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roads. The pictures show you a few typical cases which will indicate what a boon good roads would be and how much railroads would relieve conditions at present so hard to bear. In the south there are no roads only footpaths. In the north the cart roads are so ancient and worn that in the loess regions they are veritable ruts-sometimes as deep as 70 feet below the level of the land on either side.

One reason why roads have been neglected is the prevalence of waterways, especially in the Yangtsze and Canton deltas, and throughout the whole country great use is made of even insignificant streams by boats of very shallow draft. All these should be improved by proper conservancy methods.

Of special importance in this connection is the Grand Canal, the oldest and longest of canals. As the chief artificial waterway in China I wish to present to you something of the history and present condition of this canal, illustrating this latter aspect with a number of photographs secured a few years ago when I made a trip in a house-boat all the way from the Yellow River to the southern terminus of the canal at Hangchow, about 700 miles.

The Grand Canal, called in Chinese Yü-ho (Imperial River), Yün-ho (Transport River,) or Yunliang-ho (Tributebearing river), extends from Hangchow in Chekiang to T'ientsin in Chihli, a distance of about 1000 miles.

According to the most reliable accounts, it was commenced in the sixth century B.C., and finished in only A.D. 1283. The most ancient part is that which lies between the Yangtsze and the Hwai-ho. The southern part, extending from Hangchow to Chinkiang, was constructed from A.D. 605 to 617. The upper part, extending from the old bed of the Hwang-ho to T'ientsin, was constructed by the Emperor Shi Tsu of the Yuen dynasty, and completed within a space of three years (A.D. 1280-1283). Shi Tsu then transferred his capital from Hangchow to Peking. As the northern provinces were not very fertile, and the trade along the seaboard unsafe, he was forced to get provisions from the southern provinces. He therefore resolved to complete the work left unfinished by his predecessors.

The southern portion, extending from Hangchow to Chinkiang, offers no difficulty as to its water supply. The slope is gentle and water is plentiful. Navigation on it is easy. Boats are sometimes retarded by bridges, but there are neither rapids nor locks to pass. The flood and tides of the Hangchow River are the only obstacles to overcome. Of the Bore Wall that does this, I have already spoken.

The central portion extending from the Yangtze to Ts'ingkiangp'oo is the most ancient. This part skirts several large lakes. It was formerly fed by the Yangtsze, and its stream flowed in a northwest direction. It is fed at the present day by the waters of the Hwai-ho, as they issue from the Hungtseh lake, and the stream runs in a northerly direction. The current is fairly strong. The level of the country lying to the west of the Grand Canal and called the Shangho (above the river), is higher than the bed of the canal, while the country to the east, or Hsia-ho (below the river) is lower. Waste-weirs constructed on the eastern embankment, and opening on the Hsia-ho, discharge the surplus waters in the flood season, and thus relieve the banks and hinder injury of the works. There are few bridges in this portion of the Canal, but numerous ferry-boats facilitate passing at almost every place. This part of the Canal is far from offering the same advantages for navigation, at least, when one proceeds northward, as the southern portion. Boats, however, can easily travel on it and as on the southern section launch trains are regularly maintained.

The northern portion, extending from Ts'ingkiangp'oo to T'ientsin, is the most recent and also the most difficult for navigation, and hence the least utilized. Between the Ts'ing kiangp'oo and the Hwang-ho, the Canal is fed from the Hwai-ho and the Wen-ho. Its highest point is at its junction with the Wen-ho, just south of the Yellow River.

The current flows in a northerly direction from the junction of the Tawen-ho with the Grand Canal at Nanwang. The passage of the Hwang-ho is difficult. If the water fails to rise 7 feet beyond the ordinary level, junks are unable to cross it. If it rises higher, the current becomes too strong, and so travelers must at times wait a whole month before an

opportunity offers to cross it. At Lints'ing, the Canal joins the Wei-ho, borrows its channel, and is again easily navigated. From Ts'ingkiangp'oo to Lints'ing, the Canal is navigable with difficulty. Water is often lacking, and the locks or chah (such is the term applied to the narrows that stem the velocity of the current and establish a difference of level above and below) constructed to remedy the drawbacks, are passed with difficulty. On the up-voyage the boat must be hoisted by means of hawsers, while in the downward trip, it must be kept in check. There are numerous capstans, and hands are not wanting (about eighty or one hundred men are at work at times), nevertheless, the operation is not performed without trouble and risk of mishap.

The tribute fleet, which carried the rice to Peking, formerly followed this way, and comprised 4000 to 5000 boats divided into sixty-five sections. The voyage was performed but once annually. Of late years, the grain dispatched to Peking is largely forwarded by the sea route, through the agency of the China Merchants' Steamship Company.

As a means of communication between north and south, this part of the Canal is at present of little value, as it is defectively constructed, silted up by the mud-laden waters of the rivers crossed, and rendered ineffective through official neglect. But it could be restored to usefulness and be of considerable value.

In its southern and central portions, the Grand Canal, although badly kept up, is much more utilized, and several thousands of boats traffic on it. From Ts'ingkiangp'oo to T'ientsin, travelers frequently hire carts which jolt them on to Peking. But this is precisely the part I was most interested to traverse.

Numerous officials were formerly entrusted with the upkeep of the Grand Canal, under the control of a directorgeneral of the grain transport, or Ts-aoyun Tsungtuh. This official was of equal rank with the viceroys. He resided at Ts'ingkiangp'oo, as well as his first assistant, who bore the title of tribute Taot'ai, or Ts'ao-Hot'ai. The office of director-general of the grain transport was abolished in January, 1905.

The pictures illustrate the details of the locks and their method of operation. They also show the delapidated condition of the locks in certain places and the bad condition of the canal elsewhere.

The ordinary canal lock consists of heavy granite bastions, forming a gateway and carrying on their opposing faces deep grooves in which are set heavy timbers to form a dam. These timbers are raised by means of heavy stone set capstans, and by closing any one dam on the opening of the one above it, enough water may be available until the downcoming boats have been enabled to navigate the shallows between it and the upper lock. Boats of shallow draft are able to go down on the flood and to navigate the shallows below this lock by the backing up of the water in the rear of the next down-canal lock, ascending boats being tracked up against the flood.

Because of its position and the ease with which, from an engineering point of view, it could be put in a proper working condition, it seems to me very important that the Grand Canal should be improved and thus afford a cheap method of transportation for a large section of the country even in addition to what railways may in the course of time be developed. The Chinese are such natural boatmen that I think they would take easily to the handling of boats on the Canal even with modern locks and modern towing methods and machinery.

One of the most remarkable developments in the way of more rapid transportation in China has been the installation of so-called "launch trains," especially in the middle and lower sections of the Grand Canal and even more so throughout the Canton delta. For instance, in the custom house at Canton hundreds of steam launches are registered as towing between it and neighboring villages, anywhere distant from 10 to 200 miles. These launches often tow two or three passenger barges in a line and are exceedingly well patronized both for passengers and for freight. Launch building ship yards have been rapidly developed in Shanghai, Canton and elsewhere. But, for the more rapid and adequate development of that ease of communication upon which so much

THE JOURNAL OF RACE DEVELOPMENT, VOL. 4, No. 2, 1913

depends for the binding together of China, we must look to the railways.

Railroads and other ways of transportation of commodities are related to the life of a nation in pretty much the same fashion as the circulatory or blood system of the human body is related to the life of the individual-similarly the lines of electric transmission of intelligence and the postal lines correspond pretty closely to the nervous system whose functioning is so intimately a part of our bodily life. Each of these systems, the circulatory and the nervous, has a dominating centre which has a relationship of mutual dependence with all parts of the body and all functions of its life. No part can live alone. So the development of national life in China depends necessarily largely upon the development of these two systems within her borders,-that for the easy, cheap and rapid distribution of commodities, so that the people of one region may almost instantaneously relieve the hunger or want in another region, and that for the quick and effective transmission of intelligence which will cause the thrill of the new national life to be felt in the remotest parts and by every individual.

Consequently, some indications of what has been done and what still remains to be done in the way of development of railways in China will be of interest.

At the present time there are the following main lines already in operation:

The system from Peking to Newchang and Mukden, via Tientsin and Shankaiwan which in turn is affiliated or connected with the Japanese railways in southern Manchuria and by them in turn connected with the Trans-Siberian Railway. It is of this Peking to Mukden line that Dr. C. C. Wang, who spoke to us so eloquently yesterday afternoon is an associate director. There is also the line from Peking to Kalgan and the Great Wall, constructed entirely under native direction.

Second, the Peking to Hankow line crossing the Yellow River by one of the most wonderful of bridges and over which each week a train de luxe runs that will rival the best trains in other lands, making the journey in about twenty-eight

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