CHINESE CITIES.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXVI, Issue 11515, 22 February 1909, Page 5

CHINESE CITIES.

QREA^T IMPROVEMENTS.

til a letter, from Chipa a Correspondent writes: .7 " ' "

One of the most, satisfactory, of. the reconstitute is thf Ministry of Home Affairs. t Its' president is Prince Su one of the eight hereditary iron-cap-ped Priripes. The Prince has a- high reputation for integrity and'disinterestedness..

■ improvements' are- to be observed 'm nearly every city of iiripbrtahce m the Empire. Change varies m fextent. Here m Peking; the change; is ffiost> striking. M acadam ized roads, improved drainage, streets ! kept clean, r the; sideY Stall* riioved into roomy bazaars 1 or markets, traffic handled by trained polide m uniform, mbdern public buildings with the' stately Eile of the ; new Foreign Office at their I cad, electric light, ' carriages and broughams m Yplace. of chairs or 7 carts, improved schools with Students m uniform, who. play games, are daily given physical ; drill; ; Ahd o have, annual sports, ptiblie reading rooms' and lecture. naU s » and an intercourse with ■ foreigners never . before kkiowifcY daily newspapers with; topical {illustrations, ' zoological gar-, l deris and botanical gardens, beautifully laid out, where even the highest, Chinese do not disdain to drive with their -wives and children— all Ythe^e are changes as striking as: the .growth of female education and the crusade against,, opium. . Chinese exlclusiyeness is being 1 profound? ly modified by these .changes. Tlie highest Princes m. the land, the brothers arid .cousins of • the;; Emperor, npw drive along macadamized roads m foreign carriages or motors to dine m foreign style at foreign hotels m ,tlie 'common room with the cosmopolitan gjuestß.'o 7 - The . Ministry, of Communications of Railways, Telegraphs, yand Posts -is the niost criticised of. the Ministries. Complaints of the maladministration of the railways grow m VOluiiie, -but even m this department the centraliflat'ibn of authority prpiriises well for tlie future when the Administration^ is, purified, by the t-a-nsferehice' of oits' Presidiettt. Defeire for raihvay extension is widei^reaci. The need of improved coriimu nications i_ realised by the people as,^yell, as by the Goyernmeit. Railway development' is only m... its infancy. Infantile too, is the state of the telegraphs, "Which! are both the worst and the most expensive m the .'world; but they are now GoVettv-me'rit-owned, and that is an advance. In striking contrast to the telegraphs the postal service of China. will compare favorably with any other m the world. .Its rates of postage are the cheapest m the world. Its extension is one of the !most striking features of modern China. The Ministry of ' Education is under s the presidency of a learned scholar of the old t,Vpe, Chang Chih-tung, The old system of examination has erititely been abolished. Education is improving, but there is. little attempt at uttifdrriiity There is ho. lack of desire to learn, but, the teaching, outside of the mission schools or of colleges , undesr foreign con-, trol is quite .uriSatisfactory. Nf> attempt* is made to obtain the > service of thi best* man. Japan engaged tlie best foreign teachers that money . could fihfl,: with the, result that the standard of education is there very >high.. But China seems to think any : teacho? good enough so long ns he is a shade better educated than the pupil he has to teach.