Salt for the Cellars

Within the harsh clamp of the Japanese blockade, Free China strove patiently and primitively to keep her economy breathing. A scene caught by the camera at a salt mine told part of the story (see cut).

To make good the loss of salt resources in the coastal provinces, the Chungking Government has stepped up production from the ancient salt wells of inland Szechwan. Free China had little iron or steel to spare for this vital industry. Her engineers turned to the ways and the tools of their forebears. They fashioned derricks and drills from lashed timbers. They wove rope from split bamboo. For pipelines, snaking over the land from well to refinery, they used the hollow trunk of the bamboo.

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