anti anil these nt at least relatively to the sea of low dwellings are skyscrapers sc canton lias has been quick to take advantage of the opportunities that its recent boon of wide streets has given where a few years nga ago borno borne on tile the shoulders of coolies constituted the only form of human transportation through the narrow alleys now automobiles and omnibuses omni buses whisk about on tile the broadways of course throughout much of the city the streets still are wide enough only for cli chairs airs the white residents of canton tor for the most part live on an island ot of made land in the river from the chinese settlements settlement hy by a 11 wide cains annal two wars were fought by creat arat Eilt aln however largely for the 1 LI l ilon of foreigners to the city of clinton canton proper and so some me f few CW vi whites hit take advantage of this hard earni 1 1 ini vilere |