The Jewish population is very small and is said to number not more than about 55 tja, mostly poor people engaged in some small business. I visited Jewish families with 3 different Chinese in order to take some photographs, but I did not see a single full-blooded Jew. All of them had some Chinese blood in their veins, and I saw no typical Jewish heads. From this I conclude that they have really been assimilated by the Chinese population. — The celebrated Jewish stones stand in a stinking place among »heaps of refuse», — not to call them by their right name.
The Christian population of Honan numbers about 15,000 Roman Catholics and 2,000 Protestants.
Several reforms have already been introduced. — The Pien-lo railway should be completed and start running in about 6 months for a distance of about 190 km. It is to be extended at once by the provincial authorities by means of funds subscribed by mandarins and the local inhabitants. It seems to be uncertain whether this will come off or, as the latest rumour from Peiping states, the same Franco-Belgian company will be entrusted with its construction. At the same time it may be considered an undoubted fact that the scheme will be carried out in one way or another. The building of the line from Honan-fu to Tung Kwang will, however, take about 3 years. If the work is attacked with great energy and no time is wasted in discussions, the line cannot be laid in less than 2 years (the Pien-lo 190 km took over 3 years). If the Si-an-fu — Tung Kwang line is built at the
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