CHAPTER II 



SHANGHAI 



ALMOST the first warning which one receives of 

 the imminence of the Middle Kingdom lies in the 

 discoloration of the bright and sparkling sea by the 

 muddy waters of the Yangtse-kiang. They burst 

 forth after their long journey from the highlands 

 of Thibet with such volume that they are apparent 

 eighty miles and more from the river's mouth. 



Shanghai itself is situated on the Woosung, an 

 equally dirty river up which we journeyed in a 

 launch. It was first settled about 304 B.C., and 

 was raised to the dignity of a walled city 1554 A.D., 

 having suffered severely at the hands of Japanese 

 pirates. Captured in 1842 by Lieut.-Col. Mont- 

 gomery, it is still a settlement, all landowners 

 paying ground rent to the Chinese government. 



At the time of our arrival the whole place was 

 in a ferment over the coronation of King George. 

 The streets presented as strangely varied and 

 cosmopolitan a spectacle as no other town in China 

 could show. The Bund was crowded ; all the big 

 merchant houses being lavishly decorated with 

 flags, bamboos, evergreens, and floral arches. 

 Across the river, factory chimneys belched smoke 

 into the grey skies, and energetic and laborious 

 tugs tore the waters with yellow foam. The 



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