to build up a great living force. One thing alone is wanted--
the will, the directing power. That supplied, there are to be
found in abundance in China the capacity to carry out, the
brains to plan, the hands to work.''



IV

A TYPICAL PROVINCE

SHANTUNG is not only one of the greatest, but it is in
many respects one of the most interesting of all the
provinces of China. Its length east and west is about
543 miles and in area it is nearly as large as the whole of New
England. The name, Shantung, signifies ``east of the mountains.''
Forests once existed, but tillable land has become so
valuable that trees are now comparatively few save in the
villages and temples and about the graves of the rich. But for the
most part, Shantung resembles the great prairie regions of the
western part of the United States, broken by occasional ranges
of hills and low mountains. The soil is generally fertile,
though in the southwestern part I found some stony regions
where the soil is thin and poor. South of Chinan-fu one finds
the loess, a light friable earth which yields so easily to wheel
and hoof and wind and water that the stream of travel through
successive generations has worn deep cuts in which the traveller
may journey for hours and sometimes for days so far below the
general level of the country that he can see nothing but the
sides of the cut and in turn cannot be seen by others. The