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Show na es ca - 71 - even before the completion of the investigations now under way. Mr. Fairfield writes as follows, under the heading, " The City Problem in China: " " What is the problem of the city? Let us lay aside for a moment American preconceptions of things, and think ourselves into the actual situation here in this business city of Greatvale. In America people are in the habit of building the house in the center, and arranging the yard around it. Here in Chii the yard is in the center, surrounded by the house. In America our hous look out upon the world. The Chinese house looks in upon itself. In Ameri__ people have their homes and go from them to the factories and stores to work, returning at night to their homes again. In China the business men live in their stores or factories, and return to their homes, miles away, only a few times a year, returning to their shops again. The time of a clerk in a Chinese shop, either store or factory, is absolutely at the disposal of the manager, and most of the managers know by experience that it is better for their young men not to be on the street at night. Besides, there are the accounts for the day to be reckoned up, the stock to be put in order, the evening meal to be eaten, the late customer to be attended to, and an early beginning of the next day to be reckoned with. The next day begins at daylight, for the Chinese business man wants to be ready for his customer at whatever hour he comes, and so the round goes on. Occasionally, when there is a theatre in one of the temples of the city, the clerks are divided up into three groups, and each is allowed to attend one of the three performances each day. And if there is a fair they are likewise allowed to go out. But for most of the time, except as they may be sent out on errands, the clerks are penned up in the shops, and find their life there, subject to the managers for permission to go out This is the problem of the shop, and the shop is the problem of our city here, for out of sixteen thousand people within the walls twelve thousand are in shops, and in the suburbs, which bring the population total up to over twenty thousand, the proportion, while not quite as high, is well up toward one-half. This means that if we are to evangelize the city of Greatvale we shall have to get the clerks when they come out, find means of getting them out, and ultimately get into the shops with our good news." Mr. Corbin's survey of his field goes no further than to describe its extent as follows: "The outstation field of the Greatvale station includes the two districts, Greatvale and Pure Spring, and the southern half of the Elm Inn district. The Greatvale and Pure Spring districts are not quite contiguous, as between the northwest corner of the former and the southeast corner of the latter there is a narrow strip of territory belong to two other districts. The districts of Greatvale and Elm Inn are conterminous for a distance of 25 to 30 miles, Elm Inn lying north of Greatvale. "In the Greatvale district there are ten townships, with a total of 362 villages. Fully one-half of these lie within the mountains. There are five townships in Pure Spring, with 93 villages and hamlets, 20 of which are within the mountains. In the portion of the Elm Inn district allotted to us there are 186 villages and hamlets, more than 140 of them in the south and east townships. The northern half of the Elm Inn district is regarded as the territory of the English Baptist Mission. We have in our entire field a total of 641 villages |
