Tarawa (CV 40) - Naval Cruise Book

Page 26 text:

QSXNG A0 3 1 HINPK 1' A6

Page 25 text:

ali. la 'Wirth' lih-' 4 H. 5 '1 -iiii X I , Rfmml ffm ls !.zm! .sigl1t5ccr5 had the opportunity to fee the beau- tiful Mnrmmz 'lbffzplc 5ifllzlfL'd on the We!! Jzkle of the ifland. Alqllf' Ivrzuttfuf rmnly' IMQI' fW I-V in fmm nf 'be Temple' Viewed from the Temple Hep!

Page 27 text:

f29 October-5 December 19482 Our first port after Pearl Harbor was Tsingtao, China. We arrived there on 29 October 1948. On 5 December 1948-after a stay of about five weeks- we sailed for Hong Kong. In spite of the fact that the city was overcrowded with about 500,000 Chinese refugees, and seemed very dirty when compared to our cities, it still exercised a certain charm and color not apparent in our cities. Perhaps it was merely different. At any rate, we found much that was interesting, and the many shop-lined streets were a continual lure with their stocks of bright-colored silks, cottons, leather goods, and those other items peculiar to China. Under a new U.S. customs ruling, we can import personal goods duty free. Many officers and men took advantage of this provision to do some extensive shopping, including a great deal which was done in anticipation of Christmas. A few lucky persons managed to purchase cloisonne vases, an article for which Tsingtao and North China are justly famous. Shopping in an Oriental city was vastly different from that which one might encounter in the U.S. For instance, at home if we should see an item which we like, we ask the price and if agreeable, produce the money and take possession. Not so in China. When you spot an item which you want, then if you would get a fair bargain, you can be assured of at least five minutes of polite-sometimes impolite-haggling over the price. The shopkeeper usually parts with the item for considerably less than what he originally requested. This routine borders on the necessary, since an Ameri- can sailor in a foreign country is often mistaken for Uncle Sugar himself. U. S. Naval forces in Tsingtao maintain an en- listed men's club in one of Tsingtao's prominent downtown buildings, and there one could enjoy a variety of sports Qspectator or participantj, from boxing to bending the elbow. The EM Club's dining room featured good State- side style food, and attracted many who were wary of eating in the obviously poorly-equipped and supplied civilian restaurants. Tsingtao boasted an 18-hole golf course, tennis club, well-stocked riding academies, and several ath- letic fields fboth naval and civilj which were placed at our disposal. There were any number of Chinese night-clubs. For the most part, these were ill-heated, high-priced, and the mixed drinks which they served were concoc- tions literally out of this world. However, most of the rendezvous featured bands and dancers well-versed in American popular music and dancing - and the brand of beer produced by some of Tsingtao's brew- eries wasn't half bad. So, between tours of souvenir shopping, sight-seeing, picture taking and occasional visits to a night-club, we managed to escape downright boredom. Perhaps the most obvious lesson of our visit was one on the evils of inflation. Upon our arrival there, we were advised that the Chinese Nationalist Govern- ment had stabilized currency with the issue of new gold yuan QCYQ. The official rate of exchange was 354.00 QGYQ to 151.00 QU.S.j, and the gold yuan was to be used exclusively for all purchases made on the Chinese market. The system worked rather well at the beginning, despite the fact it was a nuisance to have to go through the routine of changing money each time you went ashore. This was necessary be- cause only the foolish brought more than they in- tended to spend in one day. If you did, there was a real chance that the next time ashore, you would find it amounted to only a fraction of its original value, because by the time we sailed the exchange was 570.00 qcvp to sroo 41.1.5.5