McEWEN REPORTS ON CHINA * * Things have changed for junk One afternoon in Canton, Leslie Morris, LPP national organizer and I paid a visit to the “junks” (river boats) on the Pearl River. The junk dwellers are people who have lived on the great rivers of China for centuries; people who are born live and die on the junks. " In China they run into the hundreds of thousands probably mil- lions. Under the old order the junk dwellers were regarded as the lowest strata of human society, and by far the most bitterly ex- ploited. The junks were the popular area where prostitution, op- lum smoking, gambling, racketeering, every form of human vice and crime flour- ished. Whatever protective laws there were, these never included the junk dwellers. They were regarded as be- yond the pale. In order to dwellers ha survive the junk d to be a law unto themselves. Vice, disease, filth and death were their daily lot-on.the Pearl and other big rivers of China. The junk dwellers had to transport cargo at prices set by the rich merchants, They had to pay P saearviere call fees set by any landlord who might claim that part of the river bank as his own. To eke out a precarious ex- istence a junk dweller might rent out his wife or his young daughters in prostitution, and if interested in vital statistics, could see 700 out of every 1,000 babies born on the junks die before they reached the age of tenedays. What medical or health facilities there were under the old order, whether Western or traditional, never reached the junk dwellers. They were the “untouchables” fit only to be exploited or kicked. 5 5 @: a Then came liberation and the beginning of a new way of life. We met the “Inhabi- tants Committee” of the Pearl River junk dwellers in their embankment club rooms, with the customary tea service, graciousiy served in delicate china, with spotless linen and great dignity. with On this tee, lers ev eleven w« Of the were vo a A beautiful de Inhabitants Commit- i by the junk dwel- y two years were omen and one man. =n members some and strikingly pite simplicity of Wor! 5S dwellers dress, and some were very old, their bronzed faces wrinkled like an old parchment. All were Pearl River people. One woman member of this com- mittee was also a member of the Canton municipal govern- ment. The chairman of the com- mittee told us of the bitter lot of the junk dwellers before liberation, and ‘the tremen- dous task they had to face in bringing the rudiments of cul- ture, literacy, health hygiene and human decency to this most down-trodden of all people; a terrible legacy from the old China. her voice ex- pressed a passionate inten- sity in describing the condi- tions the committee faced in the early years of liberation, and sometimes fell to a whis- per as she described the ram- pant disease, ignorance and death among the junk dwell- ers. Sometimes The program of the Inhabi- tants Committee is a nation- wide program, setting forth the “Five Merits of Chinese Woman” applied to the junk dwellers as to all family units In China, these are: @® To plan and household expenses. @ Encourage and help hus- bands and menfolk generally to work well in production. @ To keep the household clean and sanitary. @To acquire cultural know- ledge. ® To help raise the common level of political understand- ing in the family. (It should be noted that while promoting these prin- ciples among the junk dwell- ers, most of the committee members themselves were at- tending elementary schools, learning to read and write!) Applied to the junk dwell- ers these tasks are even more difficult than in a household but the Inhabitants Commit- tee was justifiably proud of the headway being made, First, they had ended pros- titution on the waterfront, as it is ended in all China. Then they had set aside one day a week as general “clean-up” day on the junks, and saw to it by personal visits and friendly discussion that the junks were kept clean and san- itary. Second, by forming the var- ious river junk dwellers into co-operatives, incomes from cargo hauling, fishing and other river vocations assured the junk dweller a uniform and adequate income. Then they pressured the lo- cal government into providing primary and sécondary schools for the river’s children, and budget a proudly pointed to the fact that they now have nine such schools in Canton with a min- imum of 4,000 children attend- ing. Later on I shall have more to say about the work of this committee. With a few of its members, Leslie Morris and I visited a number of the hun- dreds of junks moored in the Pearl River. From Singapore north along the coasts of Malaya, Indochina and China thousands livé aboard junks around the harbors of all the great cities. This is the junk colony at Singapor® There we met families and were graciously received by old and young alike. One thing we noted was that “Merit” No. 3 dealing with cleanliness of the household was being metic- ulously observed. Many of those junks had been scrubbed almost white, and many were terribly limited, or so it seemed to me, in accommodation. I left those river junks and their kindly and simple Pe” ple — wondering just wh i mama stowed away all het little ‘“‘wa-wa’s (children) sleep, but since she had be doing it for centuries an He survived, I knew that mt with such an Inhabitants C® mittee to help her, that day of the Pearl River j be dweller with its multiple hat ships, was nearing its en ahs CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING es charge of 50 cents for each insertion of five lines or less with 10 cents for each ad- ditional line is made for no- tices appearing in this column. No noticer will be accepted later than Tuesday noon of the week of publication. NOTICES DEADLINE FOR COMING EVENTS COLUMN — All copy must be in the Pacific Tribune office not later than 12 noon Tuesday. POSTAGE STAMPS aaeted Donate your used postage stamps, any country, includ- ing Canada, particularly values above 5c and perfor- ated OHMS or overprinted OHMS or G. Stamps should not be torn or mutilated and are best left on paper, with perforations not cut into in trimming. Resale proceeds go to Pacific Tri- bune sustaining fund. WHEN MAKING A WILL, you may wish to remember the Pacific Tribunue as a means of continuing the cause for which you have worked during your life. For further information, write the Business Manager. COMING EVENTS “An excellent DEC. 16; Soviet film — ‘ALEXANDER NEVSKY’ will be shown in the Russian Peo- ple’s Home, 600 Campbell Ave., on Sunday night, December 16, at 8 p.m. Everyone wel- come. DEC 31 — NEW YEAR : SUPPER AND DANCE — At AUUC Hall, 805 East Pender Street. Supper at 6:30. Dancing from 9 p.m. till ??? Admission $2.50 per person. BUSINESS PERSONALS PATRONIZE ~ POLITANO’S BARBER SHOP — 204 Main St., 2 biks. north of Hastings. IASTINGS ‘BAKERIES LTD. —Scandinavian products a specialty. 716 East Hastings Street. Phone TA. 9719. Xmas Cards Widest variety of colorful Christmas Cards. Same as in stores at really reasonable prices. B.C. PEACE COUNCIL 144 W. Hastings. MA. 9958 GREETINGS — Steet your friends at Christmas through the columns of the Pacific Tribune. Personal greetings $1. Club or organizational greetings $3, $5 & $10. Copy deadline—December Li 34 ~ TRANSFER & MOVING Courteous, fast, efficient. Call NICK at GL. 4620 and HA. 5794L. KEITH FISH AND CHIPS Deep Fried Chicken and Fish in Peanut Oil our Spe- cialty! Take Out! Phone YO. 9919; 749 W. Keith, North Vancouver. Mary and Jim Beynon, Props. RUSSIAN PEOPLE'S = nos CLINTON THE MOST MODsR CLEANERS Cleaning, Pf ons ing and Dyeing. Alteralie and Repairs. 754 East Ha ings. TA. 0717. UKRAINSKA ENYHA=! sonal parcels to the Union (Russia, ukrain’ i Byelo- Russia, Oe ae uania, Estonia and othe! viet Republics). 652 Kine way (at Fraser). P EX. 3118. ae O.K. RADIO SERVICE <7 st SERVICE, 1420 Pender Latest factory prec equipment used. West. TA. 1012. - REGENT TAILORS LID. 4 Custom Tailors and er to wear. For person at vice see Henry Rank var 324 W. Hastings St. couver & PAcific 8455 pet HALLS FOR RENT _ Available for meetin’y Gs dings, and banquets “ sonable rates. 600 CamP poe Ave. TA. 9939. INTON HALL, 2605 Eat Pender. Available og tins quets, Weddings, Etc. Phone HA. ‘art PENDER AUDITORIUM (Marine Workers) 339 West Pender « LARGE & SMALL HAM” FOR RENTALS Phone PA, 9481 DECEMBER 14, 1956 — PACIFIC TRIBUNE — pack