New Forces in Old China: An Inevitable AwakeningBrown, Arthur Judson
History
New Forces in Old China: An Inevitable Awakening
Brown, Arthur Judson
China -- Commerce; China -- Foreign relations; China -- Politics and government; Missions -- China
From hundreds of outlying villages, the Chinese are flocking
into Tsing-tau, attracted by the remunerative employment
which the Germans offer, for of course, tens of thousands of
labourers are necessary to carry out the extensive improvements
that are planned. The thrifty Chinese are quite willing to
take the foreigner's money, however much they may dislike
him. Since the white man is here, we might as well get what
we can out of him, the Celestials philosophically argue. And
so the Germans, who had ruthlessly destroyed the old, unsani-
tary Chinese villages which they had found on their arrival,
laid out model Chinese villages on the outskirts of the city.
The new Chinese city is about two and a half miles from the
foreign city and is connected with it by a splendid macadamized
road for which the Germans filled ravines, cut through
the solid rock of the hillsides and made retaining walls and
culverts of solid masonry. Some of the old stone houses were
allowed to remain, but many of the poorer houses were demolished,
streets were straightened and the whole city placed under
strict sanitary supervision. The Chinese as they came in were
told where and how their houses must be erected on the regularly
laid out streets. The houses are numbered and many
of the stores have signs in both German and Chinese. At the
time of my visit, the Chinese city had a population of 8,000,
the streets were crowded, and marketing, picture and theatrical
exhibitions and all the forms of life, so common in Chinese
cities, were to be seen on every side. Since then, the population
has greatly increased, while another Chinese city has been
laid out on the open ground on the other side of the foreign
city. There is every indication that Tsing-tau is to become
one of the great port cities of China, and the opportunities for
trade, the coming of steamships and the construction of the
railway are making it an attractive place to multitudes of
ambitious Chinese.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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