Peking to Lhasa : vol.1 / Page 33 (Color Image)

0033	Peking to Lhasa : vol.1

THE START FROM PEKING 11

The plains of Chihli were soon after left behind,

and Pereira entered the more hilly Province of

Shansi. Here a railway ascends some bare, tree-

less hills to a height of 4400 feet and then gradu-

ally descends to the Taiyuan plain 2625 feet above

sea-level. In the city of Taiyuan he found many

improvements. Good streets had been laid out.

A university and several foreign-looking school

buildings had been erected. Electric light had

been installed. There were three motors, two

motor cycles, a motor lorry and eight hundred

rickshaws all licensed and with European numbers.

The European community now numbered between

fifty and sixty.

Pereira stayed with Mr. Ross, the Postal

Commissioner, and records that, ably run by

foreigners, the Chinese Post Office is year by year

improving. New offices are constantly being

opened and old ones improved. Notwithstanding

the bad roads and brigands he invariably received

his mail in all sorts of places throughout the

Empire punctually and without loss.

Shansi has the reputation of being the home of

Chinese bankers, but in general it is one of the

poorest Provinces. Twenty years previously it

was perhaps the most opium-soaked Province in

China. With the suppression of opium it im-

proved for a while. But now again, owing to the

connivance of Chinese officials, morphia and

morphine are being smuggled in, and people are

taking to bad habits again. The people make

poor soldiers and are a quiet race. The governor

(Yen-shih-shah) ten years before was a sergeant.

He had risen more by luck than through any real

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