6 THIRTY THOUSAND MILES IN CHINA 



The five great engineering feats of the Chinese have been 

 seen. 



1. — The Great Wall, begun as early as 240 b.c. and 

 added to as late as a.d. 1547, to keep out invaders who never- 

 theless have made an effective entry, has been followed for 

 long distances in widely separated sections of its tortuous 

 course of 1,250 miles. 



2. — The Grand Canal, the oldest and longest artificial 

 waterway in the world, built in three sections in three differ- 

 ent periods (from 550 b.c. to a. p. 1283) and finally completed 

 for the inland transport of grain from Hangchow in the South 

 to the Capital in the North, has been traversed practically 

 from end to end of its 1,000 miles, in spite of the dilapidated 

 condition of its northern section. 



3. — The Hangchow Bore Wall, built about a.d. 915 and 

 still protecting millions from a twice-daily flood from the sea, 

 has, though less known impressed me as worthy of a greater 

 share of fame than the Grand Canal or the Great Wall, 

 because of the dynamic difficulties to be overcome in the 

 construction of 180 miles of a wall which so effectively shuts 

 out one of the most gigantic and powerful tidal bores in the 

 world. 



4. — The exceedingly clever and extensive irrigation system 

 of Kwanhsien inaugurated probably about 200 B.C. and still 

 responsible for so much of the prosperity of Szechwan has 

 been investigated from the headwaters of the Min that feeds 

 it to the by-canals of the Chengtu plain where it supports 

 millions on what would otherwise be barren land. 



5. — The brine wells of Tzeliutsing also in Szechwan, 

 sunk by hand to a depth of 3,000 feet and operated by crude 

 machinery with water-buffalo as the motive power have been 

 seen and marvelled at. Dating, as some of the wells do, 

 from as early as a.d. 250 this region still supplies an enormous 

 quantity of that most essential commodity, which in China 

 is the Government's one monopoly, salt, which under the 

 recent administration of Sir Eichard Dane has added so 

 greatly to the nation's revenue. 



Note, please, three significant characteristics of these 

 engineering feats : Each is of fairly ancient origin; each is of 

 great magnitude; and each is a work of utility, all but one 

 {i.e. the Great Wall) being of important use to-day. Con- 

 trast these with the useless monuments which the ancient 

 Egyptians have left as marks of their former prowess and you 

 will readily admit the superiority of the Chinese. Remember 

 too that the Chinese are the only great nation to-day that has 

 survived from any remote past. 



