China and the West

Letter from Lucy Dewey to Dewey family
Hangchow, Monday, June 14 [1920]
We left Shanghai for Nantungchow on Friday the forth. We spent the morning with Mrs Crane in Shanghai and had lunch with her. Thursday night we went to a dinner given for the Cranes by various associations of Shanghai and there had been no arrangement beforehand, so C. T. Wang who had charge of the Cranes, never thot to ask Mrs C and we were the only foreign ladies present. There were several Chinese, including Miss Chen-Mrs Wu. She had her hair up and was looking most grown up and sober. It seems that she was the woman who organized a company of 80 women during the revolution at Nanking, and led them. They carried amunition to the soldiers and practised every day with rifles. Were school girls, mostly, and when they had got well enough trained to go out and fight the war was over. "We were so disappointed."
Had dinner Friday night with Mr [H.H.] Kung of Shansi, a very nice party. He said that after we left [T]aiyuan last fall he was talking to the gov. The gov said that he had heard we were Bolshiviks and was afraid of the spread of Bolshivik ideas in China. Mr Kung explained what Bolshivism was and how it grew up. Yen said, ["W]ell, under those conditions I dont wonder they became Bolshiviks and of course such a thing is impossible in China" Mr K thinks Yen is really liberal and progressive.
The boat for Nantung left at midnight. We were met by a Mr Ho, French and Belgian returned student who spoke a little English and beautiful French and another man, who promptly disappeared. We sat up and watched the moonlight on the river till about one and then went to bed on some nice Chinese boards. Slept very well, considering. Got to to Nantung about nine. Somo more people came out in a sampan to greet us before we docked and presented us with elegant purple and gold printed programmes. We were met at the dock by Chang Jr, a company of soldiers, and a brass band. We were taken to the house by the [page torn] arretts and slept till lunch time. After lunch, Mr Lee came and took us sightseeing, we saw lots || of things, but didnt g[et] thru the programme, at that. Went to the Changs to dinner. They have a very elegant and hideously furnished foreign house and dress the children in terrible foreign clothes. Had a long and elaborate foreign meal. The next two mornings we went to Dads lectures in the city theater, a fine building. In the afternoon we did sightseeing, went to see the mills and factories. They have a cotton factory, iron founry, where they build small boats and make repair parts for the mills, an oil mill for the cotton seed, etc. In the cotton mill sixty percent of the employees are women and children over ten, they work twelve hours a day, and the factory is paying 250% Nothing done for the children of mothers who work they sit around the mills.
One afternoon we went to Lanshan, where the chickens come from. Saw an institution for the dumb and blind, and an industrial home for beggars, on the way. Climbed the pagoda on the mountain and got a wonderful view of the country. Lots of canals everywhere. One night we went to the theater and saw Oyang [Ou-yang Yu-chien], who is supposed to be the best actor in China, after Mei Lang Fan. He is interested in the revival of the stage and did a modern play with a romantic interest. It was awfully interesting and pretty, with very little banging and noise and he is a very good actor. He has a school for actors which we went to see. Forty boys who are taught Chinese, history, math, Chinese and foreign singing and dancing, playwriting. I asked if they were taught historical costuming but couldnt find out, I think not. It was awfully interesting [to] see what he has done and to see the boys. They were all beauties in one way or another, some with faces like Buddhas. They did their stunts for us. They dance very well indeed. Mr Chnag presented Mamma with a peice of embroidery from the school and Mr Lee gave Evelyn and me each one. We bot some besides. Left Nantung Tuesday night [8 June 1920], quite an experience. Got half way to the dock and Mr Lee discovered there was no boat and we would have to take the English boat which would probably come along about two. We all sat up until after one playing games and then we went and lay down on the board beds. I got [a] little sleep, nearly an hour, before the boat came, about two thirty. We went out in sampans to the boat. Mr Ho had joined us by that time, he knew what would happen and had wisely spent the time in the town. It was quite ride out to the boat, most exciting. Rough, tho the worst wind had died down, with a little moon, and the sampan going along rowed by three men. Got settled on the boat about four, all the cabins taken so we had to sit up. Nobody slept much, I did for about fifteen minutes, deck too cold, and the cabin too stuffy. Landed in Shanghai about ten and went to the Kalee hotel. Ran errands frantically all day, and finally got to bed about nine.
Nantung an interesting place, very much one man, nobody talks about anything but his excellency. He has done a lot for the place industrially but its all pretty Japanese. Lots of industrail schools but very little expansion of primary and girls ed. Mamma spoke at the girls normal one morning and whom, should she run into but her old friend from the Peking normal that Suh Hu [Hu Shi] had dismissed. Chang has built roads and runs jitney busses, he is getting more.
[Lucy Dewey]