30.07.2015 Views

Untitled

Untitled

Untitled

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.

""""GENERA^ SURVEY. 9to Nanking, the French trunk route to Yunnanfu, theJapanese line from Swatow to Ch aochoufu, theBelgian line from the Peking-Hankow road into Shansi,that from Shanghai to Hangchow, the one from Pekingto Kalgan, the extension of the Manchurian road toMoukden, besides the Pien-Lo from Chengchou,Honan, eastward to K aifengfu and westward to Honaiifu,the Chinese road to Samshui, near Canton, theextension of the Yueh-han across Kuangtting, and thebeginning of a most difficult railway from Ich ang toSzch uan all these and some others show that in thisdepartment at least there is no stagnation. The firststage on the important through route between Tientsinand P uk ou, opposite Nanking, has just been openedto Techou, and the road is promised within threeor four years, except perhaps for a costly bridge atLok ou below Chiiianfu, the capital of Shantung.China is thoroughly converted to railways, a change ofsentiment which to one who remembers three decadesago or even two seems like a transformation scene fromthe Arabian Nights. But there is no mystery about it.The Chinese have a proverbial saying about a moneyshakingwhich rains tree" its coppers on its fortunateowner. Railways, however, have proved an ever flowing fountain of liquid silver automatically enriching thegovernment without impoverishing the people one ofthe few enterprises whicn the Chinese have found to beof this class in the ages of their history. The effect hasbeen electric. Dead men have not only turned in theirgraves but have hastened to vacate them. Feng Shui is110 longer a live issue" either to those who are buriedor to those above ground.That the railways, such as the Peking-Hankowline, taken over from the Belgians, are grossly mismanaged, is to be assumed, but this is part of the generalscheme of things, and may be righted in the coiningCelestial millennium. But even so railways are a sourceof unirnagined and hitherto unimaginable wealth. Their

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!