Teakwood Funeral Coach

The body of sainted Dr. Sun Yatsen, preacher of democracy, left last week Peiping's Temple of the Azure Cloud, where it has been for the past four years. Six hundred miles away, a monumental mausoleum was ready to receive it, built by the Nationalist government on a hillside overlooking Nanking. Bearing it thither was an elaborate railway funeral coach, pride of the Peking-Hankow Railway, built of hand carved teakwood, fitted with solid silver doors, window frames, light fixtures, its walls draped with Nationalist red, blue, and white silk, its floors muffled with a blue silk run of double thickness. Most important of all, there was in final readiness the last bit of pavement on the Chung Shan Chi Nien--great straight memorial road, eight miles long, 140 feet wide, leading from Nanking to Dr. Sun's new mausoleum. Therefore, China's most exalted morticians and highway contractors rested last week from their labors. Everything was in readiness for the grand three-day second funeral of China's first president, Dr. Sun. To build this impressive approach, eight contractors were allotted mile sec tions each. Soldiers were put to work as laborers. The eight contractors ruthlessly tore down peasants' houses, appropriated land. Intent on honoring simple democratic Dr. Sun, they paid little attention to each other. When the eight single miles of road were finished they failed to connect, some sections by as much as ten feet. Despite the fact that 108 of the Chinese peasants that Sun Yat-sen had lived for committed suicide when their homes were confiscated, the eight contractors condemned more land, tore down more houses to straighten the roadway. One of the new houses condemned for the memorial road belonged to a Nanking university professor. Four times he went to the municipal offices, spent $1.80 on ricksha fares. On the fourth trip he received a warrant for the value of his house -- total $1.90. The professor donated the 10-c- profit to the Dr. Sun Yat-sen memorial fund.