Mr. JOHN SCOTT :
' Travel in China'
LAST YEAR John Scott made a journey across China, from Shanghai to Tibet, and this broadcast is an account of it. If it was far from comfortable, it was full of variety, for it was made by boat, train, motor-bus, aeroplane, and mule.
Shanghai, the starting point, is
Chinese, French, and International. As a port it rivals Hong-Kong, which is purely British. Famous for its industries and activities, Shanghai is also a cosmopolis of pleasure, the lights of the Fou-Tcheou Road shining until dawn.
From there, then, the journey was by steamer up the Blue River, one of the widest in the world, its banks lined with ' sampans ' or houseboats, carrying China's floating population. After a day and a night Nanking, the capital of the first Ming, and now the capital of modern China, was reached. It enjoys the prestige of an old University City, and manufactures such things as one would expect it to-the best books, the best paper, the best ink.
From here the journey was by train to a walled city in the great North-Western plain, and thence by 'bus, leaving civilisation farther and farther behind. This talk is vivid with an account of impressions and things seen on the way, but surely no listener will want to spend a night as John Scott did in a North China inn.