Evening Republican, Volume 23, Number 68, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 March 1920 — CHINESE PARADISE ON EARTH [ARTICLE]

CHINESE PARADISE ON EARTH

World Holds No Greater Boon Than Life in the Famous City of Soochow. The Chinaman expresses his opinion of the city of Soochow by murmuring ecstatically, “Oh, that 1 may live to spend my .last days In this paradise, on earth.” Many a Chinaman apparently han had this wish come trde, loathe number of suicides in Soochow Is exceeded only by the number of extremely wealthy and fashionable. The atmosphere of Soo seems to Ifltite the oriental mind either to despair or to ostentatious luxury, according to the state of his finances. x Soochow streets areulways thronged with women displaying the latest Chinese costumes, or out buying new ones, and with the dandles of the other sex, too, gracefully bored unless engaged in the purchase of a new coat. Besides these there are the unfortunate, who cannot enter the real paradise, which Soo offers only to the wealthy seekers of pleasure. The poor mingle In a hazy crowd as an humble background for the fashion parade. Still another type of Soochow is the student burdened with the ambitions of wisdom. The seriousness of the Soo student is well typified in the two Pen pagodas, and the Ink pagoda, so called because a student long ago had them built as/a propitiatory offering to the gods for success in examinations.. The corkscrew-shaped “pens,” pointed at the top, are not particularly penlike to the western eye, but the ink pagoda is very like an odd, made-in-China inkwell, with a curling roof for a top, and its only discrepancy the numerous window’s, which would prevent Its serving as a writing accessory.