The Enormous Traffic Carried On Throughout
The Celestial Empire In The Face Of Appalling Difficulties, On Men's
Backs, Or By Caravans Of Mules Or Ponies, Or By The Rudest Of Carts And
Wheelbarrows, Must Be, Some Day, Undertaken By Railways.
In the judgment
of careful observers, too much stress should not be laid on the
introduction of the locomotive for strategic purposes.
The capital aim of
railway construction should be, they think, the development of the
interprovincial trade of China, the interchange of the varied products of
a country which boasts so many climates and soils. This would bring
prosperity to the people, render administrative reforms possible, and open
China for the Chinese quite as much as for the European merchant or
manufacturer. From the viewpoint of Chinese interests, the most useful
lines would be two that should connect Pekin, Tientsin and all the
northern part of the country with central and southern China. Trunk lines
could be constructed for this purpose without any difficulty. They would
pass along the old trade tracks, and would encounter populous cities the
whole way. Through eastern Shansi and Honan, for example, to Hangchow on
the Yangtse; thence to the Si Kiang and Canton; such lines would be shafts
driven through the heart of the Middle Kingdom, connecting the North and
the South. For the entire distance, some 1,300 or 1,400 miles, the extent,
fertility and variety of the soil are described as remarkable. From the
North, abounding in cotton and varieties of grain and pulse, to the South,
where many vegetable products of the Orient are met, the redundancy of the
population is a striking feature.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 680 of 704
Words from 184482 to 184756
of 191255
