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Show 642 The National Geographic Magazine Refugee Farmers Express Their Gratitude for United States Aid At a ceremony in appreciation of the soil-conservation project established at the Hwanglungshan colonization center of Shensi, one of the school children presents a flag to the author, Dr. Walter C. Lowdermilk. and rebuilding her national life. What a human drama for future historians to write about! Chungking, after eight years of war during which most of it lay almost defenseless under raid after raid by Japanese bombers, is today a bustling capital. All its people-men, women, and children-are working. They are scraping up the debris of bombings and putting up new buildings everywhere. Streets and shops are crowded. Folk laugh and joke and sing. We wished to leave Chungking soon for Chengtu, the capital of Szechwan. After waiting days for a plane, we finally obtained reservations on a postal truck. That truck was filled with mailbags and the maximum permitted number of passengers, who had paid for their tickets in advance. Afterward, as is customary, the driver took for himself all the "yellow fish" (extra fares) he could pick up en route. We were packed in like sardines, each clinging to some valuable parcels-mine cameras. The weather was cold, but heat of our huddled bodies kept us from freezing as we jolted along. Thanks to the wonderful Chinese sense of humor, laughter relieved our discomfort. The Chengtu Plain was teeming with Chinese in bright-blue garments. On every road were endless lines of two-wheeled trucks and wheelbarrows, drawn or pushed by sturdy men and boys. They were taking loads of coke, coal, salt, lumber, or foodstuffs to Chengtu. An occasional automobile with its raucous horn sent pedestrians, donkeys, and carts scurrying to the roadside for safety. Beginning of Good Roads in China Twenty-five years ago there was not a wheeled vehicle, except wheelbarrows, in all this vast region. There was not a strip of road wide enough for an automobile. To show millions of this interior province how in other lands things moved faster than water buffaloes, sedan chairs, and wheelbar- |
