RURAL CHINA BY CART
RICHARDSON was _en route_ to Peking as a third-class passenger. He had
just been discharged--with thanks--from his position of physics teacher
at the Tientsin Middle School. After his dismissal it took him about
ten minutes to gather his meagre belongings together and get out of
town.
In the Chinese capital he stayed at the native Y.M.C.A. which was
conducted by Americans and where his travelling comrade had put up
a few weeks before. His bill was one dollar, Chinese money, a day.
The Young Men's Christian Association is found in nearly every large
city in the Orient. Many of its plants are housed in substantial and
well-equipped buildings and it does a most valuable work. The men in
charge of these institutions are a fine lot and are representative
of the best type of Americans. Without exception, they received us
with the greatest cordiality possible and the recollection of their
hospitality will long remain with us. The many secretaries we met were
often invaluable to us for the advice they gave us, their suggestions
and the courtesies they extended to us, and we were always welcomed to
their accommodations at very reasonable prices.
In many ways Peking was the most interesting and fascinating city
of our travels. It is different from any other place in the world.
Richardson circled this oriental capital on foot. He walked along the
top of the twelve miles of huge walls which surround it. Peking has a
population of over a million people and is divided into four cities,
viz.: The Tartar City, inhabited by the middle classes; the Imperial
City, within the Tartar City, where reside most of the government
officials; the Forbidden City, in the centre of the Imperial City,
in which the Emperors lived and where the President of the Republic
of China now has his residence; and the Chinese City where the lower
classes live. Surrounding the entire metropolis is a great wall forty
feet high and sixty-two feet wide at the base.
The Imperial City occupies a space of nearly two square miles and is
enclosed by a wall twenty feet high. There are four spacious entrances,
each with three gateways, the middle one being opened only for the
Emperor or President. The Forbidden City is laid out on a grand scale
and is surrounded by massive pink-tinted walls thirty feet high and
thirty feet thick. Within are many palaces, private residences,
apartments for visitors and government officials and the necessary
quarters for an enormous retinue of domestics of various rank.
Foreigners without permits or the Chinese, except high officials, are
not allowed in this city.
Connecting the Tartar and Chinese cities is the immense and imposing
Chien-Mien Gate with its four oriental towers. The view from the top
of this gate is one of the most wonderful metropolitan pictures in
the world. Directly before one's eyes are the yellow-tiled palaces of
the Forbidden City, whose roofs look like sheets of glittering gold
under the rays of the oriental sun. To the right are the costly and
substantial houses of the Legation Quarter. Far to the left the Bell
and Drum Towers loom up like western skyscrapers. In a remote corner of
the Chinese City the stately Temple of Heaven with its rich blue roof
rests in the haze of the oriental atmosphere. Beneath one is a bee-hive
of human beings. Tens of thousands pass through the Chien-Mien Gate
each day. Nearly every means of conveyance that one can imagine, except
roller skates and submarines, can be seen creeping through the arched
openings of the huge gate. Camels, donkeys, rickshaws, the elaborate
equipages of officials, carts, men, women and children on foot, form an
endless stream from the time the gates are opened at six in the morning
until they close at midnight. A touch of the West is added by the roar
of trains whose tracks pierce the walls of the Chinese capital with
their numerous tunnels.
Travelling at the third-class mountain rate of two-thirds of a cent a
mile, Richardson was sharing his small compartment on a Chinese train
with a dozen coolies--on his way to Tai Yuam Fu. From Peking he had
made a trip to the Ming tombs and had also visited the Great Wall with
a party of American tourists. He was now on his way into the interior
of Shansi Province to visit some college friends who were missionaries
at a small town called Fen Chow Fu. The mission station was conducted
by the American Board of the Congregational Church. Richardson went
from Peking to Tchang Te Fou, a distance of one hundred and seventy
miles, by train. This city was where the Russian artist and I had our
trouble with the Chinese beggars. From this place Richardson took a
branch line to Tai Yuan Fu, about two hundred miles west, where he
spent the night as the guest of a young Britisher who was a Cambridge
University graduate and was then doing medical missionary work. Tai
Yuan Fu was the terminal of the railroad and Richardson had to complete
his journey to the mission station by cart. This Chinese vehicle had
been sent to meet him by his missionary friends.
In giving me an account of this eighty-mile Chinese cart trip, which
required three days, Richardson told me that in order to appreciate
his experiences I must keep in mind four facts. These were: first, a
Chinese cart has neither springs nor cushions; second, Chinese country
roads are simply two deep parallel ruts or grooves, made by the wheels
of carts (these roads are never graded and in places the ruts are
two or three feet deep); third, the portion of the road between the
ruts was lined with rocks and boulders of every description and size;
and fourth, it rained steadily the three days of his journey. He stated
that, by putting these facts together and adding a liberal allowance of
imagination, I could get some idea of a cart trip in China.
[Illustration: _Upper_: CROSSING A CHINESE COUNTRY BRIDGE
_Lower_: THE INN WHERE RICHARDSON PUT UP FOR A NIGHT]
This uncomfortable vehicle was drawn by two mules, hitched tandem,
and not once during the eighty miles did they get off a walk. An
Arkansas train was a comet in comparison. Richardson's attendants were
a driver and a servant, whom the mission station had sent. They could
not speak English. For three days my friend was slowly hauled over
hills and valleys in this primitive conveyance. At times he thought
his insides would be shaken to a hopeless mass; his head was snapped
about until there was grave doubt in his mind as to whether it would
stay on throughout the journey and he was so roughly tossed about that
he thought he would be lame for the rest of his life. He would ride a
couple of hours, about as long as he could stand it at one time, and
then get out and walk in the rain for an equal period.
At night and at noon-time he stopped at Chinese inns. "Inn" is a
misnomer, however. The Chinese country inn is a stable-yard filled with
mules, donkeys, dogs, pigs, chickens, babies and smells. This yard
is surrounded by a long one-story building in which are the sleeping
rooms, kitchens and eating compartments. All the rooms in an inn
open on the yard and with their doorless entrances extend a hearty
welcome to the numerous odours. Chinese hotels can be located by their
characteristic odour.
A bedroom in one of these inns has no conveniences. There is a "thing"
to sit on and a "thing" upon which to place food, but it requires a
great deal of intuition to know that they are respectively a chair and
a table. There is a brick platform in one corner of the room for a
bed. This is called a _kong_ in Shansi Province. Beneath these kongs a
fire is built on cold nights. It was at Tai Yuam Hsien, where he spent
the second night, that Richardson, while sleeping soundly on a kong,
was awakened about two A.M. by being nearly baked. The coolie who was
acting as stoker, had replenished the oven so generously with fuel that
the bed resembled a crematory.
For two and a half days he didn't see a foreigner or meet a Chinese
who could speak English. He communicated with his servant by means of
signs. As he entered each village he at once became the chief object
of interest. At the inns the scene on his arrival resembled a circus
procession. All the youngsters, beggars and cripples followed him into
the yard and watched the "animal" eat. At Tai Yuam Hsien they became
so numerous and so persistent in their pleas for cash that Richardson
had to flash his pistol to instil some fear into them and impress them
with the fact that he was a dangerous man.
This three days' journey was filled with inconveniences, but gave
Richardson an excellent opportunity to get a glimpse of Chinese rural
life. The country through which he passed was green and the farms along
the way gave a Mississippi Valley aspect to the scenery. The methods
of farming were somewhat different, however. To see hundreds of acres
of wheat planted in rows like radishes and hoed by hand was hardly
American. There were no cows or horses but, instead, thousands of goats
and sheep flocked the hills and valleys while mules and camels were the
beasts of burden. The country was largely agricultural and there were
but few walled cities, his course taking him through scores of little
villages.
In each of the first two days the Chinese cart made thirty miles and
the third day twenty. Richardson drove into Fen Chow Fu about six
o'clock on the third evening and received a very cordial welcome from
the members of the American mission station. Fen Chow Fu proved to be
a walled town of about fifty thousand people and the score or more
missionaries were the only foreigners. They entertained Richardson in
real American fashion. The members of this little far away colony were
mostly graduates of Carlton College, Minnesota, where Richardson had
taken his freshman and sophomore years before going to Dartmouth.
After ten days as a guest of his friends, Richardson returned to the
railroad at Tai Yuan Fu by Chinese cart. Three more uncomfortable days
over the eighty-mile course with the same experiences as the inward
trip and he arrived at the railroad without mishap. He took the first
train and the following day was in Hankow. In this city he spent a
comfortable week at the native Y.M.C.A.
It was at this time that one of the dreadful Chinese famines was
ravaging the country a few miles distant from Hankow and thousands
of people were dying of starvation. Large numbers of these homeless,
naked and wretched creatures flocked to the city and roamed its narrow
streets as beggars. They hardly had the strength to walk and they
presented a sad sight with their fleshless bones, visible ribs and
sunken faces. Real poverty was more in evidence in this section than
in any part of the world we visited. Human beings were huddled in tiny
huts built of rusty Standard Oil cans and located in a swamp. A whole
family of six or eight would crawl in on their hands and knees to get
a night's shelter from the cold and rain. During the day they would
beg or attempt to sell some worthless trinkets or pieces of junk. I
have seen a stock of goods spread out on the sidewalk which contained
nothing but what would be consigned to the ash barrel in an American
community. Rusty nails, pieces of glass, old newspapers, rags and
wornout soles of shoes were on display. In some unaccountable way the
vendor frequently found a purchaser.
It was in this poverty-stricken district that Richardson played the
rôle of philanthropist. He bought an American dollar's worth of
_cash_--small Chinese coins with a square hole in the centre which
are sold on long strings. As soon as he began giving these away a
hundred or more of these poor unfortunates gathered about him and
piteously begged for some of the money. Starved creatures--ragged
women, half-clad and shivering children, blind boys, men on all fours,
paralytics and lepers--thronged about him and pleaded for some of his
charity. He divided the money equally among the multitude, counting out
the coins as he gave them away. He found that for his American dollar
he had received twenty-seven hundred pieces of _cash_.
Richardson was the guest of some friends who were on the faculty of
Boone's College in Wu Chang on the opposite bank of the Yangtsze
River from Hankow. This school is under the auspices of the American
Episcopal Church Mission and is one of the leading institutions of
learning in the Empire. Here he spent several days in luxury, sleeping
in a warm and comfortable room and enjoying American meals.
Riding below the water line on an oriental steamer with Chinese coolies
as fellow passengers is the antithesis of the comfort of an American
Mission school. This was the sort of transportation Richardson
enjoyed down the Yangtsze to Shanghai. Three days in the midst of
unsanitary surroundings and curious and simple coolies were enough to
make the ordinary American quit the trip and buy a first-class ticket
home. Richardson was not that kind. He was anything but a quitter and
although he enjoyed a good bed, clean food and intelligent companions
as well as any one I ever knew, he could stand hardship and discomfort
without a murmur. He often appeared to like them. In the face of the
most discouraging environment he would simply smile and play the part
of a philosopher.
He trooped down the gangway at Shanghai with his fellow passengers and
in a few days trooped up another gangway on his way south. This time,
however, he had obtained a rather luxurious berth. For ten dollars he
was to be landed in the city of Victoria, on the island of Hongkong, by
the Scotch captain of a British tramp steamer. He occupied a cabin on
the upper deck, had the freedom of the ship and dined with the skipper
in the main saloon. The voyage was a quiet one and he had plenty of
time for reading undisturbed.
Richardson had tried Chinese steerage travel and found it very rough.
He decided to make a change. From Hongkong he sailed in the hold
of a Japanese steamer for Manila. According to his own statement
it was the lowest stratum he had ever reached. The Japanese in the
third-class quarters were an unintelligent and inferior lot. They
acted like animals; the food was coarse and half cooked; the bunks
were hard and full of vermin; the quarters were poorly ventilated;
toilet conveniences did not exist; the sea was rough and nearly all the
passengers were sick. Aside from this, the boat was very comfortable
and it was a pleasant trip.