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Progress in China

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Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Aug 16, 1910

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 37, No. 32.

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Progress in China

By F. E. Stafford

III. The Chinese National Exposition

JUNE 5 was a red-letter day for China; for it marked the opening, in the city of Nanking, of the first Chinese national exposition. Altho the grounds and buildings are far from completed, yet it gives promise of being a great success. The united action of the various provinces and government departments that made the exposition possible, is an omen of no small import. While it is called the Nanyang Industrial Exposition, yet it is in reality a national affair. (Nanyang is a term applied to the part of China south of the Yang-tse River.)
Of the eighteen provinces of China proper, fifteen have provincial buildings for their exhibits. In all there are some twenty-six buildings. The principal ones are: Agricultural, machinery, transportation, industrial arts, fine arts, arts and education, silk industry, tea industry, military exhibit, public hygiene, pisciculture, foreign exhibits. Practically all the buildings are gleaming white, and are a credit to the artistic taste and workmanship of the Chinese.
The grounds are within the great wall of the city, and measure about one hundred acres in extent. All the Chinese gardener's skill is being expended in beautifying the place.
The widest possible range is covered by the exhibits, including, as they do, all kinds of national produce and manufactures, Western goods and machinery, together with a multiplicity of exhibits connected with education and liberal arts. The exhibition is primarily industrial, and is intended to show the people of China what they can accomplish themselves. Not only the finished product, but the various stages in its production, are shown. There is a large plot reserved for practical demonstrations in agriculture; a light railway will be put in; an elevator has been erected to enable visitors to obtain a bird's-eye view of the grounds, and at the same time to serve as a practical demonstration of modern appliances. The buildings and grounds are illuminated throughout with an immense number of electric lights.
A public assembly hall has been provided, in which lectures will be given throughout the six months of the exposition, on topics of the time, by Chinese scholars and foreigners. Aviation week will be a feature of the exposition. The prize will be the contract that the Chinese government will make with the winner to supply the Board of War with a large number of the flying-machines.
A lively interest is being taken in this their first national exposition, not only here in China, but by the Chinese outside of China. There was great competition to secure the first admission ticket sold. It was purchased by Mr. Liang Ping-Long, a Chinaman from Java, for the sum of $10,000 ($4,500 United States money).
F. E. STAFFORD.