Changes in China
By Mi s s Ru t h P a x s o n Evangelist of Young Women’s Christian Association in far away Yangtze
(N ote.—M iss R u th P ax so n , w ho is conducting ev an g elistic w ork in China, u n d er th e au sp ices of th e Y oung W om en’s C h ristian A ssociation, in w ritin g from Y angtze u n d er d a te of O ctober 9, 1914, p o rtray s as vividly as an y th in g we have seen, th e rem ark ab le ch an g es th a t h av e tak en place in China. She w rites in h er d irect an d in te re stin g w ay.—E ditor.) ■ E ARE on the Yangtze River on our return trip from Changsha in far away Hu nan. ft is hard to tear one’s ___ ___ . self away from: the beautiful scenery outside' that reminds one some-, what of the Hudson, but these days are so full of the -absorbing work of the evan gelistic campaigns.that such things as let ters and reports would never materialize were it not for the breathing spaces af forded by the train and river trips. ■ you approach the old city gate yoü feel it is distinctive, and as you pass through, it. you know it is imposing, progressive and most marvelous o£ all—clean. The city streets are swept daily and all garbage is removed. Many of the buildings are two stories, and on the main street are several shops similar to our department stores at home and with their splendid large incan descent lights in front. The city boasts of telephones with underground wires.
The feel of the city is that of progress, and in this the women of the city are not behind the times. Even : Changsha con tains some militant suffragettes, who in flamed by a semi-educated returned student from Japan went-one day into the office of the printing press that had dared to speak against them, took some of the type and threw it into the river. Another group of women with a saner understanding of true patriotism and a truer desire to meet the need of China’s women, last year organized a Social ' Ser vice League. Although planned and di rected by i foreigners the work has been done entirely by the Chinese women of the better class. The wife of the Governor of
How I wish each reader might have shared with us the fascination and joy of this visit to Changsha. It is the capital city of the province of Hunan, that was long the most bigoted in China, -and which iS one of. the most recent to be opened to the Christian message. : Twenty years ago the. entire province was without a single ' missionary or Christian, The meetings of the past few days among men and women in its capital city show it to be at present one of the most eager to hear of Chris tianity. One might think Chinese cities were all alike, but they are not, and cer tainly Changsha is different. The moment
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