CONTRASTS IN CHINA

foreign [Music] we come to China a land of violent contrasts here we see the perfume Tower of Buddha with its graceful Pagoda Rooks built on a solid base of stone towering above a veritable Garden in Wonderland this is the Summer Palace near Peking and it's dravagant Folly of the lake Dowager empress China reached the peak of civilization and culture many centuries ago but since then it has stood still it is a land of unchanging traditions where fabulous riches rub elbows with unbelievable squalor and poverty on the canals and rivers of China coolies patiently eek out their precarious living by fishing transporting passengers or merchandise in their crude homemade boats they call them sandpass just like their ancestors in bygone centuries they depend on manpower to propel their craft poverty and Prejudice combine against the use of motors like all Oriental races the Chinese are not Road makers they depend on the numerous rivers and canals for transportation this gives employment to hundreds of thousands of rivermen centuries ago these Frugal toilers lived in Huts along the Riverbanks poverty and oppression made it impossible for them to pay their land taxes so their land was taken away from them nothing daunted they moved their simple belongings onto their boats or sand towns they erected the covering of matting over them and proceeded to carry on doggedly with that fatalistic patience which characterizes the Chinese race through the centuries the rivermen have come to form almost a race apart they have created traditions of Their Own Unwritten laws of their own making govern them the young rivermen seek their mates among the river girls a land girl would not consider marrying a river man and many rivermen are born live and die on their Sampan without ever going ashore their first trip to land occurs when they are buried although many find the last resting place beneath the very waters on which they have floated all their lives their life is an arduous one hard work long hours scant remuneration poor food and no luxuries whatever women do most of the ferrying and sculling they can spare but little time to care for the Young until he can walk and take care of himself a baby sprawls around on the deck to which he is Tied by a stout rope a gourd is tied to the baby's back so that if he falls overboard he will float until mother can haul him back aboard again we have gradually been working our way Southward along the 1200 mile Imperial Canal that connects peaking with Shanghai [Music] the boats get thicker as we approach the Yangtze River the chief Waterway of China 2900 miles long here we are in the harbor of Shanghai at the mouth of the Yangtze River hear the boats and barges are larger and the loads are heavier propelling these heavy barges by hand is hard breaking deep but the coolies are brawny these big loads of hay are floated down the river for hundreds of miles they come from the rich pasture lands that border the Yangtze River along its Inland reaches at Shanghai the hay is transferred to ocean-going vessels that deliver it to other Chinese ports along the coast [Music] now we get our first glimpse of a Chinese junk they are built today just as they were built centuries ago they have no bow spirit the high Stern provides quarters for the women and children their tall rectangular Sails are made of strips of matting pieced together and ripped with bamboo they bring all manner of produce from the interior and return Laden with salt from the coast tubs ocean-going vessels and other signs of Western activity defy Chinese traditions in this International port all the nations of the world meet in Shanghai to barter and traffic [Music] is not a sports event the boat winner after a low first come first serve these logs were filled in the upper reaches of the Yangtze and were floated down more than one thousand miles and now we come to one of the most violent contrasts of the old and the new in China a modern Bridge with trolley cards and beneath it a floating city of sampans barges and junks all huddled together in a dense Mass just as Marco Polo saw them more than 600 years ago the simple needs of this floating population are all supplied from boats they do not have to go ashore wedding barges funeral barges can be hired for the occasion there are floating theaters and restaurants where prosperous land lovers may come to feast and to be entertained by sing-song girls once in a while the peace and quiet of this Hive of human beings is disturbed by the clamor of many voices when some inside boat tries to worm its way out into the Stream hens seem to be quite as industrious in China as they are elsewhere they also lay their eggs in the same old-fashioned way these boats are stocking up at a Shore market and will soon wriggle their way through the same pans to sell their Wares to the boatmen who never go ashore [Music] these barges are preparing to transfer their loads to one of the warehouses on shore and what flimsy structures they are you know I could not help wondering what would happen if some Chicago cow kicked over a lantern in all this dry Timber another fire and a fierce one the river man's fair is Simplicity itself tea and rice rice and tea with an occasional interlude when they are able to pick up some rubbish thrown out by steamers sometimes three generations are found living happily in the cramped quarters of a junk senior member rule Supreme the rest of the family never questioned his authority we can understand in a way how Oriental fatalism and patience may have helped these industrious but unprogressive rivermen to accept their poverty and lack of comfort with resignation but our Western Minds so intend on fighting all kinds of germs cannot understand by what magic these River men are able to keep healthy and reach a ripe old age living as they do under such filthy and unsanitary conditions their homes are on the river the air they breathe is Tainted with its smell into the river they cast their refuse in it they wash their clothes and their pots and pans in it they bathe occasionally human bodies and carcasses of dead animals float around and the river water is what they cook with it is the water they drink with impunity and it would seem almost with relish I am amazed at the fortitude and endurance of these simple and good-natured River men in spite of their pitiful environment however they seem happier and healthier than many of us who live in hygienic luxury [Music] myself East is East is the West is West they may meet but they never can blend and so with my Western complexes I turn back to the perfume Tower of Buddha and feast my eyes once more on the beauty of stately policies the Chinese monuments are quite different from our own they are built today in the same design that prevailed many centuries ago their design is inspired by religious and philosophical ideas which have their roots in most ancient traditions I may not be able to Fathom their Mystic meaning but they stir my imagination and present to me an enchanting picture as I bid farewell to the realm of Cathay [Music] thank you