University of Nanking - Linguist Yearbook (Nanking, China)

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70 CHINESE SILK - to avoid the enormous waste now existing because of disease, of over-erowdingg and of dirty straw mountains among the silk worm farmers. Those of the certi- fied eggs not needed The Home of the VVorm for use in the building are sold in the market to silk producers. Because of their excellence they have overcome the natural distrust of the Chinese farmers for dark colored. cold storage eggs in place of the usual light colored, first generation ones: and even command a fancy selling price, though thefirst egg sheets sold went at 351.00 and SL60 an egg sheet, when the market price was 5510.00 to 2512.00 a sheet. The building itself, as well as a similar one at Canton Christian College. was the gift of the Silk Association of America in 1923. This Association is interested in meeting Americafs demand for silk. Just now. this demand is not met. There is no country whose potentialities for supplying the silk market are greater than are those of China, and perhaps especially the lower Yangtze valley. Increase of production is the real problem. This can be accomplished through scientifically improved processes and equip- ment. The .lnternational Committee for the Improvement of Sericultnrc in China has fathered the investigational work already done. The purpose of the committee is twofoldg to increase the production ofsilk in China and to foster a greater interest on the part of the government officials. Its particular field of labor is this silk region of Chekiang and Kiangsu Provinces. The silk produced in this district is considered the best in the world. The budget for most of the work carried on by the University of Nanking has been guaranteed by this C0mmi'Ul0C- An interesting industry-but hardly Cl1FiS'0ia1'1 evangelizatioilf' the Grandmother of my infancy would have exclaimed l wonder-what is the relation of body and soulg of economic conditions and spiritual health ? 'isn't bettering industrial life fl Ilfepflmtion of ground for planting the seed?

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CHINESE SILK HINESE SILK-the words conjure up one of my earliest recollections: l, a prattling child, patting the shimmering softness which grand- mother lifted from the sea chest of sweet odors. Grandmother was lihinking of a romance still living in her heart. I was looking out of the flttie window to see whether that softness were really a piece of the blue ilbove. A score of years later I stood before a good-looking stone building Of three stories and many windows, on the campus of Nanking University. My eicerone, a Chinese student of the University, said in his stilted English, This-the home of the worm. His words were literal. The worm, used collectively, included thousands of silk worms fattening on mulberry leaves-and the best leaves too-in a cupboard arrangement of drawers, row upon row, with sides and back of wire netting to provide ventilation. When the taste for mulberry leaves is satiated, the worms will be placed in baskets, or on ropes of straw termed straw mountains, and will be allowed to spin the eoeoons of delicate fiber. When this process complete, the moths are taken out and confirmed under a little metal inverted cup. Here they lay eggs on the provided circle of paper. After the mother moth has deposited her eggs, she is examined under the microscope for pebrine, a protozoan infection which is hereditary and causes immense loss to the industry. If the protozoan spores are present, the eggs are destroyed. Otherwise, the circle of eggs is pasted on a cardboard with nineteen similar circles, and kept, hundreds of them, in a room of regulated temperature until hatching time. Then the cards are put into an incubator-an ordinary Chicken incubator remodelled by the University. This assures the uniform hatching of the eggs, and therefore enables, the worker to care for all the Worms on a given card together, thus saving his time and energy. These processes are observed and largely carried on by students. In addition to the regular classes in serieulture in the University curriculum, a Short course of one year is offered and from seventy-Qfive to a hundred young men come from the silk districts of China, to get the information necessary qeei. . '

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THE LINGUIST 7 I l have watched the spinning of gorgeous silks in huts of stone or mud. Oh homemade looms. whose shuttles click all night when the moon is bright enough to supply the needed light. I have contrasted the rags of the Weavers with the material on the looms. I have thought of the luxurious mansions made gay with these delicate silks. Surely any effort which will help to make possible a higher standard of living, which will help to lift these human souls out of their present sqlnalor and binding poverty, is of Worth in Jesus Christ's program of social salvation for the brotherhood of man. T0 THE CITY OF NANKING L1 Po, A. D. 702-762 Thou hast seen six kingdoms pass away, Accept my song and these three cups I drain! There may be fairer gardens light the plaing Thine are the dim blue hills more fair than they. Here Kings of Wu were crowned and overthrown, Where peaceful grass along the ruin winsg Here--was it yesterday ? the royal Tsins Called down the dreams of sunset into stone. One end awaits for all that mortal beg Pride and despair shall iind a common grave: The Yang-tse-kiang renders wave and wave To mingle with the abysms of the sea.