CURIOUS CANTON by W. G. Irwin

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jul 23, 1902

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 28, No. 30.

CURIOUS CANTON.

By W. G. Irwin

[W. G. Irwin, in April Era.]

CANTON, the home of Li Hung Chang, is perhaps the most typical native city of China, and it is one of the most fascinating and curious cities in the world. Canton can count her age in cycles of a thousand years, and yet this city of the dead ages is still alive. Its six-foot streets and the dazzling succession of colored signboards, its wondrous temples and pagodas and great idols, its gruesome execution ground and mortuaries gay with burial feasts, are things striking to the eye of one who is a stranger to the queer civilization of China as presented so strikingly in Canton.

To reach Canton, one takes one of the river boats of the Hongkong, Canton and Macao Steamboat Company at Hongkong, and journeys up the Pearl or Canton River a distance of ninety miles, the departure of the vessels being so arranged that the traveler is certain to have advantage of a day trip one way in order to get a sight of the scenery and points of interest on the trip. Shortly after leaving Hongkong, the steamer passes through the Throat Gates and enters the Capsuimoon Pass. The scenery here and about Castle Peak and Deep Bay, a few miles farther on, possesses some interesting attractions. The mouth of the Pearl River is approximately half way from Hongkong to Canton, and the entrance to the river is protected by the Bogue Forts, which are well manned with modern guns and by the Chinese considered impregnable. From this point to Whampoa the country is flat and relieved only occasionally by a pagoda or a village. There is a slight stop at Whampoa, at one time the head of foreign navigation on the Canton River and a place of considerable importance, but now containing little save Chinese Government docks and the Chinese Torpedo School. From Whampoa to Canton, a distance of twelve miles, the river swarms with craft of all kinds. There are huge salt junks, stern-wheel passenger boats, war junks, revenue cruisers, flower boats, and a myriad of smaller craft.