New Forces in Old China | Page 8

the interior of the Shantung Province, there was hardly an hour in
which multitudes were not in sight. There are no scattered farmhouses
as in America, but the people live in villages and towns, the latter
strongly walled and even the former often have a mud wall. As the
country is comparatively level, it was easy to count them, and as a rule
there were a dozen or more in plain view. I recall a memorable morning.
It was Friday, June 28, 1901. We had risen early, and by daylight we
had breakfasted, and started our carts and litters. In our enjoyment of
the cool, delicious morning air, we walked for several li. Just before the
sun rose, we crossed a low ridge and from its crest, I counted no less
than thirty villages in front of us, while behind there were about as
many more, the average population being apparently about 500 each.
For days at a time, my road lay through the narrow, crowded street of
what seemed to be an almost continuous village, the intervening farms
being often hardly more than a mile in width.
Imagine half the population of the United States packed into the single
state of Missouri and an idea of the situation will be obtained, for with
an area almost equal to that of Missouri, Shantung has no less than
38,247,900 inhabitants. It is the most densely populated part of China.
But the Province of Shan-si is as thickly settled as Hungary. Fukien and
Hupeh have about as many inhabitants to the square mile as England.
Chih-li is as populous as France and Yun-nan as Bulgaria.
The density of China's population may be better realized by a glance at
the following detailed comparison between the population of Chinese
provinces and the population of similar areas in the United States:
{FIX THIS TABLE} Area Provinces Square miles Population Hupeh,
71,410 35,280,685 Ohio and Indiana 76,670 5,864,720 Honan, 67,940
35,316,800 Cheh-kiang, 36,670 1 Kentucky, 40,000 1,858,635 Kiang-si,
6819,47580 26 532,125 Virginia and West Virginia, 64}776oo
7,fi50S282 Michigan and Wisconsin, 111,880 22,876 340 Georgia,
50,g80 1,837 353 Shantung, 62 ooo 4 7øø 945 Shan-si, 81 830 12 200
456 Illinois, S6,ooo 3,826,8S l Shen-si, 776 8240 1 058,910 Ran-su,

Icc.q80 10~385~376 California, 155,9 1,208,130 Sze-chuen, 218,480
68 724,890 Ohio, Ind., Ill., Ky., 173s430 11 350,219 Ngan-hwei,
54,810 23,670,314 New York, 47,600 5,997,853 Klang-su, 38,600
13,980,235 Pennsylvania, 44,985 5,258,014 Kwan-tung and Hainan,
gg,g70 31,865,251 Kansas, 81,700 I,427,o96 Kwang-si, 77,200
5,142,330 Minnesota, 79,205 x ,301,826 Hunan, 83,380 22,169,673
Louisiana, 45,ooo Iw1
Perhaps the most thoroughly typical city in China is Canton. The
approach by way of the West River from Hongkong gives the traveller
a view of some of the finest scenery in China. The green rice-fields, the
villages nestling beneath the groves, the stately palm-trees, the quaint
pagodas, the broad, smooth reaches of the river reflecting the glories of
sunset and moon- rises and the noble hills in the background combine
to form a scene worth journeying far to see.
But Canton itself is unique among the world's great cities, and the most
sated traveller cannot fail to find much that will interest him. After
much journeying in China, we thought we had seen its typical places,
but no one has seen China until he has visited Canton. With an
estimated population of 1,800,000, it is the metropolis of the Empire.
The number of people per acre may be less than in some parts of the
East Side in New York, for the houses are only one story in height. But
the crowding is amazing. The streets are mere alleys from four to eight
feet wide, lined with open-front shops, so filled overhead with
perpendicular signs and cross coverings of bamboo poles and mattings
that they are in as perpetual shade as an African forest, and so choked
with people that men often had to back into a shop to let our chairs pass.
No wheeled vehicle can enter those corkscrew streets and we saw no
animal of any kind save two cows that were being led to slaughter.
And the hubbub! Such shouting and yelling cannot be heard anywhere
else in the world. Our chair coolies were in a constant state of
objurgation in clearing a way. Everybody seemed to be bellowing to
everybody else and when two chairs met, the din shattered the
atmosphere. A foreigner excites a surprising amount of curiosity,
considering the number that visit Canton. Troops of boys followed us
and there was a good deal of what sounded like cat-calling. But it was
all good- natured, or appeared to be.
The unpretentious shop-fronts often beckon to mysteries that are well

worth penetrating--tobacco factories where coolies stamp the leaves
with bare feet; tea, gold, dye and embroidery shops where designs of
exquisite delicacy are