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| author | www-data <www-data@mail.pglaf.org> | 2026-01-26 09:19:27 -0800 |
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| committer | www-data <www-data@mail.pglaf.org> | 2026-01-26 09:19:27 -0800 |
| commit | 0092d5c3f238429687d5cd1eb8096c9b96b7eb3d (patch) | |
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diff --git a/77783-h/77783-h.htm b/77783-h/77783-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7f7b632 --- /dev/null +++ b/77783-h/77783-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,8155 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html> +<html lang="en"> +<head> + <meta charset="UTF-8"> + <title> + The Gateway to China | Project Gutenberg + </title> + <link rel="icon" href="images/cover.jpg" type="image/x-cover"> + <style> + +body { + margin-left: 17%; + margin-right: 17%; +} + + h1,h2 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; +} + +h1 {font-weight: normal; + font-size: 160%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + word-spacing: 0.3em; + } + +h2 {font-weight: normal; + font-size: 130%; + margin-top: 2em; + word-spacing: 0.3em; + } + +p { + margin-top: .51em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .49em; +} + +.p2 {margin-top: 2em;} +.p4 {margin-top: 4em;} + +hr { + width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: 33.5%; + margin-right: 33.5%; + clear: both; +} + +hr.full {width: 95%; margin-left: 2.5%; margin-right: 2.5%;} + +div.chapter {page-break-before: always;} +h2.nobreak {page-break-before: avoid;} + +table { + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; +} + +.tdl {text-align: left;} +.tdr {text-align: right;} +.tdrb {text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;} +.tdrt {text-align: right; vertical-align: top;} + +.pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: small; + text-align: right; + font-style: normal; + font-weight: normal; + font-variant: normal; + text-indent: 0; +} /* page numbers */ + +.caption {font-size: 80%; + text-align: center;} + +.xxlarge {font-size: 220%;} +.up {font-size: 180%;} +.xlarge {font-size: 170%;} +.large {font-size: 150%;} +.larger {font-size: 120%;} +.less {font-size: 90%;} +.more {font-size: 80%;} + +.c {text-align: center;} + +.sp {word-spacing: 0.3em;} + +.lsp {letter-spacing: 0.2em;} + +.pad {padding-left: 3em; + padding-right: 3em;} + +.padl {padding-left: 9em;} + +.pad2 {padding-left: 2em;} + +.ph2 {text-align: center; text-indent: 0em; + font-size: 130%; + margin-top: 1em; + word-spacing: 0.3em;} + +.dropcap {float: left; width: auto; padding-right: 1px; font-size: 300%; line-height: 80%;} + +.dropcap1 {float: left; width: auto; padding-right: 5px; font-size: 300%; line-height: 80%;} + +.r {text-align: right; + margin-right: 2em;} + +.l {text-align: left; + margin-left: 2em;} + +.sans {font-family: sans-serif;} + +.smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + +/* Images */ + +img { + max-width: 100%; + height: auto; +} +img.w100 {width: 100%;} + + +.figcenter { + margin: auto; + text-align: center; + page-break-inside: avoid; + max-width: 100%; +} + +.figcenter1 { + padding-top: 3em; + margin: auto; + text-align: center; + page-break-inside: avoid; + max-width: 100%; +} + +/* Footnotes */ + +.footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + +.footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 77%; text-align: right;} + +.fnanchor { + vertical-align: super; + font-size: .8em; + text-decoration: + none; +} + +/* Poetry */ +.poetry-container {display: flex; justify-content: center;} +.poetry-container {text-align: center;} +.poetry {text-align: left; margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 5%; font-size:90%;} +.poetry .stanza {margin: 1em auto;} +.poetry .verse {text-indent: -3em; padding-left: 3em;} + +/* Transcriber's notes */ +.transnote {background-color: #E6E6FA; + color: black; + font-size:small; + padding:0.5em; + margin-bottom:5em; + margin-top:3em; + font-family:sans-serif, serif; + border: .3em double gray; + padding: 1em; +} +.poetry .indent0 {text-indent: -3em;} + + </style> +</head> +<body> +<div style='text-align:center'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 77783 ***</div> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/cover.jpg" alt="cover"> +</div> + + + +<h1>THE GATEWAY TO CHINA</h1> + +<div class="figcenter" id="f1"> +<img src="images/fig1.jpg" alt="press"> +<p class="caption">MR. BAO ON LEFT, ONE OF THE THREE FOUNDERS<br> +OF THE COMMERCIAL PRESS, WITH OTHER<br> +MEMBERS OF THE STAFF</p> +<p class="caption">(See chapter “<i>A Wizard Publishing House</i>”)</p> +</div> + +<hr class="full x-ebookmaker-drop"> + + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p class="c sp"> +<span class="xlarge">THE</span></p> + +<p class="c sp"> +<span class="xxlarge lsp">GATEWAY TO CHINA</span></p> +<br> + +<p class="c sp large"> +PICTURES OF SHANGHAI</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<p class="c less"> +BY</p> +<br> + +<p class="c sp"> +<span class="up">MARY NINDE GAMEWELL</span><br> +<span class="less">Author of “We Two Alone in Europe”</span></p> +<br> +<p class="c"> +<i>ILLUSTRATED</i></p> + +<div class="figcenter1"> +<img src="images/fig2.jpg" alt="decoration"> +</div> + +<p class="c sp p2"> +<span class="smcap">New York</span> <span class="smcap pad">Chicago</span> <span class="smcap">Toronto</span></p> + +<p class="c sp large"> +Fleming H. Revell Company</p> + +<p class="c sp"> +<span class="smcap">London <span class="pad">and</span> Edinburgh</span><br> +</p> +</div> +<hr class="full x-ebookmaker-drop"> + + +<div class="chapter"> +<p class="c sp"> +Copyright, 1916, by<br> +FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY</p> + +<p class="sp p2 padl"> +New York: 158 Fifth Avenue<br> +Chicago: 17 N. Wabash Ave.<br> +Toronto: 25 Richmond St., W.<br> +London: 21 Paternoster Square<br> +Edinburgh: 100 Princes Street +</p> +</div> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p class="c sp p4"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</span> +TO MY HUSBAND</p> +</div> + + +<hr class="full x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p class="ph2">PREFACE</p> +</div> + + +<p><span class="dropcap">S</span>HANGHAI is a little world, where all China in +miniature may be studied at close range. Thither +drift Chinese from every province in the country, who +for the most part in the new environment follow their +age-long customs and cherish their inherited traditions. +But the city is also remarkable for its rapid and constant +changes. A member of a local book-firm declared +not long since, “We have never tried to publish a guide +to Shanghai because in six months it would be out of +date.” To an Occidental the chief fascination of this +busy metropolis lies in the curious commingling of +things old and new, practices ancient and modern, +which meet one at every turn. More strikingly than +any other city in the Far East, Shanghai represents +the Orient in transition. To catch and portray some +of these shifting scenes, the following “Pictures” +have been drawn, with the hope that they may stimulate +interest in China and awaken a new love and admiration +for the Chinese people. It need hardly be +explained that no attempt has been made at a complete +study of the subjects described. This is particularly +true of the last chapter, where several phases of +missionary activity have been touched upon by way of +illustration, while societies and organizations doing an +equally valuable work have not been mentioned. The +history of the Christian Literature Society, for example,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</span> +reads like a romance and it is a well-established +fact that its books had much to do in shaping the radical +policy of the late Emperor Kuang Hsü and the +liberals of that period, which eventuated in the dawn +of progress and a New China. To all friends, Chinese +and foreign, whose suggestions and criticisms have +helped make possible this little book, warmest thanks +are extended.</p> + +<p class="r large"> +M. N. G.</p> + +<p class="l"> +<span class="smcap">Methodist Episcopal Mission,<br> +<span class="pad2">Shanghai, China.</span></span> +</p> +<hr class="full x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</span></p> + +<p class="ph2">CONTENTS</p> +</div> + + +<table class="larger"> + +<tr> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#c1">I.</a></td> + <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Evolution of a City</span></td> + <td class="tdr">13</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#c2">II.</a></td> + <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Civic Features</span></td> + <td class="tdr">20</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#c3">III.</a></td> + <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Street Rambles</span></td> + <td class="tdr">42</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#c4">IV.</a></td> + <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Lure of the Shops</span></td> + <td class="tdr">57</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#c5">V.</a></td> + <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Housekeeping Problems</span></td> + <td class="tdr">73</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#c6">VI.</a></td> + <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Something About Vehicles</span></td> + <td class="tdr">91</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#c7">VII.</a></td> + <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">A Peep into the Schoolroom</span></td> + <td class="tdr">106</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#c8">VIII.</a></td> + <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">A Wizard Publishing House</span></td> + <td class="tdr">127</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#c9">IX.</a></td> + <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Chinese City</span></td> + <td class="tdr">140</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#c10">X.</a></td> + <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Customs Old and New</span></td> + <td class="tdr">155</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#c11">XI.</a></td> + <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">A Typical Shanghai Wedding</span></td> + <td class="tdr">172</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#c12">XII.</a></td> + <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Foreign Philanthropies</span></td> + <td class="tdr">185</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#c13">XIII.</a></td> + <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Chinese Successes in Social Service</span></td> + <td class="tdr">199</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdrt"><a href="#c14">XIV.</a></td> + <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Romance and Pathos of the<br> +Mills</span></td> + <td class="tdrb">217</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdrt"><a href="#c15">XV.</a></td> + <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">A Page from the Story of Protestant<br> +Missions</span></td> + <td class="tdrb">234</td></tr> + +</table> + +<hr class="full x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</span></p> + +<p class="ph2">ILLUSTRATIONS</p> +</div> + +<table> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl">Mr. Bao on Left, One of the Three Founders<br> +of the Commercial Press, with Other Members<br> +of the Staff</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#f1"><i>Title</i></a></td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl">Chinese Policemen Drawn up for Inspection</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#f3">20</a></td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl">Some Shops on Nanking Road</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#f5">58</a></td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl">High, Black Rickshas Outside the Foreign Settlement </td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#f7">92</a></td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl">Advertising Singer Sewing Machine Products</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#f8">106</a></td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl">Miss Zee’s New School Building. Kindergarten<br> +in the Rear</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#f9">120</a></td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl">Chinese Composing Room</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#f10">128</a></td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl">The Original Willow Pattern Tea House</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#f11">140</a></td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl">A Modern Chevalier and His Happy Family</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#f12">156</a></td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl">The Coffin in a Funeral Procession</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#f13">160</a></td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl">School Girls in Gymnasium Drill</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#f14">168</a></td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl">Rescued Child Just Brought to the Children’s<br> +Refuge—Old Men at the Home of the Little<br> +Sisters of the Poor</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#f15">186</a></td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl">Rescued Kidnapped Children as They Were<br> +Photographed for Advertisement in the<br> +Chinese Daily Newspapers</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#f16">200</a></td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl">On the Way to the Mill</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#f17">218</a></td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl">Chinese Boy Scouts</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#f18">234</a></td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl">Corner Stone of Boys’ Building, Y. M. C. A.</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#f19">244</a></td></tr> + +</table> + +<hr class="full x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="c1">I</h2> +</div> + +<p class="ph2">EVOLUTION OF A CITY</p> + + +<p><span class="dropcap">F</span>ROM time immemorial the Yangtsekiang has +deposited at its mouth quantities of silt borne +downward from the far West on its mighty +yellow tide. Little by little, water gave place to mud +flats, and mud flats to green fields. On this alluvium +a handful of fisher-folk settled a thousand or so years +ago, and from their straggling village gradually evolved +the Shanghai of today. Shanghai means “Mart on +the Sea,” but the city is now sixty miles inland. The +Whangpoo River, a branch of the Yangtse, that flows +past it, has during the past fifty years narrowed one-third, +and only by constant dredging is the channel +kept open.</p> + +<p>For many years the obscure fishing-station gave no +promise of its future greatness; but all things come +to them that wait, and Shanghai’s prosperity began +when an official in charge of shipping and customs +was stationed there in 1075. Five hundred years later, +the place had blossomed out into a kind of Oriental +Athens, celebrated for its musicians, poets, prose +writers, and statesmen. It gave birth, also, to women +of repute, praised far and wide as models of virtue +and filial piety. The city, like human beings, had its +vicissitudes. Again and again, it was infested by<span class="pagenum" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</span> +Chinese and Japanese pirates, swept by typhoons, inundated +by torrential rains. Although in the latitude +of Savannah, Georgia, one piercingly cold winter it was +almost buried under snow, the river covered with ice, +and men and animals frozen to death.</p> + +<p>At the beginning of the nineteenth century Shanghai’s +population was estimated at over half a million, +and her star was in the ascendant. A forest of masts +from a thousand quaint junks, each gaily painted to +represent a fish, with staring eyes—for how, say +Chinese mariners, can a ship see where to go without +eyes?—thronged the anchorage. Shanghai was the +busy seaport for the central provinces reached by the +Yangtse and for points up and down the coast. Long +before ever a foreigner settled within her borders her +commercial possibilities had been largely realized and +her position as “Queen of the Sea” assured.</p> + +<p>In 1842 occurred the great epoch in her history, +when with four other cities she was forced by Great +Britain to throw open her gates as a treaty port. The +first Occidentals to reside within the city were the +British Consul and his suite. The most pressing business +that confronted the resident British was to secure +land for a permanent foreign settlement. They soon +discovered that it was one thing to select the site but +quite another to get it. The territory chosen lay to +the north and west of the Chinese City and for the +most part consisted of cultivated fields, dotted here and +yonder with a village, and always and everywhere +graves, rising in pyramidal grass-grown mounds. As +usual, the chief difficulty was over the graves, which<span class="pagenum" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</span> +the purchasers agreed should remain undisturbed. +When finally the British were in complete possession +of the land, they decided the struggle had been even +more severe and nerve-racking than the capture of the +City. The French followed close on the heels of the +British, demanding from the Chinese a concession of +their own, something that the Americans a little later, +with less friction and noise, simply quietly appropriated.</p> + +<p>In 1848, five years after the opening of the Settlement, +it is recorded that the foreign population numbered +over one hundred, including a few women. +How imagination takes wings to itself and pictures +the conditions under which the community lived at that +time! There were no hill resorts to flee to for a +refreshing breeze in summer, no electric fans to temper +the heat, no ice-cooled drinks, no screens to +shut out the flies and mosquitoes. A stroll on the +street was robbed of its pleasure by lack of sanitation, +and a ramble even in the near suburbs almost unendurable +because of the excrement used on the fields as +a fertilizer. Cholera, plague, and other Oriental +diseases waxed rampant, and in the first foreign cemetery +many a tiny mound watered with tears wrung from +aching hearts, told an eloquent story of young lives +sacrificed to make possible the Shanghai of to-day.</p> + +<p>An outstanding event in the history of Shanghai was +the investment of the city in the early 60’s by the +T’aiping rebels, those fanatical hordes that for fourteen +years kept the country in a ferment, and well-nigh +overthrew the Manchu dynasty. As the excited<span class="pagenum" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</span> +rebels advanced from the west the populace around +fled before them to Shanghai. In the original Land +Regulations drawn up by the foreigners Chinese were +forbidden to reside in the Settlement. The panic-stricken +refugees, however, could not be restrained. +They camped first on the outskirts, but soon afterward +pushed in and overran the Settlement without let or +hindrance. Shacks were built to house them. They +went up by the hundreds, like mushrooms, in a night, +and real estate speculators reaped a rich harvest, for +often the refugees were people of wealth and paid handsome +rentals. Many of these same speculators, who, +carried away by their good fortune, continued to build +at a mad rate, suffered heavy losses, and some even +bankruptcy, when at the close of the Rebellion the +crowds began emptying out as fast as they had poured +in. One reason for the wholesale exodus of the Chinese +was their dislike of the sanitary regulations at that time +in force in the Settlement, and they were in great fear +lest the foreigners might gain sufficient control over the +Chinese officials to put the same hated rules into operation +in the interior cities. Though so many refugees +returned to their homes just as soon as it was +safe to do so, large numbers remained, enjoying the +protection offered them in the Settlement. Efforts were +made from time to time to eject them, but without +avail, while others gradually drifted into this desirable +haven. Thus began what Shanghai has ever since continued +to be, an asylum for the lawless from all parts +of China. The class of respectable unfortunates is +also numerous. A Chinese “Who’s Who” for Shanghai,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</span> +if accurately compiled, would astonish the +reader with its list of half-forgotten, erstwhile famous +personages, deposed officials, bankrupt aristocrats, antiquated +scholars, men who figured prominently in the +affairs of the world, but, having lost “face,” favor, and +fortune, find the cosmopolitan metropolis a safe retreat +in which to end their days.</p> + +<p>“First things” always possess a peculiar interest, +and of these Shanghai can lay claim to her full share. +The first railroad ever laid in China ran between Shanghai +and the forts at Woosung, twelve miles distant, +where the Whangpoo River joins the Yangtse. The +two men sent out to survey the line had a hard time +of it and one of them was nearly killed by the infuriated +people, who declared he should not desecrate +the graves of their ancestors that lay in the path of +the proposed road. This line was completed in 1876, +but it was destined to a short existence. The stealing +of window-glass and the blue silk window curtains by +Chinese passengers, unable to comprehend their utility +except as a means to fill their pockets with coveted cash, +was a small matter. The road roused the deep-seated +resentment of all classes, and from the first was doomed. +The grand finalé came when a group of Shanghai officials +perfunctorily inspected the entire line from their +sedan-chairs, scorning to stoop to the indignity of riding +on the train, and gravely pronounced it a menace. +Soon after this the rails were tom up and it was long +before others were laid in their places. But the world +moved even under the reign of the Manchus, and before +their sun had set the shriek of the locomotive was heard<span class="pagenum" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</span> +many times every day between Shanghai and Woosung, +while in the “most pro-foreign city in the world” +sedan-chairs are almost as great a novelty as trains were +formerly.</p> + +<p>It seems strange that it should have been during the +stressful period of the T’aiping Rebellion that one of +the greatest boons China ever fell heir to was conferred +on the distracted nation. That was the inauguration +in Shanghai of the Imperial Maritime Customs, called +by one writer “the most telling Western leaven ever +introduced into China.” The story of the Customs +service under the Chinese is one long, tiresome record +of failure, graft, and loss, and it was not till 1854, +when the management was assumed by foreigners, +whose probity became at once the wonder and delight +of the natives, that a change was effected. Guided +through half a century by the master hand of Sir Robert +Hart, to whom must also be given much of the credit +of the National Chinese Postal System established during +his incumbency, the work has gone on growing +steadily and yielding an increasing revenue. It is +eminently fitting that a statue of Sir Robert in characteristic +pose, should recently have been unveiled in +the Bund Park close by the Custom House.</p> + +<p>Shanghai has not yet reached the zenith of her prosperity. +The Customs receipts last year were larger +than ever before. Twenty and more vessels bound for +as many different ports often leave her docks in a single +day. Never was there as much building in progress, +especially of Chinese houses. The Western traveller +who looks out upon the wide Bund, flanked by handsome<span class="pagenum" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</span> +foreign buildings, with automobiles and carriages +speeding to and fro, almost wonders whether he is not +arriving at a European capital instead of a city in +China. The native population has grown to over a +million. Of the twenty-one thousand resident foreigners, +including Japanese and East Indians, about +five thousand are British and fifteen hundred Americans. +The city is a political theatre where plots are +hatched and reforms initiated. It is the national +headquarters of missionary work, the chief seat of +commerce, the home of progress, in short the nerve-centre +of China whose influence reaches out to the remotest +corners of the land. Shanghai faces problems +and dangers peculiar to the Orient, but her future is +bright with the promise of boundless development.</p> +<hr class="full x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="c2">II</h2> +</div> + +<p class="ph2">CIVIC FEATURES</p> + + +<p><span class="dropcap">“T</span>HE quaintest little republic in the world” +is what Shanghai is often called. Certainly +there is no city like it in China. Within +its present limits are peoples from many countries, +eighteen having consular representation, and all living, +in the main, amicably together under a polyglot governing +body whose members are elected by popular vote. +The working out of the present system of autonomy +was a difficult task. The city fathers long ago fought +their way through more than one bitter controversy, for +there were many minds as well as many nationalities. +The Land and Municipal Regulations now in use are +practically the same as those adopted back in 1869. +Ten years after Shanghai became a treaty port the +French withdrew from the union and set up a government +of their own. The others formed themselves into +the “International Settlement,” latterly known as the +“Model Settlement.” Truth compels the admission, +however, that it is not in all respects as worthy a +“model” as its wellwishers would like to see it. Still +it has admirable features, and as self-respecting a metropolis +as Hongkong was urged by one of her citizens +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</span>in a recent appeal to wake up and emulate the example +of stirring, progressive Shanghai.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" id="f3"> +<img src="images/fig3.jpg" alt="police"> +<p class="caption">CHINESE POLICEMEN DRAWN UP FOR INSPECTION</p> +</div> + +<p>The centre around which everything political revolves +is the Municipal Council. The consuls of the International +Settlement each spring call a meeting of the +rate-payers or electors. Any foreigner who owns or +rents property of a fixed value possesses the right of +franchise. The rate-payers elect the members of the +Municipal Council, and that done they retire from the +public gaze till the following year, unless convened for +special business. The Council holds weekly sessions. +Its nine members are unsalaried business men. Chinese +are not eligible to membership, but Japanese are, +though as a matter of fact there never had been a Japanese +member, greatly to this people’s displeasure, until +a year ago, when one succeeded in getting elected. Judicial +authority is vested in the consuls. Each consul +arbitrates for his own nationals except in the cases of +the three countries having fully organized law courts +with resident judges. These are England, America, +and Germany. The English court was established years +ago; the American held its first session in 1907. The +Chinese are extremely sore on the subject of extraterritoriality. +That it does not exist in Japan only adds +to their grief and mortification. Since the New Law +Codes have been framed the nation is more insistent +than ever that this thorn in its flesh shall be removed +and foreign courts abolished. But the new laws are +not widely operative, and until the old methods of +bribery and torture are forever relegated to the past +the Treaty Powers will continue to claim exclusive<span class="pagenum" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</span> +rights over their subjects, and the subjects to demand +protection.</p> + +<p>A unique institution peculiar to Shanghai, indeed, +as some one has called it, “the most unique institution +ever dedicated to justice,” is the Mixed Court. In +the early days, when Chinese were made prisoners in +the International Settlement, they were turned over to +the Chinese City officials for trial and punishment, but +justice was rare, and cruel or unduly lenient treatment +the rule. To protect the Chinese, and insure fair dealing +in those cases in which foreigners were involved, +as well as to try the cases of foreigners having no consular +representation, the Mixed Court was established +in 1865. It has not proved a wholly satisfactory solution +of the difficulty, for the law in force is the Chinese +law, and the foreign assessor, an Englishman, American, +or German, according to the day of the week, who +occupies a seat on the judicial bench beside the Chinese +judge, ranks as little more than a figurehead, acting +merely in an advisory capacity. Practically though, +it must be said, and this is particularly true since 1911, +he is coming to be the real power behind the throne, +and to exercise pretty much of a controlling influence. +At the time of the revolution the management of the +Mixed Court passed from the hands of the Chinese +to the control of the Municipal Council. The change +was effected quietly, so that while the Chinese were well +aware of what was going on they could appear not to +know, and thus save their “face.” If only “face” +can be preserved facts are of small moment.</p> + +<p>A morning spent in visiting the Mixed Court<span class="pagenum" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</span> +is to most people an experience of absorbing interest, +as it throws innumerable side-lights on +Chinese life and character. At half-past nine +each morning, the hour of opening court, the +foreign assessor and the Chinese judge walk in +and take their seats, each flanked by his interpreters and +clerks of solemn mein. The witnesses, Chinese and +foreign, assemble on opposite sides of the room, the +prisoners, most of them poor forlorn specimens of humanity, +file into the docket closely guarded by Sikh +and Chinese policemen, with an English sergeant-at-arms +on duty near by, while in the hall, around the +door and pressing as far inside as they dare, gathers +the curious, motley crowd of onlookers, many of them +relatives and friends of the prisoners, but stolidly immobile +during all the proceedings. Is there another +place in the world where such a variety of cases is +heard as at the Shanghai Mixed Court, cases civil and +criminal, tragic, pathetic and comic? Some are intricate +enough to tax the wisdom of a Solomon, and +some are simple as a child’s play. An old couple appeared +one morning to petition for a divorce. Their +faces wore such a kindly expression, they seemed so +at peace with mankind in general and each other in +particular, that the judge was puzzled. “Have you +quarreled?” he asked. “Oh, no.” “Don’t you live +happily together?” “We are most happy and that is +why we are here,” hastily explained the old woman. +Then the whole story was poured out. An evil omen +had convinced them that in the future they would +quarrel frightfully, separate, and die apart of broken<span class="pagenum" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</span> +hearts, so in order to avert such a calamity they had +determined to take time by the forelock and part company +while they were still good friends. A few words +of advice and assurance set matters all right, and it +was not long before the aged lovers, for that is what +they really were, passed smilingly out of the courtroom, +hand in hand, to return to their humble home. +No executions take place in the Settlement. Prisoners +sentenced to capital punishment are handed over to +the Chinese authorities, and here again “face” is considered, +for while the death sentence has actually been +passed the court in the Chinese City is allowed to assume +that it has not, and proceed as if the prisoner was +condemned on its own initiative.</p> + +<p>The building occupied by the Mixed Court +is bounded on the right by the Woman’s Prison +and on the left by the Debtor’s Prison. Under +the Chinese regime discipline was practically nil +and affairs were left largely to run themselves. Inmates +of the Debtor’s Prison might smoke opium and gamble +to their heart’s content, provided they could get the +money, while dancing-girls furnished them entertainment. +In the woman’s prison conditions were even +worse. The top floor was set apart as a rendezvous for +the young children of the prisoners, wretched, neglected +little ones, exposed to every kind of evil influence. +Their mothers in the cells below did pretty much as +they liked. One of their tricks was to thrust their +hands between the iron rods at the windows, and tear +away by main force the corrugated iron screen so that +they could chatter noisily with the people in the street<span class="pagenum" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</span> +below, and by letting down a string draw up food or +anything else their friends were minded to tie on the +end. The wardresses (the only man about the place +is the gatekeeper) were deceitful, faithless, open to +bribes, in fact little better than the women behind the +bars.</p> + +<p>But marked changes have taken place during the +past few years. As soon as the foreign municipality +assumed control, a prerogative by the way likely any +time to revert to the Chinese, who are considerably +nettled over their loss of authority, the young children +were removed from their pernicious environment and +placed in a Home under the care of a Christian woman. +The Municipal Council supports this Home. The +whole staff of wardresses was dismissed and their places +filled by others who were strictly watched till their +faithfulness was proved. The filthy building underwent +a thorough cleaning, repainting, and calcimining. +Baths, laundries, and doctors’ examining rooms were +added to the plant and the prisoners required to exercise +an hour daily in the sunny, cement-paved court, +which has resulted in a marked improvement in the +health record. The chief lack now is industrial work +for the women, who have absolutely no employment except +scrubbing the corridors and washing their own +clothes. The sole break in the dull monotony of their +lives comes when the gentle, sweet-faced missionary +from the Door of Hope visits the prison with her Chinese +Bible woman, going from cell to cell to sing, read, +and pray. Four women are confined in a cell, which is +fairly well lighted and sufficiently large. The Chinese<span class="pagenum" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</span> +beds are entirely devoid of bedding even in the coldest +weather, the padded garments of the prisoners being +expected to suffice. Nursing babies up to four or five +months old are allowed to stay with their mothers. +Most of the women are convicted for kidnapping, and +the sentences do not extend at the longest beyond +eight or ten years.</p> + +<p>The Debtor’s Prison is officially known as the +“House of Detention.” Its prisoners are not chained, +may walk about freely, smoke, play games provided they +are not games of chance, and at certain hours each day +are allowed to see their friends in a small room at one +side. On a winter’s day, when the windows and door +of this room are shut, the contracted space packed with +people, and the air heavy enough with tobacco smoke +to cut with a knife, it is almost as much as a foreigner’s +life is worth to take even a hasty peep inside. The +prisoners provide their own bedding and food, with +the exception of rice, and on the whole appear to enjoy +themselves and to be in no hurry for their release, +though some have hidden away quite enough money to +pay their debt if they cared to, and others have relatives +or friends who could easily pay it for them. Recently +two men were set at liberty by the court on the +presumption that they were really unable to meet their +obligation, one after seven years’ imprisonment and the +other five. The Municipal jail for men is several miles +away, in a more open part of the city. Its massive, +gray brick walls shut in between eleven and twelve +hundred prisoners, all of them Chinese, for foreign +prisoners are lodged temporarily in small prisons connected<span class="pagenum" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</span> +with their consulates, or, when the consulate has +no prison, in the British jail. The discipline and upkeep +of the jail are about perfect. The superintendent +is a Christian who arranges for regular Sunday services +for the prisoners, the Young Men’s Christian Association +having general charge.</p> + +<p>Industrial work of various kinds, including tailoring, +mat weaving, and carpentering, is carried forward +on a large scale, and a considerable amount of the city’s +road-paving and repairing is done by the prisoners. +Short terms in jail are rather welcomed than otherwise +by many of the men, for they mean to them shelter, +good food, warm blankets, and a chance to learn a +trade under the most favourable conditions. Indeed, +it has come to pass that many habitual offenders are +in the habit of flocking to Shanghai as soon as the cold +weather sets in with the express purpose of putting +up at the jail for the winter. A specific instance occurred +a while ago when a Chinese walked into one +of the police stations and cheerfully announced that +he wanted to be arrested. “My belong velly bad man,” +he said, “velly bad man.” Not being able to give +any special reason why he should be arrested at that +particular time, he was told to go about his business. +But he insisted. He was “velly bad,” and wanted to +be arrested, and it was with a look of pained surprise +that he made his way out of the station. As he walked +down the street, thinking with dismay of the cold +weather ahead, a happy inspiration struck him. He +went in search of a policeman, and having found one, +proceeded to beat him. He did his work thoroughly,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</span> +was quickly arrested by another policeman, and taken +to the nearest police station, beaming with satisfaction. +The problem of his winter’s lodging had been solved. +A moot question for some time past has been the +advisability of reviving the practice of flogging with +the bamboo. Many officials, Chinese as well as foreign, +contend that this punishment as formerly administered +by the Mixed Court, was thoroughly humane, and that +as it has real terror for the Chinese nothing begins +to be so effective in preventing crime, which has of late +been greatly on the increase.</p> + +<p>Formerly there was no Reformatory, and young boys +convicted of no worse crime than petty stealing were +often confined in the same cell with hardened criminals. +It was the present superintendent who agitated the need +of a separate building for the boys under sixteen, +and finally a great three-story warehouse was purchased +and fitted up for this purpose by the Municipal Council. +Some of the lads are as young as nine. “The +longer I live in China and the more I see of its poverty-stricken +multitudes the less I blame any one for stealing,” +exclaimed a Y.M.C.A. visitor at the Reformatory. +The boys do industrial work in the morning and +in the afternoon study, drill, and play. The fire drill is +fine, but the military drill is the boys’ delight. Those +best trained take turns in acting as drill-master. They +give the orders in English and the company responds +with a vim. Insubordination is punished by obliging +the offender to scrub the wooden floors with sand, sometimes +for a whole day. They are kept beautifully +white. “You should see the kitchen!” said a frequent<span class="pagenum" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</span> +caller to a new comer. “It is so clean you could +eat off the floor!” Several Christian Chinese business +men in Shanghai have an understanding with the superintendent +that they will receive a limited number of +boys sent out from the reformatory, give them employment +and a chance to begin life anew.</p> + +<p>One of the first things that impressed itself on the +early foreign settlers in Shanghai was the need of an +adequate police force. In the beginning it was limited +to a handful of Chinese watchmen under the joint +jurisdiction of the Chinese and foreigners. An amusing +story of those days is that the police were +in the habit of lining up for inspection in their own +nondescript garments, but wearing foreign military +caps and carrying in place of rifles closed Chinese +umbrellas of oiled paper! Now the city is well guarded +by 230 English policemen, 450 Sikh Indians, and over a +thousand Chinese. The picturesque red turbans of the +Sikhs are conspicuous everywhere. These men are +harsh but efficient preservers of the peace. The Chinese +are afraid of them. There is one especially tall Sikh +of whom his foreign superior says, “He is the only +man that I am absolutely certain will carry out my +orders in my absence as if I were present.” One of +his duties is to punish Chinese police delinquents by +putting them through a severe physical drill half an +hour long in summer and an hour in winter. “It looks +easy enough,” a foreign lady remarked, as she watched +the men, “Why, I exercise harder than that when I +play tennis.” “Oh no, you don’t bring into action +every muscle in this way,” smiled the head officer.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</span> +“These men are glad enough to lie down and rest after +their stunt is finished. I had one man that fainted, +but he was abnormal.” What makes this punishment +especially objectionable to the Chinese is that it is administered +by a Sikh. If an English officer were +over them it would not hurt half so much. The work +of a policeman attracts the Chinese and there is never +any lack of recruits. The course of training lasts three +months. Scientific wrestling appeals to the novice +strongly and he soon acquires real skill. The officers +have a unique method of putting a stop to fighting +among the men. The combatants are given boxing +gloves, forbidden to bite or kick, two favorite forms +of attack with them, and then made to fight until they +are thoroughly tired out. One such experience usually +works a cure for all time.</p> + +<p>Chinese barracks are clean and severely plain. +“We carry on a constant warfare against bedbugs,” +says the foreign sergeant. “I do not +allow a hook or nail in the walls, except the bracket +back of each bed for holding the rifle, and that I +wouldn’t permit up again, for vermin hide in the corners.” +Every Saturday the planks on which the men +sleep are scrubbed with sand and water. The sand soon +works into the pores of the wood where bugs are apt +to lodge, so it acts both as a cleanser and an insect +preventive. When a man goes home to spend a day, +as he is sometimes allowed to do, the barracks on his +return must undergo a special cleaning, for he is sure +to bring back a fresh relay of bugs. The past year +an innovation has been introduced in furnishing the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</span> +Chinese police with rifles, a convincing proof of their +general faithfulness and the trust reposed in them. They +are not permitted to take the rifles to their homes, but +when going off duty leave them at the police stations.</p> + +<p>The Sikh recruiting station is on the same grounds +with the Chinese but in a separate yard. The +chief embarrassment in connection with the Sikhs is +their food. They are East Indians and can not eat +what the Chinese do. Caste rules are inflexible and +time must be given them to prepare food in their own +way no matter how greatly the staff is inconvenienced. +The Sikhs are stern disciplinarians, but in character no +more dependable than most of the Chinese, nor in some +cases as much so. A Sikh watchman patrolling an +outlying district rang one evening the doorbell of a +foreigner’s house. “It is raining,” he remarked +blandly. “Can I have a chair and sit on your veranda?” +It was observed afterward that he frequently +camped on the veranda when it was <i>not</i> raining. The +Sikhs are not required to learn Chinese, but they are +encouraged to do so by being promoted and given +higher salaries when they can speak it. Chinese is +demanded of European policemen. They of course constitute +the backbone of the staff. The Municipal Department +supports a hospital, one of the cleanest and +best in the city, for Chinese policemen; it is also used +for prisoners from the Municipal Jail. Women prisoners +when sick are sent to a woman’s mission hospital.</p> + +<p>In case of riot or other emergency Shanghai would +not need to rely wholly on the police force, for it has +a dependable Volunteer Corps, at present 1,300 strong.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</span> +As long ago as 1853 the Volunteer Corps was organized, +and ever since the T’aiping Rebellion, when the +members rendered such valiant service, there has +been occasion time and again to turn to them +for help. Their most recent laurels were won during +the Rebellion in the summer of 1913, when Shanghai +was the centre of the war zone. To watch the +Corps at drill or on parade, so many sturdy young +men among the older ones in the ranks, gives foreign +residents an exhilarating sense of security, and +warms their hearts with a glow of honest pride in their +defenders. Among the many nationalities represented +in the Volunteer Corps is a strong Chinese contingent, +and it causes a still further quickening of the pulse +to learn from the commanding officer that whenever the +Chinese Volunteers have been called into action their +efficiency and loyalty have been in the highest degree +commendable. During the past year a Volunteer Motor +Car Company was added to the force. It started +with eighteen private cars and men to run them, but +in case of need practically all the private as well as +public cars in the city would be placed at the disposal +of the Volunteers.</p> + +<p>The Shanghai Fire Department dates back to 1866. +The three chief officers are employees of the Municipal +Council, but all the members of the four companies are +volunteers. There are three fire stations and three +watch towers, besides a one-thousand-gallon fire float +moored at one of the jetties on the Bund. Three motor +vehicles are in use and the purpose is to abolish horses +as rapidly as possible. In a cosmopolitan city like<span class="pagenum" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</span> +Shanghai, where all sorts of buildings crowd upon one +another in the densely populated districts, fires are +constantly breaking out, but the Fire Brigade handles +them so well that destructive ones are rare.</p> + +<p>“Why is it your letters always come to me with a +two-cent United States stamp on them?” wrote a bright +American club woman to a friend in Shanghai. Her perplexity +is not surprising, since even certain government +departments in Washington have been known to send to +Shanghai franked envelopes bearing five-cent stamps. +The independence of the “Little Republic,” albeit on +Chinese soil, is emphasized by its having six foreign +postoffices—British, American, German, French, Russian, +and Japanese. Three countries—Great Britain, +America, and Germany—have legalized the domestic +rate of postage to and from Shanghai. But home letters +forwarded from Shanghai to interior points require +the usual foreign postage of five cents, and parcels +from abroad sent inland must be rewrapped, restamped, +and go through the Chinese postoffice.<a id="FNanchor_1" href="#Footnote_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></p> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_1" href="#FNanchor_1" class="label">[1]</a> As these pages go to press arrangements are being made for an +International Parcel Post.</p> + +</div> + +<p>It is a pity that China failed to improve her +flood-tide of opportunity in 1878, when she was +formally invited to join the International Postal +Union, in the hope that it would encourage her to +establish a national postoffice. But with a short-sighted +policy she declined to do so, and it was +not till September 1st, 1914, that this privilege was +finally embraced. Though for years a national postoffice +was urged upon the people and often seemed about<span class="pagenum" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</span> +to materialize through the efforts of progressive statesmen +like Li Hung Chang, yet it did not really make +its appearance till 1896. Up to that time mail was +distributed from local stations under local control, and +as means of rapid transit were very few, much of it was +delivered by couriers. There are still many courier +routes in the interior where railroads and steamers +do not penetrate, but the couriers, often on foot, sometimes +on mule or horseback, waste no time in getting +over the ground, not infrequently travelling between +eighty and ninety miles a day, and this in spite of +unspeakably bad roads, to say nothing of brigands, +floods, and a few other minor difficulties! Shanghai is +the largest distributing centre in China, and in the substantial +red brick Chinese postoffice, just across the +road from the British postoffice, an enormous business +is carried on. All heads of departments are foreigners. +Periodically the Chinese voice a protest, declaring that +as the Chinese staff has now received sufficient training, +it is prepared to fill unaided the most responsible positions. +But sagacious Chinese politicians are loth to release +the foreigners, realizing that a change at the present +time would inevitably entail a grave risk. It is +rather interesting that the newest and handsomest postoffice +building in Shanghai is the Japanese. There +are no foreign postmen except Japanese. Chinese postmen +in neat green livery cover their route on bicycles. +There are six deliveries a day in the business districts +and three and four in the residential. One family was +so disturbed by the postman bringing mail at ten o’clock +or later at night, and insistently ringing the door-bell<span class="pagenum" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</span> +until it was answered, that they requested him to defer +delivering the late mail until morning, but he continued +to call whenever he had letters, evidently impressed that +the postoffice rules were inflexible and must no more +be broken than the laws of the Medes and Persians.</p> + +<p>Probably the most interesting of any branch of the +foreign Municipal government is the Health Department. +Eighteen years ago when the doctor in charge +settled in Shanghai and started a campaign against +disease, he was not building on another man’s foundation, +for nothing like it had ever been attempted. A +member of the staff has aptly called the Municipal +laboratory “the brain of the department.” It is certainly +kept busy in a thousand ways. People from +all over China, for one thing, turn to it for the Pasteur +treatment. But its chief work centres about plague prevention. +Plague is the bane of the Orient, and plague, +it was discovered in 1908, is transmitted to human beings +through fleas that carry the poison from infected +rats. Then to prevent plague, rats must be exterminated, +no easy matter in a city like Shanghai. The campaign +began in this way. The city was divided into districts, +the districts into sub-districts and sub-districts into +blocks, and a map made of the whole. A raid on +rats followed. Every one caught, dead or alive, was +taken to the laboratory and an examination made. A +black-headed pin was stuck in the map over the spot +where each plague-infected rat was found. A red +headed pin on the map indicated a human death from +plague. In this way it was soon learned what parts +of the city were specially invaded by the pests. To<span class="pagenum" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</span> +kill the rats, however, amounted to little, for others soon +appeared to take their places. Something more radical +needed to be done. After the Municipal Council had +passed rules calling for the rat-proofing of houses, a +more difficult task confronted the officers of the Health +Department in getting the rules enforced. They were +needed badly enough for foreign houses, but were +drawn up especially for Chinese dwellings where often +four and five families are crowded like sardines into +one small building. At first the Chinese strenuously +opposed and ridiculed the rules but later came to regard +them more favorably. The people are terrorized +at the outbreak of plague, and when a few years ago +Shanghai was threatened with a bad epidemic, they +were ready for the time being to submit to anything +that promised to stamp it out and prevent another visitation. +The rules demand that there shall be no open +space underneath the ground floor, and by laying three +inches of tar chips on six inches of concrete, it is impossible +for rats to enter the house from below. The +health officers also urge upon householders, although not +included in the rules, that walls be made solid and the +upper story left without a ceiling, showing simply the +bare rafters. Many old houses as well as new ones are +treated in this way. Sometimes a whole block of old +houses is rat-proofed at one time. While the work +goes on the people turn out of their homes and camp in +the street in front of them, cooking their meals over +little charcoal fires, and squatting patiently about till +they can go back. But education is a slow process and +opposition still continues. The ideal worked toward<span class="pagenum" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</span> +is the one already reached in Manila and held up as +an example, “<i>No hollow spaces whatever accessible +to rats.</i>” With the most careful economy it costs the +Health Department two cents to catch each rat, yet +whenever notified by a foreign or Chinese tenant it is +prepared to send its employees with traps to rid the +premises. Stationary garbage receptacles of concrete, +with spring lids, that are fire and rat proof, have been +placed in large numbers all over the city. Several +times a day they are emptied through an opening below +and the contents carried off in municipal carts. The +receptacles are liked by the Chinese, who seldom now +throw their garbage on the ground.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/fig4.jpg" alt="plague"> +<p class="caption sans">DISTRIBUTION OF PLAGUE 1914</p> +</div> + +<p>The danger from contagious diseases is not so easily +controlled. There is no law requiring small-pox, cholera, +or even plague patients to go to the Chinese Isolation +Hospital. Moral suasion is the only influence that can +be brought to bear on them, and it is not always sufficiently +powerful. But a vigorous campaign in the interest +of the prevention of disease is continually in progress. +Every month, and every day of the month, printed +circulars are scattered broadcast. They are written in +both English and Chinese, and relate to sanitation, hygiene, +the danger of promiscuous spitting, of flies and +mosquitoes, the need of removing stagnant water and +rat-proofing houses. In the autumn and winter notices +are posted on electric light and telephone poles calling +the attention of passers-by to free vaccination for Chinese +at any one of the sixteen branch offices of the health +department. Health lectures are given weekly at the +health offices, and not only that but heed is paid to the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</span> +old proverb: “If the hill will not come to Mahomet, +Mahomet will go to the hill.” Although the lectures, +which are of a popular character, usually draw a large, +attentive crowd, trained Chinese employees lecture in +schools, tea-shops, and other places where the people +are wont to gather. They carry around a dinner bell +which they ring to attract an audience, and they soon +have it. When the lectures first began the people did +not understand their intent, and they aroused almost +fierce opposition. But the Chief of the Department, a +physician of great tact and urbanity, sent invitations +to some of the leading business men and officials to +meet him at a specified time and place when he addressed +them in person explaining the character of his +campaign. After that there was no further trouble. A +large force of coolies is employed to fight mosquitoes. +They work in pairs in districts assigned to them. Their +duty is to gather up old tins, bottles, and broken +crockery, warn residents against leaving about their +premises tubs, empty flower-pots, and other vessels capable +of holding rain-water, obliterating shallow pools +and slushy places by means of scratch drains or filling +them up with house ashes, and sprinkling kerosene oil +on stagnant water that can not be drawn off. The +coolies are inspired to faithfulness by frequent and unannounced +inspection of their work.</p> + +<p>Among the many business houses regularly inspected +by the Health Department are dairies, laundries, tea, +fruit, and meat shops, restaurants and bakeries. Licenses +prohibit in tea-shops the hawking of fresh food +stuffs on the premises; dairies, bakeries, and laundries<span class="pagenum" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</span> +must be calcimined twice a year, no one shall sleep or eat +in them, nor may they be attached to a dwelling-house. +In bakeries the spraying of fluid from the mouth on the +products of the bakery is prohibited, and in laundries +the same rule applies to the sprinkling of clothes. In +dairies workers are required to keep their clothes clean +and wash their hands before milking. Always and +everywhere spitting is forbidden and also the employment +of persons with communicable diseases. To suppose +that these rules are carried out to the letter, would +be altogether too much to expect of human nature. That +they act as a powerful deterrent is certainly true. The +foreign dairies are the best, but one Chinese dairy enjoys +the enviable reputation of never having been either +fined or cautioned. The Municipal Slaughter House +is kept strictly sanitary and cattle and carcasses are +examined daily. Good meat is stamped with the words +“Killed Municipal Slaughter House.” Inferior meat +but free from disease is marked “2nd Quality.” No +meat for foreign consumption is allowed to be brought +into the Settlement unless it bears the Municipal stamp.</p> + +<p>Tuberculosis is the Chinaman’s Nemesis, and too +often pursues him from the cradle to the grave. It is +also frightfully common among the poor Eurasians who +herd together under lamentable conditions. The only +remedy for this prevailing malady seems to be to educate, +educate, educate, and that is being done as thoroughly +and effectively as possible. The Society of +King’s Daughters recently did a fine thing. They +planned a Tuberculosis Exhibit, which was held for +a week or more in an empty down town store. Much<span class="pagenum" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</span> +of the exhibit was loaned and set up by the Young +Men’s Christian Association that is itself carrying on +a telling campaign against China’s “White Scourge.” +Maps, charts, pictures, devices of all kinds for arresting +the attention and teaching a lesson, were arranged +attractively, but two things in particular produced a +profound impression. One was a bell that every thirty-seven +seconds clanged ominously. Over it hung a placard +announcing in Chinese and English that every +time the bell tolled some poor victim in China died of +tuberculosis. The other design was more conspicuously +placed in one of the large show windows and +always attracted a crowd of absorbed, silent Chinese. +The sight that held them spell-bound was a perfect +model of a Chinese house, out of which stepped a +Chinaman, who, after walking a few steps, fell into +a Chinese coffin that instantly disappeared in the earth. +This happened every eight seconds and each drop of the +coffin represented a death from tuberculosis somewhere +in the world.</p> + +<p>Before 1898 there was practically no Health Department +and no health campaign. If progress at times +seems slow, one has only to look back to realize what +a marvellous change for the better has been wrought +in a decade and a half. Perhaps more to the Health +Department than to any other branch of the Municipal +Government Shanghai owes its right to be called +“The Model Settlement.” The group of Central +Municipal Buildings covering an entire square in the +heart of the city forms one of the finest plants of the +kind to be found in the Far East.</p> +<hr class="full x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="c3">III</h2> +</div> + +<p class="ph2">STREET RAMBLES</p> + + +<p><span class="dropcap1">“I</span> HAVE lived in China nearly twenty-five years, +yet I never go on the street without seeing +something new and interesting,” exclaimed a +vivacious little missionary doctor to a group of fresh arrivals. +Her remark was made about Peking, but the +outdoor life in Shanghai has its own unique charm.</p> + +<p>To begin with, in the International Settlement there +are no “streets” at all, so called; only roads. Some +of the byways, to be sure, too narrow and short to be +dignified as roads, go by the name of “lane,” and the +city boasts a “Broadway,” or, to be exact, “Broadway +Road.” It is unnecessary to explain that this lies in +the district originally ceded to the Americans. The +Shanghai Broadway makes no pretense of emulating in +appearance or importance its western prototype, though +quite a brisk trade is carried on in the modest shops +near its lower end.</p> + +<p>The first permanent foreign settlement was along the +Bund, beginning with the site occupied by the British +consular offices and residence. The splendid Bund, +bounded on one side by sightly bank and club, steamboat +and insurance buildings, and on the other by the +Whangpoo River, is the city’s pride and glory. It<span class="pagenum" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</span> +is hard to realize that this wide, white road, humming +with life and swept by costly automobiles, was once +nothing but a well-trodden tow-path bordering a marsh. +Away to the south, across what until recently was an +ill-smelling creek but is now being rapidly metamorphosed +into a handsome boulevard, begins the French +Bund, with its wharves and warehouses, and where it +ends the Chinese Bund starts.</p> + +<p>The characteristic feature of the Chinese Bund is its +boat population. For more than half a mile little boats +called sampans, protected by a low arched covering of +bamboo mats, line the shore and extend well out into the +river. Each tiny sampan swarms with life as if it +were an ant-hill. The occupants are permanent householders +and their habitations are anchored. Many of +them were originally famine refugees from the north. +Most of the men earn a living as wharf coolies. The +wives add a little to the income by gathering rags +to make into shoe soles and by patching and darning +old garments for coolies without families who pay a +few cash in return. Planks set on stakes serve as +footpaths to connect the boats with the shore, and little +toddlers run about on the narrowest of them at will, +yet rarely tumble into the water or soft mud below. +Births, marriages, and funerals lend variety to the life +of the boat people. Two or three empty coffins usually +stand about on the wharf ready for an emergency, +and are meanwhile useful as benches, especially for +the women when they sew.</p> + +<p>The International Bund on its water side is unobstructed +with buildings, except at the Customs jetty,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</span> +and is laid out in grass plots which gradually widen +near the Garden Bridge into the Public Gardens. This +charming little park in the heart of the city, with its +lawns, flowers, shade trees, and a band-stand where the +celebrated Municipal Band plays in summer, is a favorite +resting place for weary pedestrians and a rendezvous +for parents and nurses with young children. +Chinese are not admitted to the Gardens, except nurses +with foreign children, unless dressed in foreign clothes +or accompanied by a foreigner. This is to keep the +grounds from being overrun by the coolie class. The +Customs jetty has witnessed many a stirring scene. +Trim launches carry outgoing passengers twelve miles +down the river to the anchored ocean liners beyond the +“bar” and bring them up the river on arrival. Its +sheltering roof has caught the echo of sobs and laughter, +tremulous good-byes and joyous welcomes.</p> + +<p>The river at this point is half a mile wide and presents +an animated picture. Every variety of craft floats +on its waters, from the busy sampan to the light-draught +coasting vessel or man-of-war. Whether seen beneath +the radiance of the noonday sun, or under a starlit sky, +reflecting myriads of twinkling lights, it is a never-failing +delight to resident and visitor alike.</p> + +<p>The most picturesque, as well as the leading business +street in Shanghai is Nanking Road, or as the Chinese +call it, “The Great Horse Road.” “Great,” however +qualifies “Road” and not “Horse,” for while numerous +horses travel over it, most of them are the small +swift-footed Mongolian ponies, whose clattering little +hoofs are heard early and late. Indeed the name<span class="pagenum" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</span> +“Great Horse Road” strikes one as rather out of date +in these days of the ever-present automobile, of which +there are already more than eight hundred in Shanghai. +Nanking Road starts at the Bund with the Palace +Hotel, and following the windings of a former creek, +ends at the race course. For a short distance west of +the Bund it is given up mainly to foreign stores, the +largest and finest in the city. Then the street widens +and becomes an avenue of high grade Chinese shops, +many of them with the national flag afloat and all displaying +aloft the characteristic vertical signboard in +black and gold. The vista in either direction on a +bright day is quite dazzling, and especially at night +when the avenue from end to end is ablaze with electric +lights. Then crowds of Chinese going to and from +the theatres and tea-houses, or simply out for a stroll, +jostle each other on the sidewalks and pour over into +the road, where they narrowly escape being knocked +down by rapidly moving vehicles. Conspicuous everywhere +are the Chinese “Women of the Street,” or +rather the girls and children, for nearly all are pitifully +young. Bedecked and bejeweled, they stand sometimes +in the bright glare, but oftener within the shadow +of a closed doorway, or at the entrance to a lane, usually +in groups under the care of an older woman who acts +as “business agent.” A notable hour on Nanking +Road is between five and six on Saturday afternoon, +when it seems as if the whole city turns out to loaf +or saunter in quest of pleasure. A babel of shrill voices +rings in the ear, mingled with the shouts of ricsha +coolies and the tooting of motor cars. It is a gay,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</span> +panoramic scene, such as could hardly be duplicated +anywhere else in China.</p> + +<p>A Britisher in Shanghai once made the remark, +“There are two things an Englishman must have, a +king and a race-course.” The Shanghai race-course, +with the Public Recreation Grounds adjoining, covers +about sixty-six acres in a part of the city where property +is valued the highest. The land was bought up +years ago. So much open space in that locality could +scarcely be secured to-day at any price.</p> + +<p>Bubbling Well Road is a synonym for the patrician +quarter of Shanghai. It is a continuation of Nanking +Road and takes its name from the effervescent pool +enclosed by a low cement wall at its terminus. Near +by Bubbling Well is the foreign cemetery, a shady, +restful spot. Every thirtieth of May the Americans +gather within its gates for a national memorial service. +They represent all creeds and callings, merchant and +missionary, tourist and adventurer, aliens on a distant +shore, drawn together by a common love for a common +flag. The American corps of the Shanghai Volunteers +and the “Regulars” from the American cruisers +anchored in the river, march up from the Bund with +bugle and fife and salute in front of the flower-strewn +mounds. A few of these graves date back more than +sixty years.</p> + +<p>Some of the handsomest residences on Bubbling Well +Road are owned by wealthy Chinese. Pleasant afternoons +and evenings automobiles by the score flash up +and down this wide, smoothly-paved road and on to +the delightful suburbs beyond, many of them crowded<span class="pagenum" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</span> +to overflowing with merry-making Chinese, women as +well as men.</p> + +<p>In the French Concession, the avenue formerly called +“Paul Brunat,” after the first French Consul, but since +the outbreak of the war changed to Avenue Joffre, vies +with Bubbling Well Road in the elegance of its residences, +which some prefer because of their more varied +style of architecture. Being a newer thoroughfare, +this avenue lacks in a measure the abundant shade trees +and fine old gardens which are among the chief attractions +of Bubbling Well Road. It is frequently pointed +out to strangers as one of the few long roads in +Shanghai which is also a straight one, running most of +its entire length of between two and three miles with +scarcely a jog.</p> + +<p>The “tenderloin” district centres about Nanking +and Foochow Roads. The latter is a narrow street with +nothing at first sight to arrest the attention, but men +shake their heads at the mention of it and women avoid +it if possible. Its mark of distinction is the number +and character of its tea-houses. They are entered +directly from the street. A wide staircase leads to the +restaurant which occupies the second story, the ground +floor being used for business. Along the front of the +building and on the side as well, if it happens to be +on a corner, runs a narrow veranda, a much-sought-for +gathering place in mild weather, where idlers can +chat and sip their tea or wine while enjoying a view +of all that is going on in the street below. The tea-houses, +often richly furnished with carved black-wood +from the south, are practically deserted till the latter<span class="pagenum" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</span> +part of the afternoon, when a few loungers make their +appearance. But it is at night that the crowds pour +in. Then the tables fill up, Chinese musicians rend +the air with what to foreign ears seems a riot of discord +and by nine or ten o’clock everything is in full +swing. In and out among the square tables, filling the +brilliantly lighted rooms, trail slowly little processions +of young girls. Nearly all are pretty and very young. +Clad in silk or satin, adorned with jewelry, their faces +unnatural with paint and powder, they follow the lead +of the woman in charge of each group. She stops often +to draw attention ingratiatingly to her charges and expatiate +on their good points. When one is chosen she +leaves her to her fate and passes on to dispose of others. +Multitudes of victims, innocent of any voluntary wrong, +having been sold into this slavery when too young to +resist and not uncommonly in babyhood, are kept up +hour after hour in the close atmosphere of the tea-room +awaiting the pleasure of their prospective seducers. Out +on the street, by ricsha and on foot, women continue +to hurry to the tea-houses with their living merchandise, +and still they keep arriving till the night is far advanced +and business at a stand-still.</p> + +<p>Opposite the Public Gardens, where Soochow Creek +empties into the river, stand three consulates in close +proximity, with their nation’s flag floating in the breeze +from the flagpole. They represent Japan, America, +and Germany, other Consulates occupying roomy mansions +on Bubbling Well Road. The new Russian Consulate +that is being built next to the German will soon +be completed and add considerably to the sightliness<span class="pagenum" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</span> +of the river front. Across the street on the corner of +Broadway stands the Astor House, the oldest hostelry +in Shanghai. This district, once a part of the American +Concession and now known as “Hongkew,” does not +bear a very fair reputation, though some of the best +families still reside within its boundaries. But nothing +can be said in disparagement of Hongkew Market, +by far the largest and best in the city. Housekeepers on +Bubbling Well Road, miles distant, have been known +on occasion to send their cooks to the Hongkew market +and bewail the fact that they could not go every day. +What Covent Garden Market is to London this market +is to Shanghai. The saying, that one of the quickest +ways of getting acquainted with a city is to visit its +markets, is singularly applicable here. An hour or two +spent in the early morning walking, or edging one’s +way through the noisy square where all nationalities +congregate, is worth an entire guide-book of ordinary +information. The market covers a whole block, has +cement floors and wooden pillars holding up the tiled +roof, running water for keeping fresh the fish and vegetables, +clean stalls, and very decent people in charge +of them. The women are not as numerous as the men +but they manage to make their presence felt, and discuss +prices and provender in shrill voices that rise +above the din and tumult of the multitudes. Vendors +without stalls line the sidewalks, squatting close by +their baskets, and between sales sip tea or gulp down +hot rice and bean curd with well-worn chop-sticks. The +money-changers’ tables, protected by a strong net-work +of wire, dot the place here and there, for “small<span class="pagenum" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</span> +money” is always a necessity, the big heavy coppers and +“cash” being most in evidence.</p> + +<p>Yangtsepoo Road, meaning Poplar-Tree-Shore Road, +is a continuation of Broadway, and as it is chiefly a +street of mills, stands rather low in the social scale. It +runs parallel with the river and should have been a +residential avenue, the most beautiful in Shanghai, but +somehow the mills got there first and then there was +no help for it, although the fresh breezes and fine outlook +are lost on the tired mill hands shut up behind +brick walls from dawn to dawn.</p> + +<p>One of the best known streets in the city and one of +the longest, although it lays claim to no other distinction, +is Szechuen Road. It starts at the Chinese city, +changing at Soochow Creek to North Szechuen Road, +then to North Szechuen Road Extension, and pursues +its devious way northward far beyond Hongkew Public +Park, which by the way is not in Hongkew at all. This +park of forty-five acres is the largest in Shanghai, and +a genuine godsend to foreigners remaining in the city +during the summer. Those living in the neighbourhood +seek it in the early morning and late afternoon for golf +and tennis, securing the exercise so necessary to health +in this Eastern climate, and from far and near people +resort there in the evening to rest and listen to the band +play. Along its northern end, outside the limits of +the International Settlement, Szechuen Road winds +back and forth like a corkscrew. Some say it follows +an old buffalo path, but most agree that the road’s meanderings +are due to the unwillingness of the original +Chinese property owners to sell their land, since to do<span class="pagenum" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</span> +so might affect their “good luck.” Perhaps some old +graves blocked the way, and albeit no one living cherished +any sentiment regarding them, still they must +not be removed for fear of offending the spirits of the +dead. Or possibly the terrible dragon inhabiting the +nether regions in this vicinity would resent an innovation +like a paved road above his domains, and naturally +it would never do to arouse his ire. Hence the road-builders +were obliged to let the street follow the line +it could and not the one of their preference. Apropos +of the superstitious fear aroused in the minds of the +common people by the building operations of foreigners, +the case of the Methodist chapel in the French Concession +is a good illustration. When this mission church +was erected many years ago, the Chinese in the neighbourhood +were thrown into a state of great consternation. +What would their outraged tutelary deities say +and do now? How could they escape the afflictions +that unquestionably would be visited upon them by the +evil spirits hovering about the foreign worship house? +But necessity is the mother of invention, and the terrified +residents at last hit upon a happy ruse to deceive the +inimical spirits which seemed to be efficacious. Any +one visiting that corner to-day may see on the roof of +the house just across the road from the chapel two +bottles with long necks pointing toward it. The bottles +represent cannon which, as the most stupid spirit may +guess, are likely to belch forth fire and destruction the +moment that so much as a threatening glance is cast +that way!</p> + +<p>Many of the most travelled thoroughfares in Shanghai<span class="pagenum" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</span> +are inconveniently narrow, and in addition have +scarcely any sidewalk, so that it is necessary for pedestrians +to use the road. Yet the early settlers who laid +out the Foreign Settlement almost quarrelled among +themselves over what seemed to some an altogether +unnecessary width of twenty-five feet allowed for the +streets. As for sidewalks they were apparently not +taken into consideration at all. The Municipal Council +has now decreed that whenever a building that abuts +on the street is torn down, the new one, at whatever +sacrifice, must be put back several feet. This law, +which is strictly enforced, is gradually working a vast +improvement in the appearance and comfort of the city. +All the Shanghai streets inside the foreign settlements +are paved. A large number of them are macadamized, +though it has been found that in the purely Chinese +districts, chip paving on a bed of concrete and tar is +more suitable and economical. Road repairing is constantly +going on, for as the soil is alluvial, the innumerable +heavy wheelbarrows and trucks cause rapid deterioration. +Several of the streets, notably the Bund and +Nanking Road, have received what promises to be a +permanent paving, consisting of wood and lithofelt +blocks on a foundation of concrete. If the public funds +were sufficient to treat all the streets in the same way it +would be a boon to the city and a matter of rejoicing +to the populace.</p> + +<p>It is surprising how muddy and disagreeable the +streets become after only a few hours’ rain, while actual +floods in the low-lying sections accompany a downpour, +and this in spite of the excellent sewers. It is equally<span class="pagenum" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</span> +interesting to note how quickly the streets dry. Almost +as soon as the rain stops the water-sprinkler is out laying +the dust. The Municipal street sweepers are always +busy. They wear for uniform a bright red cotton +jacket showing below it their faded blue trousers, and a +wide-brimmed straw hat with a broad red cotton band, +both band and jacket stamped with three large letters, +S.M.C. (Shanghai Municipal Council). Each one is +furnished with a bamboo dustpan and a small reed +broom with which he ploddingly sweeps up the detritus. +This débris is not wasted. Indeed in China scarcely +anything is thrown away, and besides, there is no place +to throw it, since all the ground is sown with crops. +The Foreign Municipality utilizes the street sweepings +either for fertilization or in raising low land. And +right here the creeks which intersect Shanghai prove +their usefulness, for the refuse is dumped from zinc-lined +carts onto native boats and poled along at little +expense to the place where it is needed. Shanghai could +hardly do without its tidal creeks, offensive as they +often are when the tide is out.</p> + +<p>Shanghai is nothing if not a city of contrasts. Right +among the elegant homes, club-houses, and private hotels +on exclusive Bubbling Well Road squat the insignificant +shops of “the butcher, the baker, the candlestick +maker.” In front of its fashionable gardens pass fantastic +idol processions, displaying as one of their prominent +devices mammoth paper dragons, of variegated +colours, whose opening and closing jaws and writhing +scaly bodies, manipulated with cunning art by men +carrying them, are gruesomely realistic. In the busiest<span class="pagenum" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</span> +section of Nanking Road an inconspicuous passageway +leads a few yards back to a grimy Buddhist temple that +seems as far apart from the hurrying crowds and bustle +of street traffic outside as if it were on another planet. +An occasional worshiper slips in to bow before the +blackened altar, where red wax candles drip grease and +incense wafers are forever smouldering. In a side room, +gloomy as the entrance to Dante’s Inferno, are seated +tiers of black idols streaked with gilding and paint. +They are a repulsive sight and one turns with relief to +the living shaven-headed priests in dull grey gowns +lolling about the court.</p> + +<p>The most modernized Shanghai thoroughfares sometimes +witness quaint scenes. The following was described +by an eye-witness: An old Chinese woman, +with all her winter padding on, tried to cross a down-town +street through the maze of traffic. Ten yards +or so from the pavement an electric tram car caught +her full in the chest and propelled her neatly on to +the further track, where another car caught her in the +back. The second car pushed her staggering under the +feet of a ricsha coolie drawing a Chinese cook home +from market with a load of vegetables, a ham and two +live ducks. By the time the old lady had disentangled +a flapping duck from her elaborate headdress and the +coolie had wiped the ham clean with his dirty sleeve, +all the traffic of motor-cars, wheelbarrows, and broughams +had been held up, and it took some minutes more +of hard work to get the innocent cause of the trouble +safely back to the spot from which she started.</p> + +<p>There is a law prohibiting beggars from invading<span class="pagenum" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</span> +the Foreign Settlement, but the law is lax and beggars—the +maimed, the halt, and the blind—are all too numerous. +Parents often mutilate their young children or +twist their little bodies out of shape by confining them +in a deep earthen vessel, intended to hold water, in +order to make them successful beggars. Yet the blind +eyes can many times see, and the poverty-stricken frequently +have stowed away snug little sums of money, +quite sufficient to keep them in comfort the rest of their +lives. Begging in Shanghai is a profession, like any +other, and there are beggars’ guilds and beggars’ camps +where the tribes congregate. To watch them about five +or six at night, trooping home to their mat sheds, with +the day’s earnings securely stowed away on their dirty +persons, is something to be remembered. Formerly +there was a Beggar King, a regal sort of personage +in spite of his rags, who with a band of associates made +laws, adjudged cases, etc., but of late years the organization +has been less complete. Foreigners as a rule +do not make a practice of dispensing charity on the +street. A certain benevolently minded individual, however, +on arriving in Shanghai decided that it was his +duty never to refuse to give alms. It soon fell out +in consequence that he scarcely dared venture away +from his own dooryard, and life became a burden until +he had wrought a complete change in his habits.</p> + +<p>The majority of the Chinese people in the Foreign +Settlement live in lanes that lead off at right angles +from the highways. Only fifteen or twenty feet wide, +they are not open to vehicle traffic, being paved with +cement, and are squalid or measurably clean according<span class="pagenum" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</span> +to the locality and the community inhabiting them. +The houses are almost precisely alike, except that some +have two living rooms, one above the other, and some +have four, with several very small ones at the back. +In front is a tiny open court shut in by a cement wall +reaching to the second story. Through a wide double +door in this wall, which wall, while it protects, also +keeps out light and air, the house is entered. The long +line of connecting tiled roofs terminates at each end +in the graceful, upturned gables the Chinese love so +well. Crude handpainting and handcarved woodwork +usually decorate the poorest of Chinese houses. The +rental averages about fifteen dollars a month. Looking +down one of these long alley-ways, that resemble +good-sized cracks in the main thoroughfares, the effect +is decidedly sombre, for the grey outside walls conceal +the house fronts and the little courts, often made homelike +and attractive with palms and flowering plants. +It is the human element that saves from utter ugliness +these populous alleys, which throb with life, but generally +such a restless, high-pitched, uncontrolled life, +that the better class of Chinese complain of the noise, +and most foreigners would find them impossible places +of residence.</p> +<hr class="full x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="c4">IV</h2> +</div> + +<p class="ph2">THE LURE OF THE SHOPS</p> + + +<p><span class="dropcap">O</span>NCE upon a time an American missionary came +to China with ten pairs of boots, enough to +last till the period of furlough. As he was +going into the interior it was doubtless a wise provision, +although leather deteriorates rapidly during the +“rainy season.” Until quite recently, foreigners living +away from the coast depended for goods of foreign +manufacture altogether on the home market. Now +they are more and more sending to Shanghai for supplies, +and people in Shanghai seldom send abroad for +anything. A lover of London once remarked enthusiastically, +“It is a storehouse of treasures, for what it +does not possess in the original it has in casts.” So +one may say of Shanghai, “What it doesn’t import it +copies.” And the Chinese are wonderful adepts at +copying. Take a woman’s tailor, for instance. Show +him a picture in a fashion book (many of them subscribe +themselves for fashion books), and he will evolve +something, which if not an exact reproduction, comes +incredibly near it. Shanghai has four foreign department +stores, all on Nanking Road, and all under English +management. They are especially popular with +the women. Then there are numerous lesser lights, of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</span> +various nationalities, most of them located on or near +Nanking Road, though Broadway has its share. An +Anglo-American Walkover shoe store is a boon, especially +to resident Yankees. Several Parisian shops display +behind plate glass, the latest designs in gowns, +hats and fine lingerie. A German drug store enjoys +the reputation of being the only place in town where +Parke, Davis & Co.’s drugs can be bought, while an English +chemist’s shop is much frequented in summer for +its ice-cream sodas, a recent innovation in Shanghai. +Bianchi’s ice-cream is famous, and so are Sullivan’s +home-made candies. At many a counter may be purchased +Huyler’s and Cadbury’s chocolates, so carefully +packed that they are not a whit the worse for their +journey across the briny deep. Two piano stores do +a lucrative business keeping pianos in tune, and selling, +besides Steinways, Chickerings, and other makes, +instruments made in their factories with special reference +to withstanding the climate of China. The +East Indian and Japanese shops always attract, except +when the Japanese are boycotted by the Chinese because +of strained relations. Some Japanese began recently +to fold their tents, like the Arab, and prepare +to creep quietly away, when confidence was partially +restored and trade revived.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" id="f5"> +<img src="images/fig5.jpg" alt="shops"> +<p class="caption">SOME SHOPS ON NANKING ROAD</p> +</div> + +<p>Living in Shanghai is proverbially high, yet it is +chiefly so in comparison with other parts of China. +The market is good the year around; many competent +judges assert it is the best in the world. Chinese mutton +and beef sell for eight or nine cents a pound. Pork +and veal are a trifle more. Game is plentiful. Eggs +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</span>rarely go above ten cents a dozen. They are considerably +smaller though than hen’s eggs at home. Fish, +as might be expected, is abundant. A small variety of +oyster, that makes excellent stew, is sold in bulk, and a +large oyster in the shell, measuring often several inches +across and weighing over a pound, brings ten or twelve +coppers apiece, about six cents. Nearly every variety +of fruit and vegetable known to the Western market, +and many kinds peculiar to the Orient, are found here. +Bamboo sprouts and water chestnuts are favorites with +most foreigners as well as the Chinese. Grapefruit is +imported from San Francisco, but is generally not so +well liked as the native pumelo, which it resembles. +Mangoes are shipped from the Philippines, and from +Japan, Australia, and America come apples, much superior +to those grown in China. On the other hand +Chinese oranges, and particularly the loose-skinned, +Mandarin oranges, are delicious. The fruit most common +in the autumn is the golden-red persimmon. Cheap +and luscious, without a suggestion of pucker except +when under-ripe, the tempting piles, that seem to have +caught and held the sunshine, are without a rival during +their season. All canned and bottled goods—vegetables, +fruits, pickles, olives, syrups, extracts—being imported, +are expensive, but as they are more or less in +the line of luxuries most of them may be dispensed +with if necessary.</p> + +<p>There is a canning factory in Shanghai, opened in +1907 by a Cantonese company. One would expect it to +be Cantonese, for the southerners are the most wide-awake +people in China. Besides making a variety of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</span> +crackers, the factory turns out quantities of tinned +foods. Among them are bamboo sprouts, shrimps’ eggs, +spiced roast pork, chicken with chestnuts, frogs’ legs, +native and foreign fruits, soups, and what appeals +particularly to the palate of foreigners, the delicious +candied ginger, for which Canton has a world-wide +reputation.</p> + +<p>Drugs are costly, and constantly needed articles, such +as picture wire, and hooks, are for some reason absurdly +highpriced.</p> + +<p>“Sam Joe” on Broadway claims to be the leading +Chinese grocer in the city. He is certainly one of the +best known. Like other grocers he keeps no fresh vegetables +and no fresh fruits except apples and lemons. +His place is clean and inviting, and presided over +by numerous clerks of low and high degree. Any one +of these middle-aged men, of dignified mien and scholarly +cast of countenance, will kindly deign to take an +order, discuss the merit of goods, and even point them +out if within sight. But when a piece of cheese is to +be wrapped up, or a bottle taken down from the shelf, +he waves his long-finger-nailed hand in a lordly manner +to an underling, who hastens to perform the menial +service. Sam Joe used to own an automobile, with +“Sam Joe, Shanghai’s leading grocer,” prominent in +large gilt letters on its back. It was a familiar object +for some time on the streets, but its upkeep proved too +great an expense, so the firm has reverted to the ordinary +delivery wagon and horse. Still, a horse-drawn wagon +is extraordinary enough in this city of man labor, and +Sam Joe’s outfit is in advance of most Chinese grocers,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</span> +who content themselves with box carts propelled by tricycles.</p> + +<p>On a bright morning nothing is more delightful than +a leisurely stroll up and down Nanking Road for a +study of the shops. Some are shut in behind a door +and show windows, like foreign stores, and others after +the manner of the general run of Chinese shops have +the entire front open to the street. Occasionally, in addition +to the regular street crossings, a slit between +the buildings leads to a narrow lane or alley, without +sidewalks, long, narrow, and fearsome, yet possessing a +compelling fascination for the wanderer. The Nanking +Road shops are almost uniformly two stories high, with +frequently a tall, fancy cornice giving the effect of a +third. The most striking are the large silver shops. +The façades of several stand out boldly, ornamented +with coloured stucco in relief. One is resplendent with +a gorgeous peacock of heroic size and spreading tail. +Another shows two mythical figures disporting themselves +on either side of a huge vase of flowers of wondrous +hues, while a third, more recently built of plain +brick, is dotted over with electric bulbs. On gala occasions, +these shops, as well as others able to afford it, +are lighted up at night with elaborate electrical designs, +making Nanking Road the most brilliantly illuminated +street in the city. In addition, it is customary +at the time of an opening or anniversary to +decorate the entire façade with gay-coloured cotton +cloth or silk that is twisted, puffed, puckered, and +curled into rosettes and other fantastic designs. Often +a light bamboo scaffolding is erected in front of the shop<span class="pagenum" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</span> +and the trimmings attached to it instead of to the walls. +When the sun fades the decorations they are taken down, +re-dyed, and put in place again. Close against the show +windows of the unforeignized silver shops are glass +shelves ranged one above another and loaded with silver. +Many of the pieces are massive and richly embossed, +Buddhas, vases, jewelry cases, tea-sets, besides +less ornate small pieces such as wine cups and bonbon +dishes, all of native design and manufacture. Inside the +shop the foreigner meets with a surprise, for there are +no show cases, and no sign of silver is visible except +away at the back where a glimmer can be discerned +behind a glass door protected by a wooden or wire +lattice. Panel mirrors and carved blackwood chairs at +the sides give a drawing-room effect which is enhanced +by the leisurely manner in which the numerous clerks +move about or lean idly upon the counter, as if their +main purpose in life was to pose as useless adjuncts +of the firm employing them. Yet in reality a paying +business is carried on from day to day, though it may be +conducted quietly and unostentatiously over tea-cups +and with true Oriental deliberation.</p> + +<p>The favorite meat in China is pork, popularly known +as the “Great Meat.” From the number of shops where +cured hams are sold, often nothing at all but ham lining +the walls and suspended from the ceiling, it would +seem as if the people’s whole diet consisted of pork. +The pork shops on Nanking Road are very clean. Sometimes +one side of a shop is devoted to hams and the +other to ducks and sweetmeats. Roast ducks are sold +everywhere in Shanghai. The turned-back neck of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</span> +the duck forms a loop by which the fowl is attached +to a hook fastened to a bamboo rod several feet long, +and this is hung in the front of the shop in full gaze +of the passerby, where no intervening window dims +the allurements of the savory delicacy. It surely does +look good enough to eat, glossy, of a rich reddish brown +colour, and done to a turn in the oven of a Chinese +chef. Back a few steps from the street, in a dimly +lighted room, the curious stranger, if tactfully polite, +may witness the preparation of the fowl for the market. +On one side of the contracted space are live ducks, in +a pen, while near by the cook’s assistant is busily plucking +dead ones. They are roasted on top of a Chinese +stove under a huge iron basin, and then comes the +painting, the grand finale in the process. A small +quantity of red vegetable matter is added to sesame +oil, and with this mixture the cook carefully smears +the fowl, using a reed brush. The coating soon +hardens like varnish when the duck is exposed to the +air, and besides giving it an appetising appearance, +keeps the flesh impervious to the dust from the road.</p> + +<p>Nothing captivates more than the bake shops where +cooking is done close to the street. Chinese stoves are +simplicity itself, a bed of charcoal on a foundation of +brick or cement, and an iron grating through which +the ashes fall to the floor. Large but shallow iron basins +are placed over the red hot coals, and in them are fried +or boiled all sorts of remarkable viands. It is a common +saying that the best cooks in the world are the +French and the Chinese, and it is easy to believe it. +The way in which many a common fellow will roll<span class="pagenum" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</span> +and knead his dough, fashion it into some extraordinary +shape with a dexterous flip and twist, then fry it to exactly +the right shade of brown, and all without an instant’s +thought or effort, proves him to be in his own +line an artist of no mean order.</p> + +<p>Customers young and old frequent the shop, sometimes +carrying bowls of their own which they get filled +with nutritious food for a few coppers and take home +to furnish, it may be, a meal for an entire family. +Perhaps a woman drops into the shop with a nest of +wooden trays. She says something to the shopkeeper, +who begins laying into them wonderful little cakes, +sticking into each one a wee cluster of artificial flowers. +This choice collection of dainties is to form part of a +wedding feast. The year round, at certain hours of +the day, but especially in the early morning, women +and children, provided with kettles, wend their way to +the restaurants to buy hot water for tea. Hot water +is cheaper than fuel, and besides to buy it saves trouble.</p> + +<p>Chinese candy shops never want for trade. Those +on Nanking Road are much patronized by foreigners, +for some kinds of Chinese candy fairly melt in the +mouth. The only drawback to a full enjoyment of it +is the realization that too often instead of being protected +under glass it has lain for hours on an open +counter exposed to dust, flies, and dirty hands.</p> + +<p>Fine teas from Hangchow, put up in pretty coloured +paper boxes, are seen in the windows of tea shops, and +beside them other fancy boxes containing small dried +flowers. One or more dried rosebuds placed in a cup +of tea impart a delicate flavor to the beverage and are<span class="pagenum" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</span> +said by the Chinese to aid digestion. They, however, +are a luxury indulged in only by the well-to-do epicure, +but this class is numerous.</p> + +<p>Silk shops are pre-eminently the most popular shops +in Shanghai as silk is the commodity for which it is +most celebrated. Many silk shops are found on the +“Great Horse Road,” the largest and showiest being +in a three-story building well down toward the Bund. +But the two of special repute and reliability do a thriving +business a block south of the busy thoroughfare. +No goods are displayed in their windows as is the case +with those on Nanking Road. The more conspicuous +one has behind each sheet of plate glass a single potted +plant on a stand. The other, across the road, disdains +to indulge in even that much decoration. Its windows +are the small, old-fashioned kind that fold in like blinds +with little panes of glass, and up and down over each +one stretch protecting iron bars. The reputation of the +aristocratic house of “Laou Kai Fook” is too well +established to need the help of advertisements. While +neighbouring firms may boast of a business career of a +few decades, this one points back proudly three quarters +of a century to the date of its founding. Though nothing +on the exterior of the shop attracts the eye, there +is an abundance within to draw on the purse-strings. +Laou Kai Fook’s clerks are gravely dignified but wide-awake. +It was not one of them but an employee in a +lesser shop who, when a would-be purchaser indicated a +piece of silk in a showcase that she wished to see, after +making a feeble and abortive effort to unlock the case, +turned his long finger-nails out, remarking unconcernedly,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</span> +“It won’t open,” and let the customer walk away. +The shelves lining the walls of the silk shops from top +to bottom are heaped with rolls of silk wrapped in light +brown paper, the rolls lying crosswise on the shelves. +From each roll depends a white paper tag marked with +Chinese characters, and these tags, seen on every side, +produce a curious effect but give to the uninitiated no +clue to the wealth they represent. Some of the finest +silks, with the paper coverings removed, are kept in +showcases to decoy the unwary.</p> + +<p>The clerks in these stores, as in fact in most of the +shops, are to all appearances greatly in excess of the +number required. While some are kept busy, many +seem to be paid merely to lounge about and tread on +each other’s toes. They are keenly sensitive to the +superiority of their high calling and will brook no +slights apparent or unintentional. An American lady, +new to China, was being waited on one day by a very +youthful clerk and in the course of conversation innocently +addressed him as “boy,” the usual form of +address among the servant class. Instantly the young +man drew himself up proudly and corrected her with +grave displeasure, “I am not a ‘boy,’ I am Mr. +Smith.” Two characteristics of the Shanghai silk +shops of the better class are especially appreciated +by foreign women. First, prices are fixed and +uniform; no time need be wasted in bargaining. Second, +if a sample needs to be matched the danger of failure +is small. When roll after roll has been laid on the +counter and the sample placed against them without +success the clerk will be certain to observe politely,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</span> +“We can dye a piece for you.” “How long will it +take?” “Only three days if the sun shines. How +many yards do you want?” “Four.” “We don’t +usually dye less than ten yards, but we will dye four +for you if you wish to have us.” In most cases the +silk proves to be entirely satisfactory and no extra +charge is made for the dyeing.</p> + +<p>Changes are going on continually all over the city. +Day by day old buildings, rotten and unsanitary, are +disappearing and modern ones rising in their place. +It is to be feared that many of the ancient landmarks +dear to the antiquarian will soon be gone. Last year +an Englishman said to a friend, “I can take you to a +street in Shanghai that I believe looks just as it did a +thousand years ago.” But in a few weeks he wrote to +his friend, “The street is gone. Every old building +has been torn down and the rubbish cleared away.” +On Nanking Road a handsome block has just been +erected by the Chinese on a conspicuous site, bearing +the ambitious title of “The New World,” written in +gilt Chinese characters on its front. Soon a wealthy +Cantonese company is to build a great department store +on Nanking Road that in size and elegance promises +to outrival all others. It will contain a theatre, restaurant, +and tea-room, elevator and roof garden, accessories +to which even the most select of the foreign +department stores have not aspired.</p> + +<p>But Nanking Road does not possess a monopoly in interesting +shops. Many of the most fascinating are the +very small unpretentious ones on the side streets, for it +is there that Chinese life and customs may be studied<span class="pagenum" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</span> +most intimately. The common people regard with +good nature and tolerance the inquisitive stranger and +rarely object to his advances. Pawn shops tell their +own story and are discovered at almost every turn. +They are known by a particular Chinese character +painted in black on the white cement of the front +wall or on the wooden screen just inside the entrance.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/fig6.jpg" alt="pawn"> +<p class="caption">Tang, a Pawn Shop.</p> +</div> + +<p>Shanghai would not be Shanghai without its Money +Exchange shops. Though perfectly respectable, they do +business mostly on the unfashionable side streets. +Nanking Road in the main scorns them. They do not +lack patronage, for “small money” is necessary to +every thrifty body. The Exchange Shops give silver +for gold and paper money, and for one of the current +silver Mexican dollars, the customer receives one hundred +and thirty-eight or so coppers, or eleven dimes and +several coppers according to whatever the exchange happens +to be on the day in question. Shop bills amounting +to less than a dollar can ordinarily be paid in +“small money,” and as for car fare, a dollar’s worth +of coppers goes much farther than the even hundred +contained in a “big dollar.” The Exchange shops<span class="pagenum" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</span> +make their money by drawing money from the Exchange +Banks at a little higher rate of exchange than +they allow to their customers. It must be confessed +though that the mysteries of Chinese currency are well +nigh beyond the power of the ordinary human mind to +fathom.</p> + +<p>Coffin shops are of necessity very numerous, and +have open fronts directly on the street. The shopkeeper +performs none of the duties of an undertaker. +His sole business is to make and sell coffins. Chinese +coffins are extremely large and heavy, and in a foreigner’s +eyes ugly even to the point of gruesomeness. +The costly ones are made of blackwood and camphor +wood and their glossy tops and ends decorated with +pictures done in coloured paint and gilt. The shopkeeper’s +home is usually at the back of the premises, +but the family find it agreeable to pass much of the +day in the shop where the unfinished coffins that chance +to be left standing about prove convenient in many +ways. The wife may perch on one while she eats her +bowl of rice, or the master himself drop down on another +for his noonday nap, while the children frolic +in and out around them like squirrels. But to a Chinese +there is nothing objectionable in a coffin. As with the +old Shanghai mother, whose son returning from a journey +presented her with a coffin as the handsomest and +most welcome gift he could offer, so it is generally felt +that to have one’s coffin bought and set up in the house +ready for use is a most desirable provision. In the +meantime it is a convenient article of furniture to have +at hand, and no harm is done if while waiting for<span class="pagenum" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</span> +the hour of decease the coffin is utilized as a clothes +press or perhaps as a pantry.</p> + +<p>As one passes along the streets, in addition to the +sounds most commonly heard, is often added the shrill +falsetto of the cheap phonograph. The records usually +are Chinese melodies in which the street crowds delight. +Any shop wishing to draw attention to itself +has only to set up an instrument and start it playing. +Phonographs are commonly found in the better class +barber shops, where they dispense music to the accompaniment +of the strokes of the razor. The character +of Chinese barber shops has changed considerably since +the revolution of 1911. Before then customers sat on +stools and the principal work of the tonsorial artist +was shaving the forefront of heads and combing and +braiding queues. Now foreign barbers’ chairs have +taken the place of stools and the barber gives careful +attention to clipping hair in the most approved fashion. +There recently appeared outside a hairdresser’s shop the +following unique announcement, “Hair done in foreign, +Chinese, and civilised style.” Just what the “civilised” +style of hairdressing might be in contradistinction +to other modes, the interested public has not yet +learned. But shopkeepers who aspire to the distinction +of English signs above their doorways, frequently +meet with serious difficulties in their struggles with a +strange tongue. The results are often strikingly +original,—for example, “Horeshueing Manufactured +Any Kinds of Foreign and China Horeshueing. Price +$2.00 each hoersh.” “The towels are weaving up to +the different colors to sell.” “House panier and decorator<span class="pagenum" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</span> +for European and China.” “Mating Shop and +House Furnishing.” “Gentleman and Ladys snots and +bots.”</p> + +<p>The beautiful curio shops on Nanking Road entrance +the eye and delight the heart, yet who would +compare them for a moment in charm with the quaint +old shops on Pig Alley? Pig Alley used to border +on the moat around the Chinese city and was in truth +an alley. Now the moat has been filled up and its site +covered by a broad macadamized road, but the shops +that gave it its reputation have not changed in character. +The dust of years still clings to them, wrinkled +crones continue to sip their tea in the corners, and old +men, with skin as yellow as their brasses, smoke contentedly +in the sunshine outside. Stacked on the shelves +reaching to the ceiling are articles in bronze, brass, +and china, some as valueless as old iron, but among the +collection, choice bits, rare and ancient, worth almost +their weight in gold. It takes time and patience to +shop in Pig Alley, for prices must be haggled over, and +perhaps several visits made before the coveted treasure +is finally secured.</p> + +<p>In the shops of the Foreign Settlement it is estimated +that more than twenty thousand boys are employed as +apprentices. Their work-day is as long as the shop +keeps open, which in many cases is from sixteen to +nineteen hours out of the twenty-four. Pay is small +or nothing at all, but the boys are given rice and lodging +where they work. The large majority have no +chance for play or study. They are bound out by their +parents or guardians under much the same system as<span class="pagenum" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</span> +formerly prevailed in England. If badly treated, and +little fellows unable to resist are often most cruelly +beaten, the apprentice has no redress, and must bear +it, run away, or take his own life, which he sometimes +does, though usually he stays on, for the spirit of the +Chinese is to endure hardship patiently. Not long ago +the local Young Men’s Christian Association, through +its Boys’ Department, made a valuable survey of the +condition of Chinese boys in the Settlement. What +added to the interest was the fact that the survey was +conducted by boys, which, so far as is known, was the +first time this has been done in any country. Volunteers +were called for from among the Y.M.C.A. High +School students, all Chinese of course, and twelve at +once responded, promising to spend their vacation period +in doing this work. Others were gradually added +to the list, till finally over sixty were at work assisted +by a Chinese teacher and several Chinese and foreign +secretaries. No reward was held out to them, and their +task was not an easy one. They were ridiculed and +buffeted, but they kept bravely on, meeting every day +at five o’clock to report progress and gather fresh courage +over a social cup of tea. The facts and figures +collated with so much labour will not be wasted. Definite +plans are being laid for the betterment of the boy +community, and they have already begun to materialize +since the opening of the splendid new Y.M.C.A. building +for boys’ work.</p> +<hr class="full x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="c5">V</h2> +</div> + +<p class="ph2">HOUSEKEEPING PROBLEMS</p> + + +<p><span class="dropcap">“W</span>ELL, my Dear,” said Mr. Dunlap +briskly, one bright spring morning, laying +down on the breakfast table “The +North China Daily News” which he had been intently +perusing, “I have here a list of houses advertised for +rent. Suppose we start out and look at some of them.” +“Just the thing,” assented Mrs. Dunlap eagerly. “You +call the ricshas and I’ll be ready in a minute.” “No, +we will go in a carriage. It will take us around more +quickly and cost no more for the time we are out. Just +think,” he added, “of our being able to hire for a whole +day a nice victoria and pony, with driver and footman, +for less than a dollar and a half! Life in Shanghai +certainly has its advantages.” “Don’t let the driver +forget his French license,” called Mrs. Dunlap to her +husband as he was hurrying away to make arrangements +for the carriage. “That’s so. We may want to +go into the French Concession.” “Yes, and we’d +rather not be held up as the Blanks were.” Then both +laughed merrily at the memory of the experience of +their friends who went for a joy ride in celebration +of their wedding anniversary, but they had hardly left +the International Settlement before a policeman stopped<span class="pagenum" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</span> +the “mafoo,” and because he had no French license +made him drive with the pair to a police station to +get one and pay the fine of a dollar, rather an inglorious +episode. The Dunlaps were gone all day and returned +to their stopping place at night well-nigh exhausted. +But the next morning they were out early again, this +time to hunt up the office of a real estate company and +tell the agent they had decided to take one of his houses. +“Good, I will put your name right down on the list of +applicants. There are only eleven ahead of you.” +“Eleven ahead of us!” exclaimed Mrs. Dunlap in +astonishment and dismay. “Why, we supposed the +houses that were advertised in the paper had not been +rented.” “And so they haven’t,” responded the agent +cheerfully. “These are only possible tenants. You +stand a good chance of getting the place. Last week I +rented a house to the fifteenth party in a list of applicants. +All the others, for one reason and another, +had dropped their names.”</p> + +<p>The couple finally secured a house to their liking, +quite new and somewhat out from the centre of the +city. The rent being agreed on, the agent added, “You +will pay six per cent taxes.” “How is that?” queried +Mr. Dunlap. “I am not buying the property.” “No, +but here in Shanghai the tenant pays the tax on the +house, the landlord on the land. You are getting off +cheap. If your house were within the limits of the +‘Settlement’ you’d have to pay twelve per cent in +taxes.” “Oh, then we are not in the Settlement? +Somebody told me the road in front of the house was +a Municipal Council road.” “That’s right. It is. A<span class="pagenum" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</span> +year or so ago the Council, after hard effort, obtained +permission to lay that road through Chinese territory. +It is a good road, too, isn’t it? A first class macadamized +thoroughfare.” “That is most interesting,” agreed +the Dunlaps. “But you say the land on which the house +itself stands belongs to the Chinese?” “Yes, they refused +to sell it, so the best the company could do was to +rent it in perpetuity.” Mr. Dunlap turned to his wife +with a smile, “Well, if we get into trouble, we can go +out and sit in the road.” “Ha, ha, not a bad idea,” +chuckled the agent. “But you will be well protected. +The Settlement police patrol the road and Chinese +police the territory around it. The Chinese have no +desire to see foreigners’ houses looted, for this gets +them into trouble.”</p> + +<p>As soon as the Dunlaps began moving into their new +domicile, they found themselves greatly inconvenienced +by the lack of closets, shelves, hooks, and drawers. The +house in fact was a mere shell, with roof and walls and +little else. However, there was running water, hot and +cold, and this is a luxury rarely found outside of +Shanghai. Indeed in the older parts of the Settlement +hot water for baths is still bought at nearby +shops and brought to the home in big wooden buckets +suspended from carrying poles on the backs of coolies. +Though the wires were laid for electric lights, there were +no fixtures. This was an oversight on the part of the +contractor that must be rectified at once, so Mr. Dunlap +sought another interview with the agent. “We +shall be glad to have the fixtures put in as soon as possible,” +he urged, “as we are depending for light on two<span class="pagenum" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</span> +or three small kerosene lamps.” “But we don’t furnish +such things.” “What?” “I mean they don’t go with +the house.” “So I must buy them?” “Assuredly.” +“Well, well, whoever heard of such a thing? But how +about the stationary wash-basin for the bathroom, and +the draining board for the kitchen, and the—,” “If +you have them you get them yourself.” “You see it is +like this,” continued the agent goodnaturedly, “Shanghai +is very cosmopolitan, and all sorts of people settle +here. Some tenants, when vacating a house, have been +known to steal the locks off the doors, the chandeliers +from the ceiling, and occasionally a stationary bathtub +is cut loose and carried away in the dead of the night. +Oh no, you wouldn’t do it,” smiling at Mr. Dunlap’s +incredulous stare, “but such things happen oftener than +you would think.” It was plain then to the Dunlaps +that they must begin to furnish their house from the +bottom up, or perhaps, to speak more accurately, from +the top down. Therefore, their first business was to +buy lumber, hire carpenters, and set them to work making +pantry shelves, and supplying a few other immediate +necessities. Soon the little back court resounded +with the noise of hammer and saw.</p> + +<p>It was somewhat exasperating to the head of the +house, who longed to expedite matters, to have the +workmen stroll in about nine o’clock in the morning, +or possibly not come at all, leave promptly at five, and +spend anywhere from one to two hours and more in the +enjoyment of the noon siesta. But scolding was of little +avail. Shanghai workmen, particularly since the revolution +of 1911 have assumed an easy, independent air<span class="pagenum" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</span> +all their own and must be borne with as patiently as +may be.</p> + +<p>The next matter to which the family gave their +attention was the buying of furniture. Friends +advised them to get it at auction. As the population of +Shanghai is a constantly shifting one, auction sales +are a common incident of the city’s life. Homes are +being broken up every day and parties moving out, +perhaps after only a few months’ residence. The easiest, +and really the most profitable method of disposing +of household effects, which often are practically +new, is by auction. Auction sales are very popular +with all classes of society and usually draw an eager +crowd, but the Dunlaps picked up only a few things +in this way, for they found too much time was consumed +in the process. Then they were referred to +Peking Road. Now Peking Road at its eastern end, +where it approaches the Bund, is a very high-toned, +aristocratic street, but away toward the west its character +changes, and instead of substantial brick office +and apartment buildings, the road is lined on both sides +with Chinese junk shops. Yet according to the dictionary +definition of “junk,” that is not exactly the +right word to apply to them either, for far more than +mere junk is exposed to the gaze of the curious beholder +in the wide open shop fronts, in the dark places +at the rear, and in the dusty, musty, low-ceilinged rooms +above approached by a ladder-like stairway. “Old +Curiosity Shop” might appropriately be written over +each one. Most of the goods have been bought up at +auction and bear the marks of age in a greater or<span class="pagenum" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</span> +less degree, though some are new, but it is not the commonplace +new things that attract the eye of the average +foreigner, who is apt to exclaim at first glance, +“What a lot of old trash!” Worming his way in gingerly +fashion among the piled up closely-stacked stuff, +the reward comes once and again in the discovery of a +rare piece of old mahogany or teakwood, or a quaint +hit of China or glass, which may be bought at a ridiculously +low price. Of course, if the “find” is an article +of furniture, some risk is run in carrying it home, and +the very fastidious may eschew it altogether, but a +good airing and repeated cleansing with disinfectants +and soap and hot water, and if necessary, scraping and +repolishing, generally render it perfectly harmless.</p> + +<p>However, a foreign house can not be furnished +throughout from the shops on Peking Road, so after investing +in a few small articles like coal buckets and +shovels and tongs, Mr. and Mrs. Dunlap finally and +firmly resolved to waste no more valuable time hunting +for bargains, but to have all their furniture made to +order. This sounds very luxurious and a bit extravagant. +On the contrary it was the most economical thing +that they could do, for they did not order from one of +the high-priced English department stores on Nanking +Road, but from a Chinese shop on a side street with an +entrance and show windows that might have been passed +many times without attracting the least notice. The +place however had been highly recommended and the +work in the end proved quite satisfactory. Mark the +words “in the end,” for they are spoken advisedly, +since the grand consummation did not occur till more<span class="pagenum" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</span> +than a year from the time the first order was given. +Inside, the shop was found to be much more of an establishment +than appeared from the street. It carried +a considerable stock of ready-made furniture, but it was +from the pictures in the firm’s imported books that the +Dunlaps chose their models, then selected their wood, +and finally, after considerable haranguing, came to an +agreement on prices. Subsequently calls without number +were made at the shop by Mr. and Mrs. Dunlap +in a vain endeavour to hurry up the work. Sometimes +they came upon the elderly head of the firm and his +clerks eating their forenoon meal at a table near the +centre of the showroom, for according to the usual custom, +the clerks were boarded on the premises. But +the entrance of a customer in no wise embarrassed them +and he was always waited on with the politest attention. +One by one the pieces ordered were brought to the +house on a hand truck or wheelbarrow, some of the +lighter articles being suspended from a carrying pole +borne by coolies. After remaining a day or two, back +they went, with few exceptions! Either the hat-rack +was too short, or the clothes-press shelves were too long, +or the bureau drawers wouldn’t open, or the locks didn’t +fit. Always something was “<i>ch’a pu to</i>,” just a little +wrong, a favorite expression in China which is used to +excuse a multitude of faults. One much-doctored upholstered +chair was carried to and fro so many times it +had finally to be partially re-covered. But the dining +table fared the worst. Once it fell off the cart in transit +and was broken. Because the wood was not well +seasoned, it kept splitting across the top and teetering<span class="pagenum" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</span> +disconcertingly on uneven legs. Four tables were made +in succession before a satisfactory one was produced.</p> + +<p>While the patience of the Dunlaps was sorely taxed +during this period of waiting, they could not help being +deeply impressed with the unfailing good nature +and courtesy of the firm, always regretful, ever ready +for another trial, though the money loss was their own.</p> + +<p>Some of their work, too, was really a pronounced +success, as in the case of the sectional bookcases which +they patterned after one loaned them by Mr. Dunlap. +When the two were set up side by side in the library it +was next to impossible to tell them apart.</p> + +<p>The absolute confidence of the Chinese in the honour +of foreigners was often remarked on in the family. +Not for five months after work began and until several +hundred dollars’ worth of goods had been delivered was +any money asked for or expected. A dishonest person +might easily have slipped out of town and left furniture +and debt behind him.</p> + +<p>One noon, during the period of house-settling, when +Mr. Dunlap returned from his office, he was surprised +to see a bevy of men at work sodding the lawn, a matter +he had not yet had time to consider. He was still +more astonished when he learned that this was being +done for him by the company of whom he rented his +house. There was nothing personal about it. All the +company’s property was being treated in the same way. +But sod, it seems, could not easily be carried off, while +lighting fixtures might!</p> + +<p>The Dunlaps did not find it necessary to go to the +florist’s in search of plants to beautify the grounds, for<span class="pagenum" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</span> +street vendors brought them to their door. From the +very morning they moved in these men fairly haunted +the place. They carried the plants in round, slightly +convex baskets, suspended by ropes from a bamboo pole +slung across one shoulder. Every time Mrs. Dunlap +appeared in sight there they were, an eager, smiling +group of them, holding out their flowers and begging +her to buy in their best <i>pidgin</i> English. Mrs. Dunlap +always shook her head saying, “By and by. Not now. +I am too busy.” But one bright day, when the house-wife +was unusually occupied with work indoors, an +enterprising fellow actually took it upon himself to border +the entire garden, and it was a good large one, +with handsome plants of many varieties, and ended by +placing on the veranda four mammoth potted palms. +The effect was charming. Of course Mrs. Dunlap +might have ordered the plants taken out of the ground, +but what woman would? Instead she gladly paid a +little less than the price asked, which was about six +dollars. Afterward a neighbour told her that had she +happened to have any second-hand clothing to offer +the man, he would willingly have taken it in place of +money. “Each year I replenish my garden with +flowers in that way,” concluded the friend.</p> + +<p>The day the Dunlaps ate their first meal in their +new home was a very happy one, but before that time +two important matters had been attended to by Mr. +Dunlap. These were putting in a first-class filter, and +covering the floors of the store-room and pantry with +zinc which was allowed to turn up around the walls +for a foot and a half in order to guard against the encroachments<span class="pagenum" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</span> +of ubiquitous Shanghai rats. The Berkefeld +filter is generally used in Shanghai and is supposed +to preclude the necessity of boiling the drinking +water. But as every one knows, the “candle” must +be carefully washed in boiling water once a week, and +as Mrs. Dunlap soon found she could not trust a servant +to do this, who might or might not have the water +really boiling, or handle the candle without breaking, +she attended to it herself.</p> + +<p>Among her first callers were the “runners” from +several Chinese grocery stores. The nearest secured +her patronage. Each morning his man came to receive +the day’s orders, and before noon the groceries +were delivered in a neat box-tricycle. In addition a +daily visit to the market was made by the cook, for the +grocery stores in Shanghai carry neither meat nor fresh +vegetables. “Just think, we no longer have to depend +on tinned butter and milk!” exclaimed Mrs. Dunlap +delightedly to her husband soon after their removal to +the coast city, as her eyes turned with satisfaction to +the neat pat of fresh Australian butter on her pretty +Welsh butter dish. The dairies, the best being the +European, are carefully inspected by the Municipal +Health Department and deliver milk in sealed bottles +to insure not being tampered with on the way from +the dairy to their destination. Notwithstanding this, +never a drop of milk or cream was used on the Dunlaps’ +table that had not been scalded. Neither was lettuce +indulged in, not even that grown in private gardens, +nor any other uncooked vegetable. In view of +the ravages of Oriental dysentery and kindred diseases,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</span> +the family agreed that it was wise to obey the injunctions +of foreign doctors and take no risks. Fresh +fruit from which the skin could be removed was eaten +freely in season, but was dipped in boiling water, or +underwent a thorough washing in filtered water before +it was set on the table. Strawberries were subjected to +a special cleansing process under Mrs. Dunlap’s personal +supervision. Placed in a colander, boiling water +was poured over them three times, and lastly a solution +of permanganate. Later on in her experience Mrs. +Dunlap learned of a better and easier way of disinfecting +the fruit, and that was to plunge it for an instant +into boiling syrup, by which the flavor of the berry +was retained and its appearance but little altered. Even +after every reasonable precaution had been taken in +the matter of food, the Dunlaps were made aware that +through the carelessness of servants, and in other ways, +they were constantly running serious risks. However, +they concluded to do the best they could and then not +worry.</p> + +<p>Another early caller to put in an appearance was +the public laundryman. Shanghai houses are not built +with the idea of doing washing at home, except perhaps +a few of the small pieces. So it is sent out, and as to +just what kind of places, one may possibly be happier +not to inquire into too diligently. The public laundries +in the International Settlement, it is true, are subject +to inspection by the Health Department, but questionable +habits are liable to continue notwithstanding. +Take, for instance, a Chinese washerman’s manner of +sprinkling clothes, which is to fill his mouth with water,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</span> +then squirt it out through his closed teeth. It is bad +enough when the spray falls on hosiery and underwear, +but handkerchiefs, napkins—well, Mrs. Dunlap soon +found that it was not well under such circumstances +to give reins to her imagination. She certainly had no +fault to find with the pricelist, paying barely one cent +and a half apiece for everything, from a face cloth +to the most elaborate white dress. As a rule the clothes +were exquisitely laundered, even though the method +employed did cause rapid deterioration.</p> + +<p>Although the process of setting their house in order +was a most tedious one, at last Mr. and Mrs. Dunlap +had progressed far enough to be comfortable and feel +that they could turn their attention to other and more +important matters. At first they were a little disturbed +by having to look at the back courts of their neighbours’ +houses across the street instead of onto their well-trimmed +lawns, for it is usual in Shanghai to build so +that all houses may face the south, from which the +breeze comes. Then too, Mrs. Dunlap’s soul was somewhat +tried by the lines of washing, innumerable as the +sands on the sea-shore, hung out to dry on the vacant +lots stretching away to the south. But it was at least +a more agreeable sight than the coffins lying scattered +about on the ground just beyond her east windows, left +there, perhaps by perfect strangers to the Chinese landowner, +to await a convenient time of burial. A little +farther away, Mr. Dunlap passed every morning, in +going to his office, a lot which evidently was a favorite +spot for depositing the dead. Fresh coffins appeared +each morning, most of them tiny ones. Often the baby<span class="pagenum" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</span> +was not given a coffin at all, but tied in a grass mat +which was thrown carelessly on the ground. The bodies +are supposed to be gathered up and carted away daily. +One seems gradually to get hardened in China to things +grown too familiar. The Dunlaps used often to marvel +that their surroundings, depressing though they were, +did not affect them more.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Dunlap’s daily routine began each morning +after breakfast by “taking accounts” with the cook. +The cook in China does the marketing, and he also gets +his commission or “squeeze” as it is popularly called. +That is, he buys a pound and half of meat and brings +in a bill for two, or he charges his mistress a few coppers +more a pound than he has paid. This squeezing +business is perfectly understood by both parties, and +providing it does not exceed certain bounds, nothing +is said about it. Market prices are quoted each morning +in one of the Shanghai dailies, and by consulting +this and making an occasional visit herself to market, +Mrs. Dunlap kept informed as to about what she ought +to pay. Whenever the cook began to take undue advantage +of her, she did not accuse him of it directly, +but a conversation something like the following would +ensue: “Ta Shih-fu (Great Assistant), you are paying +too much for meat.” “Yes, so I told the butcher, but +he won’t take less.” “Then go somewhere else.” Or, +“One hundred and four eggs are too many to use in +two days for our small family.” “It certainly is a +great many but I had to put eighteen into a cake.” +“You must use fewer.” “I will try.” Now Mrs. +Dunlap knew, and the cook knew that she knew, that he<span class="pagenum" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</span> +had paid a moderate price for the meat and was charging +her for eggs which he never bought or had disposed +of himself. But through this indirect method of dealing +with him, by no means original with her, she gained +her end and saved the face of the Great Assistant. Had +he suffered “loss of face” probably nothing would have +been said by him at the time, but later he might have +appeared before his mistress to announce sorrowfully +that his uncle or great-aunt had just died and he must +leave at once. Perhaps next day he would be found +comfortably installed in a neighbouring kitchen. Occasionally +a young housekeeper, new to China, undertakes +to do her own marketing and even to dispense +with a cook altogether. But after a few days, or at +the most a few weeks, she usually gives up the trial she +made so hopefully, realizing that as conditions are in +China it is next to impossible for a foreign woman to +do her own housework.</p> + +<p>Following the taking of accounts came giving out +“stores” for the day. Housekeepers differ. Some +keep nothing under lock and key. Others deal out what +is needed in minutest measure, a cupful of rice, a half +cup of sugar. Mrs. Dunlap found it expedient to follow +a middle course, not putting temptation in the +cook’s way by giving him free access to the stores, +but at the same time showing that he was trusted by +letting him have a fairly liberal quantity at a time. If +the supplies disappeared too rapidly she dealt with +him after the ordinary indirect fashion. Frequently +she and her neighbors helped one another by “comparing +notes.” “How long does a fifty pound bag of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</span> +flour last you?” “How many pounds of sugar do you +average in a week?”</p> + +<p>Mrs. Dunlap’s cook was an artist in his way. When +the spirit moved him he sent his cakes, pies, and puddings +to the table ornamented in a style that would do +justice to a Fifth Avenue caterer. One day, however, +he gave the family a surprise. A cake was served for +dinner that had a most peculiar flavor. “I told the +cook to use lemon filling, but there is no taste of lemon +about this,” declared Mrs. Dunlap, critically sampling +a bit of the cake. “No, and there <i>is</i> a strong taste of +onion,” said her husband. “Oh, impossible! But yes, +there really is!” The cook was called in. “What +did you make the filling of?” questioned Mrs. Dunlap. +“Onions,” was the prompt reply. “Onions! Why, +I told you to use lemon.” “No, the lady said onions, +and I am an obedient cook. I always do just as the +lady bids.” Then suddenly it dawned on the crest-fallen +mistress that she <i>had</i> ordered onion, the Chinese +word for that pungent vegetable and for lemon being +somewhat alike. But this was not quite as bad as the +experiment of a friend’s cook, who, with no malice +whatever, but the best of intentions, flavored the soup +with kerosene oil, and on another occasion poured a +liberal quantity of hair oil into the pudding. As to +cleanliness or rather the lack of that admirable virtue +in the moral make-up of many otherwise desirable +chefs, without question the least said the better. But +when a cook is discovered washing his waistcoat in +the dishpan, or polishing the stove with a fine tea-towel, +if a summary dismissal ensues, can any one blame the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</span> +sorely-tried house-wife? Many a merry half hour the +ladies of the neighbourhood spend over their teacups +sharing experiences both amusing and tragic. The +longer Mrs. Dunlap lived in China the more she realized +that while the “servant problem” in the Orient is +not solved, as many in Western lands seem to think it +is, yet the excellencies of Chinese servants are many +and pronounced. These are more noticeably away from +the coast cities, and were more general before the recent +revolution, and even before 1900, but the sterling good +qualities of the better servants are still worthy of the +highest praise. Where will more devoted, faithful service +be found? Were the children sick at night, or was +Mr. Dunlap leaving the city by a midnight boat or an +early train, the servants were on duty, eager and willing +without a word of complaint.</p> + +<p>One time the Dunlaps arrived home from a journey +at midnight to find a hot supper awaiting them. It +had been ready since seven o’clock when the family +was expected, but by some occult process known only +to the cook, the food had been kept from burning or +drying up during the intervening hours. The men +were blinking and heavy-eyed, but absolutely good-natured.</p> + +<p>It was a never failing comfort to Mrs. Dunlap to be +able to announce the arrival of unexpected guests to +the servants without the shadow of a fear of any unpleasantness. +Indeed, the larger the number, the happier +was the cook, for the more he had to buy the bigger +his “squeeze.” Still a great amount of extra work +was often involved, which was always taken as a matter<span class="pagenum" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</span> +of course. The “boy” delighted to decorate the +dining table, and if left to his own devices a favorite +diversion was to write on the tablecloth, with colored +rice and flower petals, characters meaning love, happiness, +long life, and peace.</p> + +<p>But it was when the Dunlaps gave their house-warming +that the servants’ virtues shone the brightest. To +save time, the small cakes, toothsome and delicate, were +bought at a foreign bakery. To save money, though +there are caterers in Shanghai, the ice-cream was made +at home. Freezers were borrowed from neighbors, and +late in the afternoon a busy scene was enacted in the +little courtyard. The cook had called in coolies from +the street, and “boys” from the houses around, and +all were soon grinding away as if for dear life. Ice +can always be had in Shanghai. The Dunlaps often +observed with interest that whenever the neighboring +ponds were encrusted with ice, even half an inch thick, +the Chinese cut it carefully away and stored it in nearby +sheds. This broken ice sells for much less than the foreign +artificial ice, which however comes in cakes and +is much better. Mrs. Dunlap ventured to ask the cook +if the cream would keep till a late hour. With a lordly +wave of the hand the Great Assistant replied, “Leave +that to me, Lady. Leave that to me.” And she knew +she could.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the boy had been given the responsibility +in the dining-room. Mrs. Dunlap laid on the table extra +silver. “Here are so many forks, so many spoons,” +she explained. “Strange men will be in the kitchen +this evening. The silver is in your care.” That was<span class="pagenum" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</span> +all, and she never gave it another thought. Had a +piece been missing, it would shortly have been returned. +How, and from where, who knows? The secret service +system of Chinese servants is a mystery to foreigners.</p> + +<p>That night before going upstairs Mrs. Dunlap was +respectfully requested to look at the silver, washed and +neatly piled on the sideboard. The tired boy would not +sleep until she had inspected it and declared it all right.</p> +<hr class="full x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="c6">VI</h2> +</div> + +<p class="ph2">SOMETHING ABOUT VEHICLES</p> + + +<p><span class="dropcap">L</span>ET them be named decently and in order. First +and foremost is the wheelbarrow. It does not +take this rank because of its superior size, elegance, +or even usefulness, but on account of its antiquity. +To be sure, it can not lay claim to antedating +the sedan-chair, but the dignified and exclusive sedan-chair +has practically dropped out of Shanghai street +life and hence will not be considered. The wheelbarrow +on the contrary, instead of being relegated to the +interior or less modern towns, creakily holds its own, +and is not to be downed. Nor does any one want it +to be, useful vehicle that it is, unless perchance some +nervous invalids, or weary sleepers, whose morning rest +is disturbed by the rising crescendo of the rasping, tormenting, +unconquerable nuisance. The creak could be +stopped with a few drops of oil—the easiest matter in +the world, but the coolie loves that creak—he would +not part with it for anything. It means business. It is +the evidence of work being accomplished. Without it +he would feel lost. Every wheelbarrow, the Chinese +say, has its individual creak. People too far off to be +recognized are identified in this way. “Friend Wong +is coming,” says a man to his neighbor, “I hear his +creak.” A Chinese wheelbarrow has this advantage<span class="pagenum" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</span> +over its foreign compeers, that instead of a small wheel +at the end, it has a large one in the center. To be +sure, the wheel rising up divides the wheelbarrow into +halves, but makes it much easier to carry the weight. +A stout woven rope band fastened to the handle-bars +and passing back across the coolie’s shoulders helps +greatly to steady the load.</p> + +<p>The Shanghai wheelbarrow is mostly used for +freight, but because of its cheapness it is a favourite +passenger vehicle with a certain class of Chinese, +especially the women and children going to and +from the mills. Often eight or ten crowd on, +sitting sideways with their feet hanging down. Once +eleven women and girls were seen on one, pushed along +by a single coolie. A coolie ordinarily is able to manage +anywhere from six hundred to a thousand pounds. +He carries everything, from building-stone to goose +feathers. When the cargo is heavy the poor fellow +staggers like a drunken man, moving from side to side +to balance his load. His veins stand out like whipcords +and the perspiration pours off from him in +streams. To keep from being blinded by it in summer +he frequently has to wear a band forming artificial eyebrows +across his forehead to catch and hold the water. +All the time, breathless as he is, he usually keeps up his +singing cry, partly from force of habit and partly to +warn people that he is coming and to clear the road. +But street-cars can’t turn out of the way, and some +other vehicles won’t, so occasionally the coolie gets +caught in a trap, the wheelbarrow loses its balance, +and over it goes. With certain kinds of cargo no damage +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</span>is done and the only inconvenience is the delay +and extra lifting, but if the load is rice bags which +burst open, or breakable merchandise, the coolie faces a +bad situation. He earns, as a rule, a fair living wage +for a poor man, but there is no surplus to cover the +cost of accidents.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" id="f7"> +<img src="images/fig7.jpg" alt="rickshas"> +<p class="caption">HIGH, BLACK RICKSHAS OUTSIDE THE FOREIGN SETTLEMENT</p> +</div> + +<p>Wheelbarrow coolies, though, are said to live longer +and fare better than most ricsha coolies. This latter +class is very shortlived as a rule. Their working years +do not ordinarily extend beyond three, five, or at the +most ten. One Shanghai ricsha coolie declared he had +pulled a ricsha for twenty-four years, but this, if true, +was most exceptional. At the present time there are +between nine and ten thousand public ricshas in Shanghai, +but probably a shifting population during the year +of many times that number of coolies. Some one who +has studied the subject estimates that the entire coolie +population of Shanghai, including all classes, reaches +as high as four hundred thousand. The average earnings +of a ricsha coolie are seven coppers, about three +or four cents, a day, and from this pittance he must +support a family, and that too in a city noted over +China for high cost of living. No wonder a doctor +in charge of a mission hospital where many sick +coolies are sent recently reported, “A large number +of the cases brought in are in a state of collapse due +to malnutrition and the bad hygienic conditions of +their life superadded to the strenuous spasmodic +strain they undergo.” Heart trouble and China’s inveterate +foe, tuberculosis, carry off the majority. +Perspiring freely, even in winter, after a hard run,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</span> +then waiting, it may be an hour, for another “fare,” +in the penetrating wind or chilling rain, with no +extra covering for their thinly clad bodies, the coolies +are in a condition to succumb readily to disease. Married +men live in colonies in the outskirts of the city, +in little straw or bamboo huts, for which they pay a +rental of from fifteen to twenty cents a month. In cold +weather the whole family crawls inside to keep warm, +where the air is heavy with tobacco smoke and the +fumes from the little charcoal fire over which the rice +is cooking. Many a baby contracts eye disease that +later leads to blindness. Unmarried ricsha coolies sleep +wherever they can find shelter, ordinarily in the cheap +tea-houses, often as many as fifty herding together in +one small room. The conditions in these places beggar +description.</p> + +<p>The coolies do not own their ricshas. They +are the property of companies, some foreign, others Chinese, +each owning anywhere from fifty to seven or eight +hundred, while two large companies have in stock a +thousand and twelve hundred, respectively. One of +these companies manufactures its own ricshas, turning +out a hundred a month. Women are employed to make +the cushions for the back and seat. Several of the +companies provide the men with uniforms. Generally +it is only a coat, while the wearer’s ragged trousers +show more ragged in contrast. In a single instance the +clothes are washed every twenty-four hours in the company’s +laundry and returned clean to the coolies. The +Municipal Council has decreed that in the International +Settlement ricsha coolies must be decently clad,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</span> +but the rule is not strictly enforced. On the back of +ricshas belonging to Chinese companies is written in +Chinese the company’s name, which is generally rather +poetic not to say moral in tone, such as “Able to Fly +Co.,” “Everlasting Remembrance,” “Steadfast Righteousness.” +One company’s ricshas exhibit above the +license plate a small metal locomotive, highly suggestive +of incomparable speed. A rubber-tired ricsha +costs, when new, fifty or sixty dollars, and its rental +per day is from thirty-five to forty cents. A coolie hiring +a ricsha, after using it a few hours, or half a day, +sublets it, and that man in turn often rents it to +another, so that in the course of twenty-four hours, it +is likely to pass through two, three, or perhaps four +hands, consequently the number of ricsha coolies is +naturally far in excess of the ricshas. Passengers pay +either according to the time the ricsha is used, the regular +tariff being twenty cents an hour (but if the poor +fellow gets eight or ten cents he does well), or by +the trip, say five cents for a run of a mile or a mile and +a half. At night the coolie expects a trifle more, as +he has to spend a cent to buy the candle that lights +his paper lantern or tiny lamp. These are the prices +for foreigners. Chinese as a rule give less. Ricshas +are of two kinds, the high black ones and the low +brown style. All the latter are furnished with rubber +tires. Most of the high ones formerly were without +them, and as they could be rented more cheaply in consequence, +were much used by the poorer Chinese, but +of late the Municipal Council has succeeded in banishing +all such ricshas from the Settlement. Most of the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</span> +worn-out ricshas are apparently bought up for use in +the Chinese district, as it abounds in a multitude of +rickety, ramshackle vehicles, probably purchased for a +mere song. Many of them are pulled by young boys, +scarcely more than children.</p> + +<p>Ricsha coolies running in the International Settlement +must have a license from the Municipal Council. +If they are to travel beyond the limits of the Settlement +they require in addition a French and a Chinese +license. The license, in the form of a tin plate, is +slipped into a groove at the back of the ricsha. It is +furnished to the coolies by the companies owning the +ricshas who pay into the city treasury a dollar a month +for each one. The coolie loses his license if he commits +a misdemeanor. Often for a very slight one, like blocking +the road, generally in his eagerness to secure a +passenger, he has his license taken from him by a Sikh +policeman. Then the poor fellow is sorely troubled, +for he can do no business without his license, and +it is sometimes several days, or weeks, before it is +restored, on the payment of a fine of forty cents. Once +a month the ricshas in the Settlement must have their +licenses renewed and be officially inspected.</p> + +<p>At the examining station opposite the Honkew Market, +between three and four hundred gather every day. +An English policeman is in charge. One by one the +ricshas are brought before him, while he and a Chinese +assistant shake, pull, and pound them to see if they +are in good condition. If any part shows signs of +weakness it is wrenched off, the license withheld, and +the ricsha sent back to the company that owns it for<span class="pagenum" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</span> +repairs. The companies are represented on these occasions +by Chinese foremen. Occasionally the foreman +is a forewoman. A regular habitué is an old wizened +creature, with bound feet and half blind, but as the +foreign officer aptly describes her, “Keen as a razor +when it comes to looking after the fifty ricshas placed +in her care.” Accidents to ricshas are not infrequent +on the crowded streets of Shanghai. The marvel is that +they do not occur oftener. Nearly all coolies run with +their heads down and their minds,—well, who can tell +where a coolie’s mind may be wandering? It is doubtless +dormant most of the time. Nearly all coolies come +from the lowest stratum of society, and having nothing +else to give in exchange for bread, or rather rice, sell +their strength. The literal interpretation of the word +“coolie” is “The man who sells his strength.”</p> + +<p>The ricsha coolie’s movements are erratic and impulsive. +He seldom reasons. There are foreigners who +will not risk their life in a ricsha and hair-breadth +escapes occur nearly every day. An American lady +was riding on one of the narrow, congested streets, +when suddenly her coolie attempted to dash across the +road between two electric cars approaching from opposite +directions. He succeeded in clearing the track +himself but the cars closed on the ricsha, crushing it +to splinters. The woman with great presence of mind +saved herself by grasping the front railing of one of +the cars and holding to it until she could be drawn +up. Another remarkable escape was that of a mother +who, with her young baby, was riding on one of the +quiet streets supposed to be perfectly safe. The coolie<span class="pagenum" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</span> +saw a man approaching on a bicycle, zigzaged several +times in front of him, then utterly losing his nerve and +wits, he dropped the shafts and ran away. The sudden +stop and downward movement of the ricsha threw +the baby out of its mother’s arms. The little thing +fell, face down, on the hard macadamized road, and +lay so still the mother feared the child was dead, but +it proved to be only stunned, and except for some bad +bruises, the next day seemed none the worse for its fall.</p> + +<p>The ordinary wear and tear of ricshas is made good +by the owners, but damages due to accidents are often +charged to the coolie, at least in part. The amount +for which he is responsible depends on the company. +One large firm exacts two and three dollars for a tire. +These prices are ruinous for the coolie, who is obliged +to borrow the money to pay the fine, and money lenders +demand exorbitant rates of interest. The coolie who +is unable to pay his debt has no recourse but to run +away, commit suicide, or go to the Debtor’s Prison. +In the latter case, unless he has more fortunate friends +or relatives who come to his rescue he is likely to remain +a prisoner indefinitely.</p> + +<p>It is interesting to see how quickly a fresh arrival +from the West accustoms himself to ricsha riding. At +first he is apt to inveigh against man-drawn vehicles, +or if he gets into a ricsha, to sit lightly on the seat, +with perhaps one foot hanging out at the side, with +the idea of helping the coolie along, but presently he +abandons himself to the enjoyment of the little, easy-running +carriage, or as one enthusiastic woman described +it “a grown-up’s perambulator,” and almost<span class="pagenum" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</span> +ceases to think of the puller as a human being. But +let him stand on the Bund some day in the late afternoon +and watch the stream of ricshas hurrying by. +There is scarcely a coolie whose face is not drawn as +if with pain, and many are actually contorted. Although +a ricsha coolie’s life is far from a bed of roses, +in his own happy-go-lucky way he does manage to get +some pleasure out of it. One of the ricsha companies, +with benevolent intentions, undertook to furnish free +hot tea to its men at the company’s headquarters, but +the plan didn’t work, for the reason that the coolies +preferred to buy their own tea at a tea-house. +Wretched as is the low-class tea-house, it is the coolies’ +favorite gathering place, where, surrounded by their +cronies, they can gossip, smoke, and gamble till necessity +drives them forth to work again.</p> + +<p>The coolies who come to the city in winter from +farms and return to them in the spring, may be called +gentlemen of means compared with the others. A +very few, the number is almost negligible, are able +to make ricsha pulling a paying business, as in the +case of the man who gave up the position of “boy” at +six dollars a month in a private family to become a +ricsha coolie, because he said he could make more +money.</p> + +<p>Many articles are lost in the ricshas. A passenger +gets out and hurries away, forgetting his bundle or +umbrella, and unless he has thought to look at the number +on the ricsha, that is the last he ever sees of it. +Not always though. The narrow margin on which +the poor coolie exists from day to day makes the exceptionally<span class="pagenum" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</span> +honest one stand out in all the brighter +light. An elderly gentleman, carrying a very valuable +package, left his ricsha with the package in it and went +into a store. His business detained him some time +and he finally returned home in a street car, entirely +forgetting he had a ricsha waiting for him. After a +considerable time the coolie, who had not observed the +gentleman go away, went into the shop to look for him. +A clerk said he had gone. Then was the coolie’s opportunity +to run off with his prize. But no, in a moment +he had brought in the package and laid it on the +counter, asking anxiously how he could get it to the +owner. As the gentleman was a regular customer at +the shop, the clerk agreed to send it to his residence. +That coolie not only received no reward for his honesty, +since he slipped back into the crowd and it was +impossible to identify him, but he lost time and fare +as well. Another case was that of a lady who, in +stepping from her ricsha, dropped a five dollar bill, +which was discovered by the coolie after she had gone. +Not being sure which house the lady had entered the +coolie went from one to another until he found the +owner of the money, to whom he restored it. It sometimes +happens that dishonesty crops up where it is not +looked for, and an unprincipled passenger, sad to relate, +sometimes a foreigner, after using a ricsha for +several hours, eludes his coolie and escapes the payment +of fare by going into a shop or house and disappearing +out another door.</p> + +<p>The ricsha is not indigenous to China. It was introduced +from Japan as many as fifty years ago and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</span> +promises to be seen on the streets of Shanghai for some +time to come in spite of the increasing popularity of +more modern conveyances.</p> + +<p>There is a Christian mission for the ricsha coolies. +It was started four years ago by a Scotch business man +on whose heart had been laid the spiritual needs of +this neglected class. At two centres in thickly-populated +coolie districts week-day and Sunday meetings +are held in rented Chinese houses, besides Sunday-schools +and day-schools for the children of the ricsha +coolies and a weekly religious meeting for women. A +native evangelist visits the men in their homes and +in the tea-shops they are wont to frequent, a Bible +woman goes among the women, hot rice and beds are +given to the really destitute in cold weather, and the +sick are sent to the hospital. At the special Christmas +services held one year each coolie was presented with +a cheap towel, to his great delight. But let it not be +imagined that the coolie’s satisfaction was due to the +fact that he could now remove a few layers of dirt +from his hands and face. That consideration, if it +entered his mind at all, was wholly secondary. The +chief use of the towel was to wipe the sweat from +his brow when running, so that he could see more +clearly. The coolies’ incredulous amazement that any +one should care for them was most touching. At first +when they flocked to the Hall they would say to the +evangelist, “Is this for <i>us</i>?” and at the close of the +meeting, “We never heard anything like it!” There +have been a number of very bright conversions among +them. The work is supported by voluntary contributions,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</span> +the coolies themselves, out of their extreme poverty, +giving generously. The ambition of some is to +raise enough money to build a church! It is a noble +purpose but leagues beyond the possibilities of their +meagre resources.</p> + +<p>Tramcars began running in the International Settlement +in Shanghai in 1907. Six years later they were +introduced on Chinese territory. No street in the +Chinese city being wide enough for a car to pass +through it, the intention is to surround the city with +a track in place of the old moat, and it will not be long +before the circle is complete. The cars are divided +into two unequal sections, the larger one for third-class +passengers and the smaller for first-class. Some foreigners +travel third-class and many Chinese first-class. +On one line in the Settlement, owing to the rude treatment +accorded them in the third-class compartment by +Chinese men, Chinese women are allowed to travel +first-class for a third-class fare. Two notices stand out +conspicuously in third-class cars. One prohibits spitting +and is put up by the Municipal Health Department +to guard against tuberculosis. The other warns +passengers not to enter or leave while the cars are in +motion. The warning is emphasized by a coloured +picture of a man who has fallen in jumping off a car +and is lying on the ground with the blood flowing from +his wounds. Still, every year some Chinese are killed +and many more injured in attempting, in their ignorance +of physical laws, to imitate what they see foreigners +do. Yet accidents do not deter them from using +the cars, and during the busy hours of the day they<span class="pagenum" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</span> +fairly swarm into them. Nearly all the cars carry +a trailer, and except for a few seats in front reserved +for first-class passengers, that too is crowded with +Chinese. Fares are rated according to the distance +traveled. Both motorman and conductor are Chinese, +and the latter understands just enough English to collect +fares. But if a stranger in the city asks in English +for general information he will rarely succeed in making +himself understood. Railless cars, brought over +from England, were introduced on one road in the +autumn of 1914, but proved too heavy for the paving +and were prohibited after a week or two. The following +spring, the road foundation having been +strengthened, a second trial of the cars was made, and +this time with pronounced success. They soon became +very popular. Underground and elevated cars have +not yet made their appearance in Shanghai, but the +son of one of its most prominent Chinese citizens has +been spending some time in Paris learning to fly, so on +his return in the near future almost anything may be +expected to develop in this progressive corner of the +Orient.</p> + +<p>Shanghai being one of the greatest shipping ports +in the Far East, quantities of merchandise are handled +daily. Besides wheelbarrows, and coolies who carry +loads suspended by ropes from poles resting on their +shoulders, men-drawn carts are constantly in requisition. +Coolies take the place of horses and mules as +beasts of burden. It is true that the foreign hotels and +many foreign firms have their wagons and vans, nowadays +they are oftener motor cars, but these vehicles<span class="pagenum" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</span> +of Western manufacture are far outnumbered by native +hand-pulled carts. The carts are of the simplest +design, several oblong planks nailed together and set +on two wheels. Most of the loads have to be tied on +with ropes, and no account is taken of weight. The +coolies’ muscle is not spared. Three, four, or more +coolies are stationed in front of the cart to pull, with +often several at the back to push. Stout ropes fifteen +or twenty feet long are fastened by one end to the cart +and knotted at the other. Each coolie takes a rope, +passes it over his shoulder, changing occasionally for relief +from one to the other, and grasps the knot with +both hands. If the load is extremely heavy, such as +iron rods or building stone, the pullers even on level +ground are obliged to stop frequently to rest and recover +breath. But it is when crossing the arched +bridges over Soochow Creek that the tug of war comes. +The forward coolies bend almost double, while those +at the rear push with might and main till their faces +are congested and it seems as if they must burst every +blood-vessel in their bodies. But perhaps the cart does +not yield an inch. After a moment’s rest another effort +is made. This time the coolies at the back grasp +the wheels and at last succeed in turning them ever so +little, while slowly, very, very slowly the cart is drawn +up the incline. When the highest point of the bridge +is reached, unless the road in front is clear, there is +another pause. Then the coolies who have been pushing, +pull back, assisted by some of the others, while +the forward coolies rush ahead in the liveliest manner +to keep from being hit by the cart. It impresses foreigners<span class="pagenum" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</span> +as a cruel way of getting work done and draws +painfully on their sympathies, but if a sudden change +were made to horse power, the carters would doubtless +be the first ones to raise a hue and cry against it.</p> +<hr class="full x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="c7">VII</h2> +</div> + +<p class="ph2">A PEEP INTO THE SCHOOLROOM</p> + + +<p><span class="dropcap">“H</span>OW many schools for the Chinese, not counting +missionary schools, are there in Shanghai?” +The question was asked of a Y.M.C.A. +secretary, who with others had just completed +a canvass of the city with reference to its educational +facilities. “It is not possible to tell exactly,” +he replied, puckering his brow. “As nearly as we +could find out, there are at least five hundred, probably +more. Of course that list does not include the +schools for girls. Miss Blank can tell you about +them.” The Chairman of the Committee on the +Investigation of Girls’ Schools was interviewed. She +brought out her maps, charts, and reports, and spread +them on the table. “It was such a difficult search,” +she explained. “We discovered between thirty and +forty boarding schools alone, but it is almost certain +that does not include all. Some of them were hidden +away in the queerest places.” “What a difference in +the number of schools for girls compared with those +for boys!” exclaimed her visitor. “Oh, well, you must +remember we made no effort to tabulate the little day-schools. +They seemed to be legion and met us at every +turn.” The large majority of the schools enumerated +were established after 1900, and very many sprang<span class="pagenum" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</span> +up at the time of the revolution in 1911, or quickly following +it.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" id="f8"> +<img src="images/fig8.jpg" alt="singer"> +<p class="caption">ADVERTISING SINGER SEWING MACHINE PRODUCTS</p> +</div> + +<p>From these statistics it might appear that the education +of the children of Shanghai was fairly well provided +for, but with no compulsory system, thousands +that are employed in mills and factories, bound out as +apprentices, thrust forth to beg or allowed to loaf, never +cross the threshold of a schoolroom.</p> + +<p>The Municipality of the International Settlement +supports four large public schools for Chinese boys +(there are none for girls), the ground in each instance +having been donated by philanthropic Chinese, and the +native residents in the Settlement, who form the bulk +of the population, paying their share of the taxes on +the buildings.</p> + +<p>One of the handsomest buildings in the French Concession +is a public school for Chinese boys.</p> + +<p>Private schools, or as they are termed “Gentry +Schools,” are very popular with the Chinese. In +Shanghai this class far outnumbers all others, and it is +moreover an interesting fact that of the schools under +government control very many were started by an individual +or group of individuals as private enterprises. +China is a nation that reverences learning above all +else. Not a scrap of paper that has written or printed +on it even a single “character” is willingly allowed +to be blown about carelessly or trampled under foot. +These precious bits, soiled and torn though they may be, +are laboriously picked up by men or boys armed with +tongs or pin-pointed sticks, who travel to and fro through +the streets in search of them. The well-to-do hire<span class="pagenum" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</span> +proxies to perform this meritorious work. The paper +is carried to the public ovens, where it is burned, and +the ashes afterward thrown out in the river. The belief +is millenniums old that heaven vouchsafes special +blessings to those who show due regard for the sacred +symbols of knowledge. It follows then quite naturally +that to open and maintain a school ranks with the +Chinese among the highest forms of service one can +render to mankind.</p> + +<p>Since Western education has been introduced, many +of China’s best young men have dedicated their lives +and fortunes to popularizing it. Among the numerous +examples that could be cited in Shanghai alone, the +Akademio Utopia is one. Four years ago a group +of ten zealous young men started a school in a small +rented building. They had little capital, but each +one agreed to devote twenty per cent of his income +to meeting the running expenses. Several who had +studied abroad gave also of their time and taught one +or more classes. The principal was a graduate of +Cornell University and the first Chinese student from +that institution to be elected to Phi Beta Kappa. The +current expenses were soon met, or nearly so, by the +fees of the students, whose number quickly ran up to +over a hundred, but when it became necessary to build, +the young promoters again put their hands in their +pockets, and out of their modest earnings gave most +liberally. The principal’s father offered him financial +help but in a spirit of manly independence he refused +it, preferring to depend on his own and the school’s resources. +The fine new building is finished and in use,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</span> +though plain benches take the place of desks which +will be added later, together with other needed furnishings, +as the debt is gradually paid off.</p> + +<p>In the plebeian district of the Settlement, on a street +little frequented by foreigners, is a boarding and day-school +attended by five hundred and fifty boys. Unlike +the former school, this one started full-fledged the +year of the Boxer Rebellion, which witnessed the birth +of so many new enterprises. The plant consists of +three brick buildings, the middle one surmounted by +a stately clock tower, and all connected by covered +passageways. The main building is divided from front +to back into parallel sections, with open courts between, +though joined on the upper story by bridges. +In this way good light and air are secured for each +of the forty-six rooms. There is a laboratory, a science +class-room with seats in amphitheatre style, a +library containing both Chinese and English books, a +hall dedicated to Confucius whose walls are hung with +scrolls inscribed with quotations from the writings of +the Sage and where the students gather semi-annually +for worship, and finally a reception-room, having as +its chief ornament a portrait of the founder of the +school. The founder began life as a poor boatman. +By careful saving of his earnings he was by and by +able to open a small metal-ware shop. Possessed of +great business sagacity, he rose step by step, gradually +amassing wealth, until he became a millionaire. +Though he never learned to read and write, this self-made +man had ideals and gave liberally for the free +education of the poor. When he was past sixty he conceived<span class="pagenum" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</span> +the idea of founding a school as the best and +most lasting memorial of himself he could leave to the +city. The plans were made and the building begun, +though the philanthropist did not live to see it completed. +A statue is soon to be erected in his honour +by a company of Shanghai merchants. The founder’s +sons built a beautiful little memorial temple to their +father on the school area between the playground and +the out-of-doors gymnasium, and thither they resort at +stated intervals to prostrate themselves before the ancestral +tablets, as the students do in front of the philanthropist’s +portrait in the reception hall. But they +have no love for learning and take no interest whatever +in the school, which goes to prove that not all the conservatives +lived in the past century nor that all of the +progressives are confined to the new. The fees are +kept low, board and tuition for the entire school year of +ten months and a half costing less than twenty-four +dollars. Fifty of the boys are charity pupils. English +and French are taught, the latter by a graduate +of the school, and there is a small industrial department. +The course of study extends through eleven +years and carries the student up to about the third year +in a home High School.</p> + +<p>Close to the South Gate of the Chinese City, or where +the South Gate formerly stood, is a plain red brick +building called in English “The Shanghai High +School.” The interior arrangement could not be simpler, +a hall running through the middle, which is also +a dining-room for the boarders, and class-rooms opening +off from it on either side. Above are dormitories.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</span> +In this building and three smaller ones on the grounds, +five hundred boys, half of them boarders, whose ages +average sixteen, are receiving a thorough education. +A foreign educator remarked when visiting the school, +“This shows what excellent work the Chinese can do +with a very modest equipment, which, after all, answers +in every way to their actual needs.” The story +of this school is worth repeating. Thirteen years ago +four progressive brothers banded together to help educate +the youth of Shanghai. Not having sufficient +money to purchase a suitable site and erect a building, +they fitted up the family residence for a school, supporting +it largely with their own funds. Three of the +brothers are successful business men, and the fourth +became the principal. He is a graduate of St. John’s +University of the Protestant Episcopal Mission in +Shanghai, a man in his early prime, of scholarly tastes +and habits. Hardly had the doors of the school been +opened when ninety boys flocked to it, and the number +increased so rapidly that within a year or two it became +necessary to look for more commodious quarters. +The school in the meantime had received recognition +from the local government and was given an annual +grant-in-aid. The Chinese Municipality donated some +of the public land for a site for the new plant, and +in 1909 the present edifice was completed. Thirty +teachers are employed, three of them being foreigners, +and women. Speaking one day of the qualifications of +his foreign teachers, reference was made by a friend +to the fact that one of them had graduated with honour +from the University of Edinburgh. “Yes,” said the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</span> +principal smilingly, “I consider myself fortunate in +securing her, but I always seek the very best for my +school, for it is my purpose to maintain the highest +standard.” And that he does maintain it was proved +when several of his students on examination entered +St. John’s University unconditioned, the first time a +school under Chinese management had attained such +distinction.</p> + +<p>Four years after the brothers started their venture, +their three sisters launched a school for girls. +This school, like the other, had a small beginning, but +from the first was a pronounced success. Later, its +promotors were also given public land on which to +build, and what is more, bricks from the city wall, +at that time in process of being torn down, were donated +for building material. Can the imagination conjure +up anything more strange and romantic than a +part of the old storied walls metamorphosed into a +school for Chinese girls? How the city fathers who +planned those walls, to say nothing of Confucius himself, +whose prophetic eye caught no vision of a liberally +educated womanhood, would have shrunk in horror +from such unseemly desecration! The sisters are all +married, one being a widow, and with their families +live in neat apartments in the rear of the school. They +are well-to-do, and teach for love’s sake rather than for +the money there is in it. Indeed, the school has not +yet become self-supporting. One teacher is principal, +another supervises the classes in embroidery, and +the third manages the business. The one hundred +and thirty bright-faced pupils, besides the common<span class="pagenum" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</span> +branches, are taught music, drawing, painting, and +plain sewing. They receive regular instruction in physical +training from a young Chinese woman who had +her own education in Boston. The school has been +honoured with medals from several expositions to which +specimens of beautiful embroidery and drawings have +been sent.</p> + +<p>Fifty years ago a baby girl destined for an unusual +career was born in one of the patrician Chinese homes +in Shanghai. She was reared in luxury and given the +meagre education at home usually accorded by indulgent +parents to girls in her position. Allowed by choice +to remain unmarried, she eventually allied herself with +a society of austere Buddhist religionists known as +“vegetarians.” Years rolled by, till the girl, grown +to womanhood, had passed her thirty-ninth birthday. +She had long observed that her father was a liberal-minded +man, and that his benefactions were frequently +in aid of schools for girls, which were gradually becoming +common. “If my father is interested in the +education of girls,” she reasoned within herself, “why +should I not open a school and he help <i>me</i>?” But +when she mentioned the plan to her father he frowned +upon it harshly, and her stepmother was even more +violent in her opposition. Education might be condoned +in others, but no daughter of theirs needed more +than she had, and much less should she aspire to be a +medium for encouraging it. Moreover, the father realized +the young woman’s marked ability, and had plans +of his own respecting the help she would by and by +render him in the management of his estate. The<span class="pagenum" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</span> +more she was opposed, however, the stronger grew her +purpose, until finally the controversy led to her being +practically disinherited and driven from the parental +roof. She had a little money with which she managed +to open a small school, and then sold her jewels +to keep it running. That was twelve years ago. Twice +she has moved, the last time, in the spring of 1914, +to a handsome new building she erected herself largely +with the portion of her inheritance she was able to +secure when her father died. There was a notable +“opening” to which many Chinese guests and a few +favored foreigners were invited. On the wall of the +Assembly Room hung a large portrait of the principal’s +father, for the flower of filial piety rarely dies +in China, no matter how rough the winds that blow +upon it. Chinese flags were draped over the platform +and fluttered from pillar to post. In the side rooms +the industrial work of the girls was on exhibition and +a fine collation set forth.</p> + +<p>The building and grounds of this school are always +kept neat and attractive, and no matter what +hour of the day the unexpected visitor arrives, he is +sure to find dormitories and hall, and even dining-room, +kitchen, and laundry worthy of the closest inspection. +The kindergarten building is slightly separated +from the main one, and it would be hard to find +anywhere a more perfect model of its kind. Mothers’ +Meetings are held from time to time when practicable. +Matters relating to the child’s moral, mental, and physical +well-being are frankly discussed.</p> + +<p>“Commencement Day” is observed with great éclat.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</span> +Last year, four “sweet girl graduates” sat on the platform, +all dressed alike, in white Chinese silk made in +Chinese style, white slippers with foreign heels, and +tiny blue ribbon bows at the neck, and bands of narrow +blue ribbon around their hair. The class colours +were blue and white, and behind the girls hung their +class banner, bearing on a white ground their motto +“Excelsior” in blue letters. Each graduate had prepared +an essay in English, but only one was read, +“The Influence and Responsibility of the Young +Women of China.” In thought and language it would +have done credit to a school-girl in any land. The +others wrote on, “The Need of Compulsory Education,” +“The Evils of the Cigarette Habit,” and “The +Advantages of an Education in China Over That Received +Abroad.” Songs, piano solos, duets, and eight-handed +pieces, recitations in French and English, and +an eloquent address on “The Value of Education for +Women,” by the Chinese Commissioner of Foreign Affairs, +completed the programme, which throughout was +of an exceptionally high order. Then came the closing +scene as a delightful climax. Dr. Wu Ting Fang, +former Minister to the United States, presented to +each graduate a diploma tied with ribbon in approved +Western style, which he received from the hand of the +principal. It was hard to realize that the little woman +standing beside Dr. Wu, so modest and retiring, in +simple, dark Chinese dress, her hair combed straight +back from her face in old-time Chinese fashion, was the +promoter and controlling spirit of this most successful +up-to-date school. She speaks no English and prefers<span class="pagenum" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</span> +to keep in the background as much as possible, yet +hers is an unusual personality. Though not a professing +Christian she is a believer in heart and is quite a regular +attendant at a Protestant Episcopal Mission +Church.</p> + +<p>Another popular school for girls is known generally +as the “Suffragette School.” Like so many others, its +existence began at the close of the recent revolution, and +grew out of it. The exigencies of the revolution +brought women into the public arena as they had never +thought of figuring before. A few who had studied +medicine went to the front as doctors and many more +as Red Cross nurses. A large number acted as spies, +secreted refugees, carried ammunition to the soldiers, +and sacrificed property and life itself for their country. +From various quarters there gathered in Shanghai a +hundred or so school-girls, most of them runaways, +fired with an all-consuming if misguided desire to aid +their country, who donned uniforms, shouldered arms, +drilled, and begged to be allowed to march at once to +the firing-line, which fortunately for them they were +not permitted to do. They were known as the “Amazons.” +All these events, however, so stirred the patriotism +of the women of Shanghai that a numerous company +banded together to raise money for the revolution, +which they did very successfully. When the fighting +ceased, instead of disbanding they formed themselves +into a permanent organization under the name of “The +Chinese Woman’s Co-operative Association.” Its purpose +was to protect the interests of women in general, +and in particular to gain for them the right of suffrage.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</span></p> + +<p>The society is still in existence, though greatly modified +in tone and reduced in numbers by the elimination +of the most rabid and troublesome spirits. Occasional +meetings are held and men are frequently invited to address +them, a woman occupying the chair. The principal +work done by this Association since the revolution +has been the founding and fostering of the Suffragette +School, with the idea of inculcating advanced +ideas in the minds of the young. At first the teachers, +all of them women, worked without salary, and turned +with disdain from men and marriage. While the curriculum +includes Western studies, particular emphasis +is laid on Chinese subjects, especially +the writing of Chinese characters, which the +pupils do exceedingly well. They are encouraged to +make their clothes of Chinese cloth, use Chinese furnishings +in their homes and preserve the old-time customs +and the old-time beliefs; in short, to be Chinese to +the backbone and independent of the foreigners’ supplies +and the foreigners’ religion.</p> + +<p>The school has prospered better numerically than +financially. An interested missionary was talking one +day about the school to Miss C., a recent graduate of +Wellesley College and a relative of the principal. “You +say the school is poor?” “Not poor in the quality of +work done, but, O yes, very poor in money.” “What +is the reason of that?” “Well, it hasn’t financial supporters. +You see, right after the revolution so many +women were enthusiastic about suffrage. But they are +not now in the same way, and they don’t take as much +interest in keeping up the school.” “What do you think<span class="pagenum" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</span> +makes them less interested in the question of suffrage?” +“They don’t believe the time has come in China to push +it. Other things they feel are at present more important +and necessary.” “What is your personal opinion?” +The bright eyes of the young woman rested +an instant thoughtfully on her questioner, then came +the decided reply, “I am sure we are not ready to +vote yet, and it is a mistake to divert our thoughts from +greater needs by thinking of it and working for it.”</p> + +<p>More and more as the New Learning is crowding +out the old-time impractical methods, the desire grows +to relate the work of the schools to the life of the people. +Hitherto industrial training has received little +attention in China, but the Republic has been gradually +awakening to its importance, so that to-day schools of +this kind are the ones that appeal most strongly to the +popular mind and receive the readiest support from +governmental and private sources. In Shanghai, commercial +and industrial schools, or schools that have +added these departments to their curricula, are constantly +on the increase.</p> + +<p>The World’s Chinese Students’ Federation, with +headquarters at Shanghai, is carrying on both day and +evening schools which are largely attended. The +teachers give their services free and are young men +of independent means, or those who are able and willing +to devote a portion of their time to this work. The +principal is only twenty-one, a graduate of the Young +Men’s Christian Association school and unusually +gifted.</p> + +<p>The leading institution in Shanghai under Chinese<span class="pagenum" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</span> +auspices is the Government Institute of Technology. +As in the case of so many other educational enterprises, +this one received its initial impulse from an +individual, a man high in government employ. It +began in 1897 as a Normal School, then added Preparatory +and Grammar School departments, and finally, under +the skillful leadership of Dr. John C. Ferguson, +developed into Nanyang College, still later adding +courses in civil and electrical engineering, and changing +its name to “The Government School of Technology.” +The handsome buildings in the midst of spacious +well-kept grounds, the complete equipment, fine +corps of teachers, eight of whom are Americans, the +standard of work maintained, and the character of the +large student body, all combine to make this a school +Shanghai may well be proud of. A few of the best +students are sent each year to Europe and America +for a period of practical training.</p> + +<p>The Mining and Railway College is not so large +nor so old an institution, but in its way quite as remarkable. +Its founder, who is also its president, is a +young man in his early thirties, with a finely chiselled, +scholarly face and gracious manner. When travelling +abroad after finishing his education at Queen’s College +in Hongkong, he became convinced that what China required +more than almost anything else was trained engineers. +So four years ago (many things happened in +Shanghai four years ago), unaided, he started this +school, giving himself and his money without reserve +to the work. Already the students number two hundred +and sixty, as promising a body of young men as one<span class="pagenum" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</span> +would wish to see. They come from nearly every province +in the country and a few from Java. Five of the +fifteen teachers have studied abroad, but only one is a +foreigner, a Belgian who teaches mining and mineralogy. +The entering students are put at once into English +classes and it is remarkable what they accomplish +in a single year. A specialty is made of chirography, +“for,” says the president, “unless the boys learn to +form their letters carefully, they will not draw well, +and as engineers they must do that.”</p> + +<p>The School of Medicine and of Engineering, carried +on by the Germans for Chinese students, is unique +in its way. An eminent physicist in Shanghai has said +that in his opinion it is the greatest institution in +China. The school, its two departments being entirely +distinct, is not missionary nor even philanthropic in +character. This is simply a business enterprise fostered +by the German government for business purposes. +They give the best training in return for what, to the +Chinese, are heavy fees, in order that these men may +be prepared later to work in their employ. The teaching +force is of the highest grade and the scientific equipment +as perfect as the means provided can make it.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" id="f9"> +<img src="images/fig9.jpg" alt="school"> +<p class="caption">MISS ZEE’S NEW SCHOOL BUILDING.    KINDERGARTEN IN THE REAR</p> +</div> + +<p>Perhaps of all the schools in Shanghai, the little day-schools +appeal to one most because of their unfailing +human interest and the possibilities stored up in them. +They are of every kind and degree of excellence, or +badness, according to the way they are looked at. On +the whole, most of them seem to be doing good and +even the poorest keep the children off the street. Often +there are amusing features. In the Chinese city, on a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</span> +signboard over a doorway appears the rather unusual +announcement, “English taught from A. to L.” Just +what is done with the remaining letters of the alphabet +is not explained. On a side street the passerby reads +again in large English letters, “Daily Progressive +School.” In two poorly lighted, none too clean rooms +of an old Chinese house, thirty or forty children bend +over their roughly made desks, studying aloud in vociferous +tones. The head teacher quiets them while he +greets the chance visitor and points with pride to his +foreign textbooks in geography and English. He too +has ideals, and when reference is made to the name of +the school, answers, “Yes, that is what I want to make +it, ‘Daily Progressive.’” He adds that he has started +two branches of his “Daily Progressive School” in +other parts of Shanghai. Then comes the unexpected +question, “Are you a Christian?” “I am a Christian,” +naming the mission school where he received his +education.</p> + +<p>Sometimes a little day-school is hidden away in the +back room of a rambling old house, or in an inner +apartment of a Buddhist temple, where the unsophisticated +easily loses himself amid its labyrinthine windings. +During the stormy iconoclastic days of the revolution, +temples and ancestral halls were turned over +wholesale by the provisional government to be used as +schools, and though many have reverted to their original +purposes, others, like Li Hung Chang’s Temple in +Shanghai, are still kept as seats of learning. This +memorial to the great statesman, built by public funds, +was taken possession of five years ago by the trustees<span class="pagenum" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</span> +of Fuh-tan College, and now the bronze statue of the +famous Li from its pedestal in the garden looks down +each day on three hundred and fifty students hurrying +to and fro through the numberless courts and passageways. +Commencement exercises are held in the +Hall of Ancestral Worship, where, on a raised platform +against an ornate background, sits the Chinese +President, an alumnus of Yale, surrounded by his faculty, +all in collegiate cap and gown, making one of the +curious anomalies common in these days of transition.</p> + +<p>From the Provincial Normal School, located in the +Chinese city, thirty young men graduated last year and +more than five hundred have gone out from its doors +during the eleven years since it was opened. Such is +the demand for teachers that long before the school-year +closes every member of the graduating class has +been spoken for. The alumni are scattered far and +wide over the country. Near the Normal School is +a large practice school of four hundred pupils. The +students of the Normal School are taught music, +clay-modelling, wood-carving, painting, drawing. They +are ardent patriots and keenly resent any real or +supposed indignity offered to their native land. Sometimes +they express their patriotism in original ways, +as they did not long ago, when feeling ran high +because of the unreasonable demands made on China +by Japan. The boys’ sleeping and study rooms open +onto courts in the rambling structure, or rather a +series of Chinese buildings which constitute the school +plant. These rooms were cleared out and each one +made the scene of some pictorial or material representation<span class="pagenum" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</span> +of the current political issue. Many of the +exhibits were exceedingly clever, a few were most +amusing, but all were strikingly illustrative of the +animus of the student body and showed the kind of +teachers that are being sent forth over China to instill +their principles into the minds of the rising +generation.</p> + +<p>It is significant of the spirit of the times that a +young man in Shanghai a few months ago went to his +father and begged to be given his portion of the family +gambling money. With it he opened a school which +has now one hundred and fifty pupils. The secretary +of the Provincial Educational Association, recently +back from an extended tour in America, requested a +resident missionary to give him lessons in English. He +was so impressed with the excellence of the American +system that he decided to introduce the same methods +into his own schools as rapidly as possible, and wanted a +better knowledge of English that he might be qualified +to select text-books and arrange courses of study.</p> + +<p>Last summer for the first time the Shanghai prefect +fixed a uniform vacation period for the elementary +schools extending through five weeks, from July 22d to +August 25th. In sending out the notice the prefect +added a clause to the effect that during two weeks of +the vacation three hours a day must be spent by the +pupils in reviewing their lessons.</p> + +<p>There are two flourishing Japanese schools in Shanghai. +One is a large public school that is growing so +rapidly a new building has been added to the group +which suffices for six or seven hundred pupils. Boys<span class="pagenum" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</span> +and girls of all ages are accommodated under the same +roof, but with the exception of the very little children +in the kindergarten, they occupy separate rooms and +have their recess at different hours. They make a +pretty sight in their gay coloured garments flitting +about in the sunshine like radiant butterflies during +play hours, or pouring joyously out on the street at +the close of school, some going off in ricshas accompanied +by nurses, more on foot, while a lot of youngsters +scramble onto the street cars, clutching their coppers +in dirty little paws, each one carrying a school +bag or books tied up in a square of cloth, and a little +lunch box, while on every urchin’s head rests a smart +military cap.</p> + +<p>The other school is a Japanese College with nearly +three hundred students, strong of body, alert in mind, +picked men all of them. They are sent from Japan +by their respective prefectures to study in Shanghai +for three years, every expense being met. The course +includes commerce, engineering, and agriculture. During +the fourteen years since the school opened, eight +hundred have graduated, seventy receiving certificates +last June. At the end of the second year’s work, seventy +or eighty of the most promising students at the +expense of the school, are sent far and wide over China +to study the country and its condition, agricultural, +mining, social, political. “When the men graduate +from the college they return to Japan, do they not?” +was asked of the president. “Oh, no,” came the emphatic +reply, “they are expected to stay in China and +help the Chinese develop their resources.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</span></p> + +<p>A group of schools in Shanghai which are not for +the study of books, but, in their line, of great value, the +public generally knows little about. These are the six +Singer Sewing-Machine Schools for women and girls. +The Singer Sewing-Machine made its advent in China +a decade ago, and thus far it is without a rival. It +“took” almost at once with the Chinese and is now +found everywhere, even in the most unlooked for and +absurdly out-of-the-way places. In 1910 Singer Sewing-Machine +schools were started in Shanghai. At +first they met with small success. Those for men +were a signal failure and soon closed their doors. +The few who ventured to enter the schools for +women and girls had to be paid for coming, but the +old conservatism seemed to die out with the revolution. +The leading school now numbers fifty pupils. +The period of training covers three, six, or twelve +months according to the kind of work taken up, whether +plain tailoring or fancy embroidery. The pupils come +from widely scattered districts and it is the intention +when they return to their village or town that they +shall open a school of their own, and in this way introduce +the machines throughout the country. There are +already more than four hundred selling stations in +China, each in charge of a Chinese agent. The machines +are sold on the installment plan. “We consider +ourselves missionaries in our way,” said the foreign +representative of the company in Shanghai, “for is it +not a charity to lighten the labour of these poor hard-working +people by selling them our sewing-machines +on easy terms?” The Singer Company subscribes<span class="pagenum" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</span> +liberally to all benevolences, and during the revolution, +and the rebellion the following year, it loaned its +machines free of charge to organizations engaged in +making garments for the destitute. One effective way +it has of advertising is to send men about the streets +of Shanghai dressed fantastically in clothes made in +its shops, while offering for sale small articles carried +in portable show-cases.</p> +<hr class="full x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="c8">VIII</h2> +</div> + +<p class="ph2">A WIZARD PUBLISHING HOUSE</p> + + +<p><span class="dropcap">“T</span>HE pen is mightier than the sword” has +through the centuries been a working axiom +in China, for soldiers stood at the foot of +the social ladder, while scholars sat proudly on the top +rung. Recent experiences, it is true, have somewhat +altered the views of the people, though not reversed +them. But the accompanying adage, “The printed +page is mightier than the sword,” has not seemed to +acquire popularity, despite the fact that printing from +movable type was discovered in old China long before +Gutenberg saw the light of day. Indeed, the “Peking +Gazette,” whose lineal descendant still flourishes in the +Capital, claims the honour of being the first newspaper +ever published. It was printed from wooden blocks, +some of which are still in existence, no one knows just +how long ago, though tradition makes it as many as a +thousand years. But for centuries the art was little +used and even as late as the Chino-Japanese war in 1894 +news travelled so slowly that people living only seventy-five +miles from the coast had not even heard there was a +war. Now, Shanghai alone, which is far in advance of +other cities in this respect, publishes more than thirty +newspapers and periodicals, twelve of them being<span class="pagenum" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</span> +dailies. Many of the sheets are illustrated, and as a +proof that they are thoroughly abreast of the times, +advertisements of well known patent medicines are +given a prominent place!</p> + +<p>With the dawn of China’s “New Day,” and the increasing +thirst for Western learning, an insistent cry +was heard, not alone for newspapers, but for books, +books, and plenty of them. Then to meet the need +arose the Commercial Press. The story of the rapid +growth and development of this great publishing house +reads like a tale from the Arabian Nights. The idea +was born in the minds of three young, wide-awake +Chinese, all practical printers, and all of them Christians, +the product of a Presbyterian Mission School in +Shanghai. Work began in 1897 in a modest way +with two small printing presses. The shop was a +Chinese house in an alley off one of the main +roads. These quarters were speedily outgrown, and +after two moves the plant was finally lodged permanently +in a group of fine brick buildings covering +eight acres in the northern end of the +city. To-day sixty modern presses, the very best +to be had, are annually, in round figures, using up +twenty-five thousand reams of foreign paper and thirty-four +hundred reams of Chinese paper, the bulk of +which is turned into school books and scattered far and +wide over the land, from Manchuria to Thibet. The +year after the revolution, although new machinery was +bought, additional workmen taken on as fast as they +could be found, and the presses kept running night and +day, the enormous demand for books could not be met.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" id="f10"> +<img src="images/fig10.jpg" alt="composing"> +<p class="caption">CHINESE COMPOSING ROOM</p> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</span></p> + +<p>From the first, the policy of the Commercial Press +has been never to print any books that are antagonistic +to the Christian religion, and to this purpose it has +faithfully adhered. Indeed, the twenty or more heads +of departments are either Christians or in sympathy +with Christianity.</p> + +<p>The rules of this house governing the treatment of employees +may not sound unusual to Western ears, but +studied in comparison with conditions as they have +been in China, and still are for the most part, their +true worth is keenly realized. The Commercial Press +employs about fourteen hundred men and four hundred +women. Several of the boys are deaf mutes from a +missionary institution in the north, and a number are +from the Shanghai Reformatory, taken on by the company +to give them a fresh start in life, with a hostel +built especially for their accommodation. Most of +the women work in the bindery, though they are found +here and there throughout the establishment and some +of the lighter machinery is operated by them. One +is a forewoman and a few bright girls are studying +to be bookkeepers. None are admitted under fourteen +years of age, while the majority are much older. An +innovation has lately been introduced, permitting +women to work in the same room with men, although +at different tables. It has proved a perfect success. +All hands attend strictly to business and the new arrangement +has distinct advantages over the old, as, in +giving employees better light and air, since the rooms +can be kept larger. The hours of labour are from 7:30 +to 12 and from 1 to 5:30 o’clock. The bell rings for<span class="pagenum" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</span> +the women to leave five minutes before the men. +“Ladies first, you see,” a member of the staff laughingly +remarked to a visitor. When a woman expects +to become a mother she is given two months off with +full pay and five dollars in addition to meet extra expenses. +Sundays are holidays. About one-eighth of +the force are Christians and two Protestant churches +are located in the neighborhood of the Works, which +many of them attend. Wages are excellent with the +addition of a bonus for special merit. There is a reserve +fund for the benefit of the families of the deceased, +and old, retired employees. Profit sharing is +a part of the system and the head men in each department +are shareholders in the company.</p> + +<p>A small hospital with accommodation for a score of +patients, and with an immaculate dispensary and operating +room, is another feature of this remarkable establishment. +An attendant is always present, and a Chinese +foreign-trained doctor visits the hospital every +morning. The clinic is open to outsiders as well as employees +and their families. All pay a fee of three Chinese +coppers, about one cent, as it has been found necessary +to charge something to keep the place from being +overrun. Near the Commercial Press the management +has built a number of small but comfortable houses, and +these are rented, at a nominal rate, to employees who +care to occupy them. A school is maintained for the +children of employees, and a night-school and reading-room +for apprentices. A kindergarten, for which the +Commercial Press furnishes the premises and the Presbyterian +Mission Press the teachers, is also close by.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</span> +None of these schools are free, as parents are able to +pay a little tuition and feel more self-respecting to do +so. A tea garden, made attractive with shrubs, flowers, +and seats scattered about on the well-kept lawn, furnishes +a delightful resting-place for the clerks when off +duty. The fire brigade is a most important factor in +the concern. It is composed of twenty-six men, all employees, +and is kept at a high grade of efficiency by frequent +drills. A stone’s throw from the main building +is the fire station, fitted up with bright hose wagons, +ladders, buckets, torches for carrying safety oil lamps +of brass, besides complete uniforms for the men, the +burnished brass helmets being their special pride. The +brigade stands ready to respond to a limited number +of outside calls.</p> + +<p>Visitors to the press works are always cordially welcomed, +and courteously shown over the establishment +by a competent guide, whenever possible a member +of the staff. So extensive is the plant it usually +requires several hours for even a cursory tour +of inspection. Two of the buildings are used for the +printing plant and foundry, one for the Chinese bindery, +another is reserved for the editorial department, +Chinese and English, two are warehouses, one is a carpentry +shop, and one, a long low building somewhat +apart from the others, is devoted to photography and +its various branches. The rooms are airy, clean, and +cheerful, in marked contrast to most of the workshops +in China. Each is connected by telephone with the +main office, and light tracks are laid for carrying merchandise +to and fro. Electric motors supply the motive<span class="pagenum" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</span> +power, while both gas and electricity are used for +lighting purposes.</p> + +<p>Most of the printing presses are from England and +America. Those for finer work, including the immense +wonder-working machines in the colour printing +department, are of German manufacture. The +Commercial Press was the first firm to introduce three-colour +printing into China. One is tempted to linger +long beside these marvellous presses. As the blue, yellow, +red, each in its turn, is added so quickly and easily +to the maps, charts, pictures, and kindergarten scrolls, +the visitor is almost persuaded that he is viewing an exhibition +of the cunning art of a magician, rather than the +automatic movements of an insensate piece of machinery. +Here is laid before the eyes a gay picture of the +landing of Columbus for a history of America in Chinese, +and yonder an equally charming one of the child +Raleigh for a history of England. Much is made of illustrations +in the school books published by the Commercial +Press. Their ethical readers for little folks are fascinating +productions. Each page is a coloured picture, +which teaches its own lesson. Children are represented +on their way to school, saluting the teacher, reciting +their lessons, giving alms to the poor, caring for the +aged, the young, sick, and blind, dusting and sweeping +the rooms, washing, brushing, mending, and folding +clothes, brushing their teeth, eating, playing. Houses +are pictured as clean and sanitary, living as wholesome +and pure. Especial emphasis is placed on proper manners +and morals, teaching sadly needed to-day in China, +when there is such an alarming tendency to abandon<span class="pagenum" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</span> +all that was really admirable under the old régime, and +adopt in an exaggerated form all that is bad from the +West. In the First Year Primary books practically +no reading matter is introduced, only a few Chinese +characters to explain the text. The little ones scan +them attentively, absorbing knowledge without being +conscious of the fact. How different is this from the +old way, when children were shut all day long in dark, +close rooms, shouting aloud unmeaning phrases from +the Chinese classics, while the teacher dozed in his +chair!</p> + +<p>The newest addition to the plant is the installation +of three “off-set” presses, the first in the Far +East. An expert came out from America with them +to set them up and instruct the Chinese workmen in +their use. They are often kept busy through the twenty-four +hours in turning out bonds and bank-notes by +the millions for the Government.</p> + +<p>Too much praise can not be given to the work of the +editorial department. The entire second floor and part +of the third of a quiet, three-story building is devoted +to it. At long, unpainted wooden tables, littered with +books and papers, sit the hundred and fifty scholars, +bending over their work. Above four thousand original +books have already gone out from their busy workshop, +besides countless others that have been translated +and edited. Eight monthly magazines are published by +the editorial staff, a general one, an educational, a +political, student’s, child’s, short story, a woman’s +magazine, and one entitled “The English Student,” of +which twenty thousand copies are issued monthly. The<span class="pagenum" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</span> +newest publication is a magazine called “The English +Weekly.” The aim of the last two is to help Chinese +students in the study of English. The Woman’s Magazine +is one of the most popular. A bright girl who +has studied in America was speaking about it one day +to a group of foreign friends. “Just think,” she +said, “the last number contains recipes for cooking +eggs in twelve different ways.” “Is that so unusual?” +asked an interested listener. “Why, they were not +for making foreign dishes, but cooking Chinese food! +I never before heard of a printed Chinese food recipe. +If Chinese women begin to learn about food values +it will mean everything in their lives.” The Woman’s +Magazine started its life two years ago with a man as +editor-in-chief. This fall a young woman will take +over that position. She is a recent graduate of Wellesley +College and married to a Harvard alumnus. +Modest and lovable, she graciously answered the questions +of her foreign callers. “Yes,” she admitted, with +a little apologetic laugh, “I am going to try to edit the +magazine.” “There will be assistant editors of +course?” “Oh, yes.” “Women?” “No, I believe +they are all men.” This young wife is a beautiful +housekeeper, and it is safe to assume her home and +family will not be neglected on account of the outside +work she is about to take up. Indeed, it is worthy of +comment that no one is more pleased about it than the +young husband himself.</p> + +<p>An interesting fact in connection with the editorial +department of the Commercial Press is that most +Western books are translated through the medium of the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</span> +Japanese language, instead of directly from the English. +This is because the present system of education in +China is based on that of Japan, and scientific terms +are more easily adapted from the Japanese. But Chinese +students returning from abroad are strong in +their feeling that this second-hand method of acquiring +knowledge must soon give way to the more +direct.</p> + +<p>Glancing about the editorial room with its scores of +hard-working men, pouring out the best that is in them +for the uplift and enlightenment of their country, it is +impossible not to feel a strange stirring of the heart, +and one is also thrilled when looking through the warehouses +where room after room is filled with books +stacked to the ceiling or packed in boxes to be shipped +away. Some of the largest orders come from the most +distant provinces. The aim of the publishing house is +not to issue many handsome, expensive books, but to +flood the land with cheap editions that shall be within +the reach of all.</p> + +<p>Tiptoeing out of the editorial department, the visitor +passes on to the English and Chinese composing rooms, +which present a very different scene. There is a sort +of mystery about Chinese type. That a “character” +made up of a score or more of tiny individual strokes +can be reproduced perfectly in a clean-cut piece of lead, +seems nothing short of marvellous. Chinese type-setting +is exceedingly complex. The cases are set on +slanting frames, placed to form a triangle, within +which stands the compositor. About six thousand +characters are in ordinary use and a font of type<span class="pagenum" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</span> +weighs fifteen hundred pounds. An American woman +is chief proof-reader for English text, assisted by a +Portuguese and many Chinese. Behind the printing +department is the foundry. Type-casting is a specialty +and is done on a large scale. Indeed the market for a +long time was so generally supplied from the Commercial +Press that their sizes became the standard for +all China. The matrices, kept in a fire-proof safe, are +among the Company’s most valuable assets. A few +modern automatic type-casters from Chicago are used, +but they are far outnumbered by the old-style, hand-worked +machines. The type cast from the old-style +machines must be assorted, trimmed, and polished, all +of which is done by women. “We are not always keen +in making use of the latest machines,” explains the +staff, “since labour is so cheap in China, and it is a +blessing to the poor people to give work to as many as +possible.”</p> + +<p>Nearly all of the smaller machinery used in the +Commercial Press Works is made in their own foundry +and carpentry shop, besides physical, physiological, +and chemical apparatus for schools, tools for industrial +work, and small reed organs. The job-printing +department is strictly up to date and large returns +are realized from it. Recently one of the heads of the +company made a trip around the world in order to +study the best and latest processes of printing. The +two hundred copies of the English edition of “China’s +Young Men,” the organ of the Young Men’s Christian +Association, are sent out monthly from this press.</p> + +<p>No expense has been spared to make the equipment<span class="pagenum" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</span> +of the photo-engraving department as perfect as possible. +It is provided with arc lamps and an acid-blasting +etching machine, so that orders can be quickly filled +irrespective of the weather. A fine photographic gallery +is annexed whose chief furnishing is a new camera +bought in London and making the fifth in use. The +lens is able to produce pictures 32 × 43 inches, and +with a single exception is the largest in the world. +The camera rests upon a handcar, which runs back +and forth over a small track. For some years, one-fourth +of the company’s stock was held by Japanese, +but at the beginning of 1914 this was bought back, +so that now the concern is wholly Chinese. This consummation +of a long-anticipated hope was celebrated +with great rejoicing.</p> + +<p>Several miles away from the works, on one of the +busiest streets in a Chinese section of the International +Settlement, stands the business house of the Commercial +Press. The four-story building of reinforced +concrete, ornamented with iron pillars, is quite new, +having been built only six years ago at a cost of twenty +thousand dollars. The fine show windows at once attract +attention. Those on the right of the entrance are +reserved for Chinese books and the ones on the left for +English. Among the latter, besides standard works +in literature, fiction, biography, and travel, are seen +titles like the following: “Ready Made Speeches,” +“Cooking,” “How the People Rule,” “Our Sick and +How to Take Care of Them,” “Poultry and Profit,” +“All about Railways,” “Railway Conquest of the +World,” and a series under the general head, “Common<span class="pagenum" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</span> +Commodities of Commerce,” including tea, coffee, +sugar, iron, oil, rubber. The sales rooms are on the +ground floor. But many things are found there besides +books and the usual appurtenances of a bookstore. In +the apartments at the rear, in glass cases, are displayed +samples of the many kinds of school apparatus manufactured +at the works, also a large collection of stuffed +birds from different countries, various forms of insect +and animal life preserved in alcohol, besides what is of +exceeding value to Chinese students, studies in rice, +cotton, the silkworm, and other products, showing the +progressive changes and best methods of their development +and the uses to which they are and may be put. +For the accommodation of customers who wish to look +over the books at their leisure, numerous benches are +scattered conveniently about, and the pleasant little +reading room is always well patronized.</p> + +<p>The second and third stories are mainly devoted to +offices, while a good part of the fourth is reserved for the +dining-hall. According to the usual custom in China, +the two hundred employees have their board furnished +them as a part of their pay, and all who receive under +ten dollars a month are given lodging as well, though not +in the same building. A roof garden, where the clerks +may gather for the noon rest, or enjoy the cool evening +breezes in hot weather, is one of the attractions +of the place. Perhaps the two most useful adjuncts +are the elevator, which carries both freight and passengers, +and the electric cash register and delivery system, +the only one in China. The Commercial Press +has over forty branch offices in China, the large branch<span class="pagenum" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</span> +in Peking being employed chiefly with work for the +government. It has besides more than a thousand selling +agencies in other countries where the Chinese have +settled, and is the largest publishing house in the +Orient.</p> +<hr class="full x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="c9">IX</h2> +</div> + +<p class="ph2">THE CHINESE CITY</p> + + +<p><span class="dropcap">M</span>ANY visitors to this busy port hurry on to +richer fields of conquest with never a glimpse +of the Chinese City, and some doubtless do not +even know there is such a place. Yet not the International +Settlement, nor the French Concession, but the +Chinese City is the real Shanghai. The city is the +nucleus north and south of whose storm-beaten walls +the foreign settlements sprang up and without which +they would not have been. The coming of the foreigner +is of recent date, for few men from the West saw the +spot, and certainly not one resided there till after +Shanghai was opened as a treaty port in 1842. The +city itself, though in the heyday of youth, compared +with many other cities in China, still counts its age by +centuries that creep close on to a millennium. The +walls were not built until 1555, a year after the city +had been sacked, burned to the ground, and left a howling +wilderness by Japanese raiders. Gone now are the +old walls, since the revolution, and the creaking gates +that swung back and forth night and morning so many +years on their rusty hinges, or if a vestige is left it is +fast disappearing under the blows of pick-ax and hammer. +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</span>But no, that is a mistake, for a halt has just been +called in the work of demolition. The Chinese Town +Council it is reported, is a house divided against itself, +and some of its members strongly advocate the rebuilding +of the walls for the sake of protection. A compromise +has been effected by voting to allow the walls to +remain down but letting the gates stand, or what is +left of them, to serve as triumphal arches.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" id="f11"> +<img src="images/fig11.jpg" alt="willow"> +<p class="caption">THE ORIGINAL WILLOW PATTERN TEA HOUSE</p> +</div> + +<p>Of course it is better that the old walls should go, +more sanitary and more modern. The ill-smelling moat +has been covered on the north and west by a splendid +boulevard ninety feet wide. Trolley lines will by and by +encircle the whole city, as they now run along two sides. +Many of the streets in the outer circumference of the +city are being widened, while those in the heart of it are +receiving some attention, though improvement is difficult +on account of property interests. Ramshackle rat-infested +hovels, here, there, and yonder, have vanished +from sight, and new tea-houses, and shops, glistening +with fresh paint, are taking their places. Public nuisances +are being attacked. A well-to-do family reports +that since the pestilential creek back of their house has +been filled in, their property has advanced in value hundreds +of dollars. Street refuse is swept up and carried +away each day. Meat is inspected. Pipes have been +laid and running water introduced, so that one no +longer hears the monotonous cry of the water carriers +trotting along with a pole across their shoulders from +which were suspended the overflowing buckets spilling +water at every step. Electric lights have largely superseded +little smoky kerosene lamps, or still more primitive<span class="pagenum" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</span> +pottery or tin lamps with a tiny wick swimming in +vegetable oil.</p> + +<p>All this is just as it should be. The improvements +are highly commended by every one, and yet, inconsistent +beings that we are, why is it that with our +rejoicing over the changes, our hearts likewise experience +a pang of regret? What is there about things +old and quaint, albeit noisome and repulsive, that things +brand new somehow do not possess for us? So with +the passing of the old walls and a modicum of the +old dirt, a certain indefinable charm has slipped away +too, never to return. Nevertheless the Chinese City +continues to exist, although since the walls are down +its boundaries are not so clearly defined, and enough of +the ancient landmarks remain in the way of foul-smelling +alleys, streets of gay shops, beggars and crowds, to +satisfy most lovers of the haunting allurements of the +Orient.</p> + +<p>The city is approximately three miles in circumference. +There is no map of it beyond the merest outline, +and neither a Murray nor a Baedeker to facilitate +a tramp through its labyrinthian byways. But the +stranger crossing its boundaries is not left coldly to his +own devices, for the instant he appears in sight he is +met by a chattering company of self-constituted guides. +If perchance their services are declined, they still manage +unobtrusively to shadow the Innocent Abroad and +entice him to shops that are almost certain to loosen his +purse-strings and where they propose to secure a fat +commission on the purchases made.</p> + +<p>The shops in the Chinese City are the originals of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</span> +the replicas in the Settlement, only that being the +originals they are more bizarre and delightful. Like +birds of a feather, shops doing the same kind of work, +or selling the same kind of articles, are apt to flock +together. For example, most of the furniture shops +handling the beautiful red and black wood from the +southern province of Kwangtung are found near the +north gate, also the shops selling exquisitely carved +ivory. Elsewhere are grouped the silversmiths, the +jewelers with tempting displays of jade, amber, pearls, +and precious stones, cloth and silk merchants, shoe and +cap makers, dealers whose specialty is all kinds of +fans; brass, pewter, and china shops, makers of coffins +from the costly red and teak woods to the less expensive +pine and ash—but the amazing variety of the +shops is fairly bewildering and defies enumeration!</p> + +<p>There are no department stores in the city. Each +tradesman confines himself strictly to his own line of +goods. Not for his life would he dare encroach on the +rights and privileges of another, for every trade has +its guild which sees to it that the interests of its members +are protected. Many of the guilds are wealthy +and powerful, politically as well as commercially, like +the silk merchants’ and silversmiths’ guilds. They have +their guild houses, all more or less elaborately fitted up +with rooms for conferences and feasts, and attached to +them are rows of long low buildings divided into small +chambers, where, upon the payment of a rental, the +coffins of deceased members may be deposited until a +convenient time for burial.</p> + +<p>Certain shops sell nothing but funeral trappings, but<span class="pagenum" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</span> +instead of presenting a sombre appearance they are +among the gayest in the city. Hung aloft to show off to +the best advantage are elaborately embroidered crimson +satin coverings for the coffin, and around on the shelves +or under glass cases is apparel for the dead, very +richly embroidered robes, slippers, and headgear, this +latter in the shape of mitres and helmets, of remarkable +design and ornamentation. There are also priests’ robes +and white cotton raiment and sackcloth for the +mourners. Other shops carry only the paper furnishings +that are an essential part of a funeral ceremony. +When the spirit of the deceased leaves the body and +passes to the spirit world, according to Chinese superstition +he requires for his comfort the same conveniences +to which he was accustomed in life. Hence the dutiful +elder son, in proportion to his financial ability, and often +far beyond it, for Chinese funerals are fearfully costly, +sees that his honoured parent is provided with them. +The articles are made of coloured paper, the larger ones +over a light framework of bamboo, and include every +conceivable object, from a sedan chair to a teacup. +These images are borne in the funeral procession +through the streets and burned at the grave, the smoke +being supposed to waft them through ether to the waiting +spirit. They are such exact facsimiles of the real +thing, especially in the case of small articles like vases, +jewelry boxes, braziers, lamps, clocks, basins, that it is +hard to believe they are false. One of the best imitations +ever produced in a Shanghai city shop was that +of a fur-lined Mandarin coat, so perfect in every detail +as almost to deceive the Chinese themselves.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</span></p> + +<p>A shopkeeper who always attracts custom is the portrait +painter. He is an important personage and does +business behind closed doors—that is, his shop is not +open to the street as most are; but has a front partition +with a door and show window. On the window is +pasted a collection of small pictures of human heads cut +from newspapers and magazines. Inside the shop +quantities more are stored away. When a widow, it +may be, wishes a likeness of her consort who left no +pictured memorial behind him, or a youth perhaps +craves a reminder of the grand-uncle he never saw, +they find their way to one of these portrait shops. The +shopkeeper spreads out before them an array of pictures, +and after careful study a selection is made of a +particular portrait which either bears some imaginary +resemblance to the dear departed, or is what the sorrowing +relatives would choose to have him look like. The +shopkeeper then paints the head in life size and adds +a body clothed in whatever style of garments may be +mutually decided on. The finished portrait is finally +hung on the wall of the family dwelling and pointed to +with pride and affection as the face of the deceased +ancestor.</p> + +<p>Drug shops are many and are invested with an air +of quiet exclusiveness and semi-professionalism, which +suffers but a slight declension when in hot weather the +clerks, after the manner of most shopkeepers, divest +themselves of their non-essential upper garments and +pass the day stripped to the waist. Upon the shelves +of the shop stand rows and rows of large pewter cannisters +and blue and white china jars, innocent enough<span class="pagenum" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</span> +to look at and yet designed to arouse the curiosity of +the beholder as to the nature and character of their +contents. Below are quantities of drawers containing +dried roots, herbs, bones, seaweed, chalk, things indescribable +and inscrutable, drawn from the air above, +the earth beneath, and the waters under the earth. In +addition to drugs the shop frequently keeps on exhibition +some special attractions, such as glass jars with +snakes preserved in alcohol, dried alligator skins, corals +and geological specimens. In filling prescriptions +china bottles, coloured pasteboard boxes and squares +of white paper are used. Sometimes a score or more of +the paper squares are placed on the counter at once, +and from the different drawers an interesting assortment +of medicines is laid on them. Here is dried +orange peel, said to be an unfailing remedy for loss +of appetite, a yellow berry that removes phlegm, a +dried beetle that in a solution of water makes the best +kind of eyewash. The silkworm taken from the cocoon +when eaten with rice greatly assists digestion, and so +does a flat bug that from its appearance might be great-grandfather +to the bedbug. The ladybug, or what +resembles one, is a sure cure for liver complaint, and +another insect if rubbed on wounds quickly heals them. +Also in certain troubles it has been found that a little +of the alcohol in which a serpent is preserved, if taken +internally, proves particularly efficacious. On the wall +at the back of the shop is painted a picture of the +god of medicine, at whose shrine tapers are kept burning. +Chinese shops carrying foreign drugs, some of +them excellent shops, too, are not uncommon in the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</span> +Settlement but are seldom to be seen in the Chinese +City.</p> + +<p>The dentist, like his confreres in other countries, is +ever in demand. Occasionally an aspiring, prosperous +fellow is discovered doing business in a shop where +the patient may balance himself on a stool, though still +in full view of the curious street crowd, and tilting +his head back, have the offending molar extracted without +further ado. But ordinarily the professional outfit +is limited to a small wooden table and what it will +hold, set out in the street. Back of the weather-worn +stand lounges the dentist, soiled and uncouth, keeping +guard over his stock in trade, bottles of ointments, +salves, a pair of forceps and other nondescript instruments, +a few sets of teeth under a dust-covered glass +case, and last but not least, piles of decayed teeth successfully +extracted from tortured victims and kept as +decoys to attract patronage. There are travelling dentists +whose shop is a wheelbarrow which carries the +dental equipment, with the inevitable pile of teeth conspicuous +in the centre. They move from point to point, +in inclement weather under cover of a mammoth coloured +umbrella, and sound a gong to draw the ever-ready +crowd.</p> + +<p>More common still are the peripatetic restaurants. +The outfit of the manager of the Liliputian establishment +is a model of convenience and compactness. A +simple bamboo frame, easily borne by one man even +with all the appurtenances, is divided into two sections. +On one side in a pocket rests a clay stove, with a place +underneath for holding the wood. On the other is a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</span> +series of drawers of various sizes, in which the dough, +sugar, and spices are kept. A little kneading board +pulls out from a slit between the drawers, and on it +the baker deftly fashions his cakes and meat pies, frying +them in vegetable oil in a shallow iron basin, or if +they are to be baked, plastering them against the inner +sides of the clay stove above the fire. Despite the dirt, +dust, and flies, even the ultra fastidious can not deny +that the finished product is decidedly appetizing.</p> + +<p>Not a foot of valuable land in the Chinese City is +wasted on sidewalks. Hence everybody and everything +is right on the street, and the very narrow passages +are badly congested. Rickety jinricshas, a few sedan +chairs which are fast disappearing from Shanghai, +burden-bearers and pedestrians hurry continually to +and fro, shouting in shrill falsetto tones to one another +to clear the way and running in imminent danger of +colliding with the unwary and trampling on children. +Yet not all the streets are mere alleyways. A few, +but it must be admitted a very few, are wide enough to +allow a carriage to pass through with comparative ease, +and they seem in comparison like boulevards. Then +there are others along which a carriage can manage +to creep providing the driver is skillful and the people +hug the sides of the roads or retire precipitately into +the shops out of harm’s way, but this is too risky a venture +to be indulged in often and is seldom permitted +by the police. Once in a while it happens that a carriage +gets wedged into a tight place where it can +neither move forward, back out nor even find room to +turn at right angles into a cross street. The only<span class="pagenum" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</span> +thing then is to unhitch the horse, lead him out, pull +the carriage back, and finally lifting it up bodily, turn +it around and harness the horse to it again.</p> + +<p>Not all the city is laid out in streets, for there are +some open places and even flourishing vegetable gardens +which quite suggest the country. That this is possible +in so densely populated an area seems a marvel, and +where and how the people are all hidden away is a +puzzle. In the poorer sections, with the closing down +of night they vanish as if by magic, except in hot +weather when many camp on the streets, and in the +morning the crowds swarm forth as mysteriously, like +rats from their holes.</p> + +<p>The best known and most popular breathing spot +in the city is that about the lake or pond, in whose +centre on a small island rises the far-famed Willow +Ware Tea-House, for the identical tea-house pictured +on the much sought for willow-ware porcelain is located +in the Chinese City. This to the average globe-trotter +is the city’s chief attraction, but alas, never was the +saying “Distance lends enchantment” more truly applicable, +for while the pictures of the old tea-house +are undeniably charming, with its graceful upturned +gables and the zigzag bridges leading to it, made zigzag +to ward off evil spirits who are said to travel +in straight lines, yet seen near at hand how quickly +the enchantment is dispelled! Filth, rottenness, and +roistering are the main present-day characteristics of +this tea-house of fair renown. Instead of reflecting +the blue sky above, the water is covered with a thick +vegetable scum, green and unwholesome. The shores<span class="pagenum" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</span> +around are made lively with a colony of small vendors +whose wares are set on tables or spread out over the +ground. They evidently reap a paying harvest from +the sale of scrolls, pottery, towels, sheepskin coats, +toys, and all manner of cheap foreign knickknacks +which are much sought after by the people. Switches +of long, jet black hair, especially plentiful since queues +went out of fashion, are given places of prominence. +Many doubtless are sent abroad to add beauty to the +coiffures of dames of high degree.</p> + +<p>The business of the man who deals in rags must flourish +like the green bay tree judging from the number +engaged in it. What a sight is a rag-man’s shop, rags, +rags everywhere, stuffed in baskets and bags, hanging +from the walls, covering the floor in huge piebald +bundles and mounds, germ-infected, poisonous, alive +with vermin, gathered up and brought in from heaven +knows where! Yet every day women and children +spend long hours industriously picking them over and +making them up into mops and the soles of Chinese +shoes, for which they find a ready sale.</p> + +<p>Shanghai once boasted a supremely great citizen. +He lived back in the sixteenth century, a veritable +Chinese Maecenas. Besides being a man of letters +and encouraging Western learning, he rose to the highest +position in the empire, as Premier and Chancellor +of the Privy Council. His name will be of little consequence +to the outside world, but it is Siu Kuang-ki, +should any one care to know it. He was converted to +Christianity under the Jesuit Fathers, and lived a +pure, consistent, devoted life, dying so poor in spite<span class="pagenum" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</span> +of large emoluments that his funeral expenses had to +be paid from the public treasury. He built in the +Chinese City the first Christian church ever seen in +these parts. During the exigencies of later years it was +converted into a temple sacred to the god of war, but +was afterward redeemed and restored to its original +use. This church is still standing, a striking edifice +back a little from the noisy street, with a typical Chinese +roof, and below it on the front outside wall, a +beautiful gilded cross.</p> + +<p>The present war god’s temple is near the temple of +Confucius, with its grass-grown court and deserted halls. +Once a year, in the early dawn, the military governor +of Shanghai and the city officials enter the sanctuary +dedicated to the god of war and conduct a weird +pageant-like ceremony in honour of two local military +heroes. The tutelary deities of the Chinese City, black +and repelling, occupy a large centrally located temple +more frequented by worshippers than any other. The +roomy outer court, like the temple court in Jerusalem, +is given up to buying and selling, also to eating and +drinking, gambling and fortune-telling, and there is no +busier, noisier mart in all the city.</p> + +<p>The local official in the Chinese City is called the +“Chih-hsien,” or District Magistrate, and is appointed +from Peking. His official residence styled the Yamen, +is a common, ordinary building, approached through +several untidy courts lined with the low one-story quarters +of the Yamen retainers and petty officials. Every +day, in three small, bare rooms of the Yamen, court is +held, the Chinese judges in their professional gowns<span class="pagenum" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</span> +looking distinctly out of keeping with their surroundings. +To the left and back of the Yamen is the City +Prison and adjoining it a much smaller one for women. +Stories are afloat regarding the unsanitary condition +of the prison and the treatment of prisoners that cause +one to cringe and dread an investigation, but whatever +may have been the state of affairs under the old régime, +and the prison manager is frank to confess that +things were very different ten years ago, there is now +little to criticise and a great deal to commend. The +grey brick buildings are in thoroughly good repair, +the cells of the four hundred men and the fifty women +prisoners, clean and fairly well lighted and ventilated, +though, as the manager himself will hasten to tell the +visitor, too crowded for health. A few carefully tended +plants are growing in the centre of each of the courts, +a praiseworthy effort to introduce a touch of the æsthetic. +Industrial work on a considerable scale is carried +on in the men’s prison, though the grant of money +from the government is too small to keep all at work. +Wooden and rattan furniture, towels, mats, shoes, and +clothing are made. A very little industrial work is +given the women in the way of cutting out and making +garments, but from lack of funds to supply workrooms +and material, most of the poor creatures are forced to +pass their days in idleness. The wardens of the women’s +prison are women. The discipline is excellent, yet not +severe, the prisoners look well fed and well cared for, +and the men especially, happy and contented. Provision +is made to send sick prisoners to a Chinese hospital, +where they receive the best of care.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</span></p> + +<p>The Yamen, disappointing as it is in appearance, +yet witnesses some stirring scenes, as when, not long +ago, a quantity of opium and opium-smoking utensils +were burned on the open ground in front of it in the +presence of an interested throng of spectators. Not +an opium den or shop exists in the Chinese City. Long +ago they were effectually closed by order of the government.</p> + +<p>The city is well policed. There has been a wonderful +shaking up of the dry bones in that department in +recent years, particularly since the revolution. The +Chief of Police is chosen on the recommendation of +the local military governor by the provincial governor +at Nanking, but the Chief of the Fire Department is +the choice of the people, and affairs of the department +are wholly under their control. All the seven +hundred members of the Fire Brigade are volunteers +and serve without pay. Of late the brigade has attained +a high grade of efficiency, and in the engine stations +scattered over the city may be seen a very creditable +equipment of modern machinery including some +small motor cars. They must of necessity be small +in order to get through the narrow streets. At the +central station between the east and south gates stands +a splendid tower supporting a bell weighing 6,000 lbs. +which sounds the fire alarm not only in the city itself, +but in the surrounding territory included in the Chinese +municipality. This tower is the work of Shanghai’s +engineering genius Nicholas Tzu, who patterned it +after a small model of the Eiffel tower, but with +changes that adapted it more perfectly to its present<span class="pagenum" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</span> +use. At a recent large fire in the city, the chiefs of the +International and French Fire Brigades were present +and looked on, but their assistance was not asked for +nor was it needed, though the Chinese firemen were +obliged to fight valiantly for three hours before they +got control of the flames.</p> + +<p>That the Chinese City is taking on thoroughly up-to-date +airs will be generally conceded when it is known +that strikes are becoming rather general. The latest +one to break out was in the Dyers’ Union. The masses +of the people in China dress in blue cotton. Indeed, +so universally is it worn, that it might almost be called +the national dress, consequently the business of dyeing +is one of the most common and the Dyers’ Union is +very strong. Since a Presidential mandate had gone +forth that every labor union must be approved by the +police, and as in this case the police interfered to put +down the strike, it failed of its object. But a strike +last winter was more successful. The women working +in a silk filature mill within the Chinese precincts, +though outside the Chinese City, were roused to fury +by a reduction in their wages. Early one morning +ninety or a hundred of them gathered at the mill gate +and made such a clamour, pounding and shouting as +only enraged Chinese women can, that the authorities, +realizing that after all right was on the side of the +strikers, were glad to effect a speedy and satisfactory +compromise.</p> +<hr class="full x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="c10">X</h2> +</div> + +<p class="ph2">CUSTOMS OLD AND NEW</p> + + +<p><span class="dropcap1">A</span> STUDENT in a mission school for girls received +an invitation from a young gentleman +of her acquaintance to accompany him on a certain +evening to a place of amusement. The note fell +into the hands of the missionary in charge who sought +an interview with the man. “It is against the rules +of the school for our girls to go out unchaperoned,” +she told him, “besides why do you make such a request? +You know it is not Chinese custom.” “Ha, +ha,” laughed the youth derisively, “perhaps it was not +formerly, but now that we have a Republic we can do +<i>anything</i>.”</p> + +<p>Great changes and grave dangers accompanied the +birth of the republic, and nowhere are they as apparent +as in Shanghai. Old things are passing away +and the new order is not yet firmly established. Young +women are particularly sensitive to the changed conditions. +In their eagerness to imitate the ways of +the West, the real meaning of which many do not fully +understand, liberty and license are often confused. But +the girls must not be judged too harshly, for while +some are unblushingly bold, others are like imprisoned +birds who, suddenly finding the cage door ajar, pant<span class="pagenum" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</span> +to try their wings in the open. It is scarcely to be +wondered at if sometimes they fly too far afield and +drop back weary and bruised. The better class of +students who have studied abroad are helping to set +matters right. They show how it is possible for friends +of both sexes to meet on the tramcars, on the street, +or in one another’s homes and chat together naturally +and yet modestly. It was with great gusto that a young +matron who had never been out of China but associated +freely with those who had, told of a picnic enjoyed +by the mixed choir of the Chinese church to +which she belonged. “We went down the river in a +launch, taking our supper with us.” “Wasn’t it hard +to carry Chinese food in baskets?” “Oh, we had +foreign food—cake and sandwiches. I made some peanut +sandwiches and every one seemed to like them.” +“Were the picnickers all married people?” “No, some +were not,” was the laughing reply. A Wellesley graduate +who had been absent eight years from her Shanghai +home was asked on her return what impressed her +most. “The way my sister-in-law goes about the streets +alone and even shops in the big stores.” “Wouldn’t +she have done that before you went to America?” “I +should say not! But now she doesn’t seem to think +anything of it.” “How about your mother, does she +go out too?” “No, mother prefers to follow the old +customs, but she makes no objection to what we do.”</p> + +<div class="figcenter" id="f12"> +<img src="images/fig12.jpg" alt="family"> +<p class="caption">A MODERN CHEVALIER AND HIS HAPPY FAMILY</p> +</div> + +<p>It is easy enough to view the social changes with +fear and trembling and many of them are bad enough +in their trend to justify any amount of anxiety, but +there is a bright side and perhaps in deprecating the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</span> +evil it has been too often overlooked. Nothing is more +commendable than the loving comradeship that is growing +up between husband and wife. This might be expected +among students who have lived abroad and are +used to foreign ways, but it is by no means confined +to that class. “You have a pretty home,” commented +a foreign friend to a bride of a year. Her husband was +the editor of a popular Chinese daily and neither of +them had ever been away from their native land. The +bride beamed with pleasure. “Your lace curtains are +hung so tastefully,” continued the caller. “Wasn’t it +hard to show your servant how to do it?” “My husband +and I hung them. We worked evenings after +he came home from the office,” replied the blushing +little wife. A few months later, when an expectant +mother, she displayed with shy satisfaction, an exquisitely +dainty layette, each tiny garment made with +her own hands after a foreign pattern. “What a fine +baby!” exclaimed another friend to the jubilant parents +of their firstborn. “It is a boy, isn’t it?” “No, +a girl,” corrected the father, gazing with fond pride +into the tiny face of the rosy mite, “but she cries a +good deal. I was up with her for three or four hours +last night and had to walk with her most of the time +to keep her from disturbing my wife.” “I was very +glad to see your wife at my party on Friday,” remarked +an American lady to a busy Chinese secretary. “Yes, +I got off early from the office and went home to take +care of the children so she could go. I wouldn’t have +had her miss that pleasure for anything. My Margaret +is such a good wife.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</span></p> + +<p>When charming little Mrs. F. sailed for America to +see a brother graduate at the University of California +her husband was at the jetty looking after the baggage, +and went with her on the launch down the river to where +the ocean liner was anchored. Dr. Wu Ting Fang, ex-Minister +to the United States and one of Shanghai’s best +known citizens, meeting Dr. F. soon afterward, twitted +him facetiously: “Oho, it used to be the custom in +China for the husband to go away and the wife to stay at +home with the family, and now it seems to be just the +other way and the wife goes while the husband stays +at home.” Dr. F., who, with the help of his mother and +sister, was caring for his three little ones in Mrs. F.’s +absence, laughed goodnaturedly and explained that it +was he who had urged this trip on his wife. Once +when this same husband was presiding at a formal +banquet, it was noticed by those near him that in the +midst of the festivities he quietly left his place and +passed down to the other end of the long table. Mrs. +F., detained it may be by putting the children to bed, +had just come in, and Dr. F., not too engrossed in +conversation to be watching for his wife, rose to draw +out her chair and seat her in it with all the gallantry +of a chevalier. The afternoon Mr. and Mrs. C. gave +their “tea,” the young husband greeted the incoming +guests at the door, while his wife, clad in soft white +Chinese silk with a wreath of tiny pink rosebuds nestling +against her black hair, presided over the tea-table +with all the ease and grace of a society belle, and withal +a sweet modesty which every society belle does not +possess.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</span></p> + +<p>Perhaps these incidents, trifling in themselves, +will possess small significance for the reader who has +never lived in China, but to those who have they are +encouraging signs that the leaven is working which of +a certainty will by and by raise women all over the +land from the position of mere chattels whose chief +business is the bearing of children to be the equals and +companions of their husbands. Dr. Arthur H. Smith, +an authority in things Chinese, said recently in conversation, +“I believe that the reorganization of the +life of women in China is the most important sociological +and educational event of modern times.”</p> + +<p>Bound feet are becoming less and less the fashion +in Shanghai. The increasing spread of physical training +in all the schools is a great aid in favour of anti-footbinding, +for the popular exercises can not well be +taken on tiny feet. A medium course at present much +in vogue is neither to let the feet alone nor bind them +tightly, but by the use of comparatively loose bandages +to prevent their growing too large. The little bound +feet of old, common enough still in the interior, are +in Shanghai generally looked upon with shame by the +younger generation, who if they are so unfortunate +as to own them, try to conceal their crippled members +underneath long skirts or by wearing large shoes. +It is not the women alone who frown upon bound feet. +In many instances their husbands are equally opposed +to them, men who a few years ago would have spurned +a woman not swaying uncertainly on her much admired +“Chinese Lilies.” A native teacher, supposed +to be of the “old school,” was telling his foreign pupil<span class="pagenum" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</span> +of the recent death of his wife. “She fell down when +crossing our courtyard and never regained consciousness.” +“That was remarkable,” was the surprised +answer. “How did she happen to fall?” “It was +her small feet that did it. She lost her balance. But +her feet were bound before I married her, or they never +would have been bound.” “Then you disapprove of +the custom and probably do not intend to bind the feet +of your little daughters?” The man’s voice rose to +an indignant pitch and with a vehemence quite unusual +for a Chinese he ejaculated, “<i>I shall not!</i>”</p> + +<p>Young men back from years of study in America or +Europe, and there are many such in Shanghai, wear +foreign clothes and look well in them. Some indeed +are quite dudish in their attire. Many older men of +the upper class on state occasions array themselves +in dress suits and high hats, but in private life they +ordinarily lay aside the torturing starched shirt and +choking collar and resume their loose, comfortable Chinese +garments. Women students on returning to China +usually drop back at once into native dress, wherein +they show their good sense, for besides the comfort +of this style, nothing becomes them quite so well. Some +years ago two girls from the interior arrived in Shanghai +on their way to study medicine in America. They +were told that in order to attract less attention +on shipboard it would be well at once to adopt foreign +dress, so they did, corsets and all. The older one’s +description of her sensations is most amusing. “I +couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t eat. The food had no +room to go down. I never felt so miserable.” “What<span class="pagenum" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</span> +did you do?” “I took the corsets off.” “How long +had you worn them?” Mary held up a little forefinger, +as she announced solemnly, “Just one awful +day.”</p> + +<div class="figcenter" id="f13"> +<img src="images/fig13.jpg" alt="procession"> +<p class="caption">THE COFFIN IN A FUNERAL PROCESSION</p> +</div> + +<p>The ultra-stylish dress of the “fast set” among +young women in Shanghai is tight trousers, short tight +jacket with short tight sleeves, and very high collars. +To Western eyes this is neither pretty nor modest, and +Chinese from the interior look upon it askance. Instead +of bare heads, girls in winter are coming to wear, +not hats, except those who have adopted foreign dress, +but worsted caps, usually trimmed with coloured ribbon +or artificial flowers. There is a shop on a busy +street, called “Love Your Country Shop,” which deals +largely in these fancy articles. Foreign shoes are also +gradually taking the place of the cloth-soled, satin-topped +Chinese shoes, and it is a wise change if women +are to go much abroad in this city of heavy and frequent +rains.</p> + +<p>The old-time wedding procession is no longer an +every day sight in the International Settlement, though +happily for lovers of the antique, still common about +the Chinese City. Carriages have to a large extent +superseded the gorgeous sedan chairs, draped with embroidered +crimson satin, and pale pink silk the orthodox +crimson satin wedding gown. Veils are much worn +too, and occasionally a very up-to-date bride is decked +out in a gown of white silk or satin made in the most +extreme Western fashion. More often, however, there +is a painfully inartistic combination of Chinese and +foreign styles. Little Miss Y. invited her foreign<span class="pagenum" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</span> +friends to inspect her trousseau shortly before her marriage. +Garment after garment, evolved from heavy +brocaded satin, sheeny silks, and gauzy web-like stuffs, +was unfolded before admiring eyes. Finally the grand +climax was reached when the wedding gown was +brought in. The marvelous embroidery on the delicate +pink silk evoked “Ohs” and “Ahs” of rapture, accompanied +by exclamations such as “A perfect +dream,” “I never saw anything so beautiful!” But +when a common pink net veil, cheap white imitation +flowers and coarse white cotton gloves bought at a foreign +department store and plainly regarded as the +crowning touches to the outfit were laid beside the +exquisite Chinese gown, there were inward groans +from the disappointed visitors. Miss Y. wore on the +third finger of her left hand a heavy ring set with diamonds +and pearls. On her wedding day she would +have her band of gold like a Western bride. “You are +very fond of the gentleman, of course,” some one asked +her. The bright eyes dropped quickly as the low answer +came back, “I have seen him only once.” “Were +you alone?” “No, my aunt was in the room.” Plainly +then, notwithstanding her foreign finery, this was not +one of the so-called present day “liberty girls.”</p> + +<p>The case of Miss W. was quite different. She and her +fiancé had met and fallen in love in the good old-fashioned +way. They were married by the bride’s father, +an Episcopal clergyman, who, being tall and well-favoured, +made a rather imposing figure in his priestly +robe. After he had walked in and taken his place inside +the chancel, a church warden to the strains of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</span> +Lohengrin’s Wedding March ushered up the aisle with +due ceremony the groom and best man. That done, +they were left standing for fully ten minutes. The +wedding march was played and re-played, the party +at the altar shifted and turned while the audience +craned their necks till they were sore in an effort to +catch a glimpse of the incoming bride. What was +the matter? Was she sick? Was she panic-stricken? +Had an accident befallen the wedding dress? None +of these calamities had overtaken the girl, who was +dressed and ready to follow her fiancé into the church. +But ancient marriage customs in China prescribe that +a bride must be sent for again and again by the groom +before, with tears and great reluctance, she is at last +persuaded to leave her home. Although this was a +modern wedding, it would not do to disregard wholly +the time-honoured practice, hence a proper interval was +allowed to elapse before the bride made her appearance. +During the ceremony outbursts of laughter several +times proceeded from the Chinese guests, many of +whom had evidently never witnessed a Christian wedding +and to whom the plighting of the troth and other +passages were highly amusing. The bridal couple was +not in the least disturbed by these demonstrations any +more than when the warden from time to time stepped +forward and taking one or the other by the arm, +turned them around, or jerked them into proper position. +Soon after the conclusion of the ceremony the +bride retired and removed her veil, which was doubtless +an uncomfortable if stylish appurtenance of which she +was very glad to be rid.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</span></p> + +<p>Sometimes embarrassing situations are created because +the young people are attracted to modern ways +while their forbears much prefer the old. This happened +recently when a law student just back from +America married the girl to whom he had been betrothed +before he left home. The bride wore a white +satin gown with slit hobble skirt and fish-tail train, +veil, kid gloves, slippers, and carried a shower bouquet. +All was as modern as it was possible to have it, +but at the last moment the groom was thrown into a +state of great perturbation because of the refusal of +his parents and their old-fashioned friends to attend the +wedding. In his desire to have every arrangement conform +to Western ideas he had omitted to send conveyances +for his relatives, according to immemorial Chinese +custom, and they were so incensed by the omission +they refused to stir from their homes, although abundantly +able to hire carriages or sedan-chairs as they +might prefer. At the last moment, with the greatest +difficulty, a sufficient number of vehicles was found +and hurried off to bring the families to the wedding, +but so offended were they that it required the utmost +persuasion to induce them to come.</p> + +<p>A Shanghai bride not long ago was taken to task +by her friends for daring to show a glad countenance. +“Don’t you know it is a bride’s duty to be sad and +cry? Instead of that you look really happy,” they +cried. “I <i>am</i> happy, and why shouldn’t I look so?” +she replied with fervour. But the high-water mark of +self-assertion was reached when a Shanghai maid, the +daughter of wealthy parents, declared that her acceptance<span class="pagenum" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</span> +of her suitor depended on whether he was willing +to shave off his beard, to which demand he promptly +and meekly acceded. Truly the order of things +changeth in old China!</p> + +<p>Shanghai has something of which no other city in +China can boast, and that is a Nuptial Hall. Contracting +parties who wish a modern wedding but have +not homes suited for it may rent this building. It +contains a guest hall, banquet room, and bed chambers, +all nicely furnished. Here the newly wedded pair +can remain if they choose, for a few days of their +honeymoon or arrange for automobile or carriage to +take them away at once.</p> + +<p>Occasionally a clash occurs between customs past and +present which results in tragedy. A while ago a youth +and maiden, both teaching in a government school in +Shanghai, fell deeply in love. The girl’s father heard +of it but objected to his daughter’s marrying because +she was the mainstay of the family, and he argued that +filial duty required her to continue their support although +perfectly competent to shoulder the burden himself. +Taking her one day in a small boat to the middle +of a deep stream near their home, he demanded of the +girl that she give up her lover. When she loyally clung +to him her inhuman parent threw her overboard and +let her drown before his eyes. A few years ago a deed +like this would have attracted little attention. “The +girl belonged to her father and it is nobody’s business +what he did to her,” would have been the popular +verdict. But it is not so in Shanghai to-day. The +papers were full of the awful crime, the broken-hearted<span class="pagenum" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</span> +lover carried the case to the Chinese Court, and so +great a stir was made that no one will dare to repeat +such an act, at least openly.</p> + +<p>It can not be said that Shanghai has progressed beyond +the stage of polygamy. Under the old régime, for +a man to take one or many “secondary wives,” as they +were called, was a well-nigh universal practice, but it +has died out among the younger, educated classes and +before long will be forever relegated to the past in the +treaty ports. The women themselves are rising up in +defence of one another. An interesting instance is +that of a man who left a young wife of six months in +Shanghai and disappeared for several years. When +he came back, bringing a new wife with him, he repudiated +the first. Her condition was very pitiful. +Being at last turned out on the street by her husband’s +relatives after the death of her child, she went to learn +tailoring in a Singer Sewing Machine shop. It was at +this juncture that the Chinese Woman’s Co-operative +Association, composed of some of the leading women +in Shanghai, espoused her cause. They distributed +broadcast a circular which read: “The legitimate wife +of —— is too poor to engage a lawyer. We therefore +ask those who sympathize with her to come to her +assistance and see that she has justice, otherwise our +two hundred million sisters will ever remain under +the yoke of the other sex.” This resulted in the case +being carried into the court and a fine imposed on the +offender of eighty days’ imprisonment, pitifully inadequate +yet a move in the right direction, and a victory +for the band of progressive women.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</span></p> + +<p>Funeral ceremonies are undergoing a radical change +in Shanghai though not so rapidly as marriage customs. +Ancient observances are still held sacred by the +majority, and through the streets trail the old-time funeral +processions. Some are pathetic in their simplicity, +a cheap unadorned coffin swinging from bamboo poles +resting on the shoulders of coolies striding rapidly forward +followed by a few mourners on wheelbarrows or +in ricshas. Others are the long processions of the well-to-do, +grotesquely spectacular. First come coolies in a +straggling irregular line holding aloft tawdry banners +and lanterns, after them priests, bands (often two, a +Chinese and a foreign string band), paper images to +be burned at the vault and trays of cooked food to be +left there, the sedan-chair of the deceased and the carriage +he may or may not have owned, quite empty save +for a crayon portrait of him standing upright on the +seat in the midst of wreaths of flowers and palm leaves, +and finally the catafalque concealed under a crimson +satin cover and surmounted by an imitation crane +which is believed to carry heavenward the released +spirit. Behind the coffin, borne by perspiring, hired +coolies, the very lowest down in the social scale, for +only such can be induced to act as pall-bearers, walk the +adult sons as chief mourners. They are robed in white +cotton with a strip of sackcloth as a head band or a +sackcloth helmet. A sheet, spread out to form the +three sides of a square and carried by coolies, furnishes +a screen inside of which the men march. Following +them in carriages are the widow, the daughters, +and other relatives and friends. Even this is a strange<span class="pagenum" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</span> +mixture of old and present day usages, for formerly +there were no carriages, no brass band, and above all no +palm leaves, which in a non-Christian funeral are of +course devoid of religious significance. Between the +wholly modern funeral and one of this description +there are varying degrees of transition. Often a hearse +is used whose blackness is hidden under a wealth of +bright blossoms covering sides as well as top, so that +it has more the appearance of a gala trap than a conveyance +for the dead. The Chinese have an inherent +objection to sombre effects at a funeral, the mourners +wearing white and the draperies being of the brightest +colours.</p> + +<p>A curious incident occurred recently which is a striking +illustration of the way in which old and new customs +may be said to elbow one another in their struggle +for supremacy. A tired foreigner trying to sleep was +disturbed by a persistent clatter of metal instruments +and medley of voices close by. Finally in desperation +he got up and looked out on the street, determined to +locate the noise and if possible put a stop to it. It was +summer weather and through the open windows of a +neighbouring Chinese house he found himself the half +unconscious observer of a strange scene. On the bed +lay an old woman, evidently very sick, while a Chinese +doctor and several assistants were running about +the room with Chinese rattles and whistles, frightening +away the evil spirit that had caused the malady. At +last he was chased to the court below, where a pause +was made, and the impudent intruder politely asked +what his wishes might be. Replying that he desired +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</span>to visit a neighbouring village he was told he could go, +whereupon the relieved family shut and bolted the +outer door after paying the doctor a fat fee for his +services. This all took place under the very shadow +of a group of the most up-to-date Municipal hospitals +in Shanghai.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" id="f14"> +<img src="images/fig14.jpg" alt="drill"> +<p class="caption">SCHOOL GIRLS IN GYMNASIUM DRILL</p> +</div> + +<p>One of the hopeful signs of these later days in China +is the changing attitude of the people toward physical +exercise, for it means better health and better morals +for the nation. Not long ago, really only a very few +years, round shoulders were by every one highly +commended, in the women as indicating modesty and +in the men scholarly habits. A girl who held herself +erect, with well developed chest, would have been set +down at once as bold and forward, and not only that, +but any kind of physical exertion was regarded by the +upper classes, young and old alike, as coolie’s work +and quite beneath their dignity. Some Chinese girls +were watching a game of tennis for the first time, when +one turned to her companion with a puzzled expression +and the remark, “Can’t they get coolies to do that work +for them?” Several Englishmen living in the western +part of the city were in the habit of rising early every +morning for a tramp in the country. The Chinese +in the neighbourhood who saw them start out day after +day were told the men walked for the pleasure of it, +but they shook their heads incredulously, “We know +they mean to worship at some secret shrine, for no one +in his senses would work so hard if he didn’t have +to” A couple of foreigners were crossing Garden +Bridge when a troop of Chinese youths went rushing<span class="pagenum" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</span> +past with foot-balls tucked under their arms. Said the +gentleman laughingly to his companion, “You wouldn’t +have seen that a short time ago in Shanghai.” “Why? +Because the boys were not playing ball?” “Yes, and +neither would they have done such an unmannerly +thing as to run. Just now they were so interested in +the coming ball game they forgot all about appearances.”</p> + +<p>In the spring of 1915 Shanghai witnessed a unique +spectacle, something that will go down in history, and +deservedly, as one of the great events in the life of +the city. It was the Second Far Eastern Olympiad, +the first having been held the year before in Manila. +The Municipal Council turned over Shanghai’s +finest park for the games, and the Young Men’s +Christian Association fitted it up with the necessary +accessories. No one who was there will ever forget +that week. Many foreigners were present, but they +were almost lost among the crowds of Chinese, for this +was a distinctly Chinese celebration, just as it was +meant to be. The élite Chinese turned out as well as +the common people, men and women, young and old. +Wide-eyed and tense, they watched their countrymen +contest with crack players from Japan and the Philippines, +and cheered tremendously when again and again +the Chinese “won out.” It was good to look upon +these lusty youths, who instead of cultivating long +finger nails and cramping their chests after the manner +of the old-time Chinese scholars, were clad in gymnasium +tights, vaulting, running, swimming, batting, +while their sires and grandsires forgot themselves and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</span> +their traditions so far as to urge them on with shouts +of approval.</p> + +<p>Shortly afterward, under the auspices of the Young +Women’s Christian Association, several hundred girls +from mission and private schools gave a physical exhibition +of their own. This was not open to the public, +guests being admitted by ticket and only a few +gentlemen invited. Some of the girls wore modified +gymnasium suits, but most appeared in their ordinary +school clothes. It was all-important that the conservatives +should not be shocked, who were none too friendly +to the idea of physical training for their daughters. +Mothers, grandmothers, and aunts, their prejudice partly +overcome by their curiosity, sat around in crowds on +the borders of the grassy campus viewing the exercises, +first with indifference, then interest, and at last, genuine +enthusiasm. The leader was a young Chinese woman +who received her training in Boston. These two events +marked a new era in the physical development of Young +China and the ravages of tuberculosis have received a +check, while good, hard, honest work is understood, by +athletes at least, as something not to be shunned as +a disgrace.</p> +<hr class="full x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="c11">XI</h2> +</div> + +<p class="ph2">A TYPICAL SHANGHAI WEDDING</p> + + +<p><span class="dropcap">I</span>T was the day before the wedding. Downstairs +in the home of the fiancé all was bustle and excitement. +The marriage dowry, that for weeks +had been collecting, was being made ready to carry +over to the house of the groom’s father. Articles large +and small, useful, and ornamental were scattered everywhere.</p> + +<p>First, and most important of all, there was the trousseau. +Each suit consisted of three pieces—trousers, +skirt, and jacket—made of the same material. They +were carefully folded and piled one on top of another +in the regulation bridal trunks, which are moderate +sized wooden boxes covered with glossy red or brown +oilcloth. Though the family was greatly rushed, still +as relatives and friends dropped in to watch the proceedings +and offer congratulations, the more elaborate +costumes were taken out with ill-concealed pride and +held up for inspection. And they were worth seeing! +Silks, brocaded satins, crêpes, gauzes, ranging in colour +from the palest hues of pink, green, blue, and violet, +down to rich crimson, dark grey, brown, and even black, +lay together in bewildering profusion. Some were delicate<span class="pagenum" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</span> +as sea-foam, others handsome but quiet, while the +splendidly embroidered ones might well have rejoiced +the heart of a princess. The jewels were arranged +to show off to the best advantage in numerous +small glass-covered cases. They presented a dazzling +array—bracelets, rings, buckles, necklaces, hair ornaments. +Diamonds, rubies, pearls, sapphires, shone resplendent, +but jade was the principal stone.</p> + +<p>The bride’s wardrobe, however, though of absorbing +interest, was only one portion of her dowry. The rest +of the outfit blocked the way in every direction. The +usual sets of graded wooden tubs, pails, and chests +with conspicuous brass locks occupied the entire side +of one room. These were painted either a rich red or +brown and highly polished. On the other side of the +room the most conspicuous object was a couch or divan +weighed down under a huge pile of quilts. No Chinese +girl goes to her husband’s home without a collection +of bed-coverings. Though differing greatly in number +and elegance, always they are of bright colours and +folded lengthwise with exquisite neatness. In this case +most of the quilts were of the costliest materials, flowered +silks, figured satins, with a few gay prints and soft +cashmeres for summer use.</p> + +<p>In an adjoining apartment was a set of bedroom +furniture in carved teakwood, wardrobe, table, chairs, +and washstand. The ornate brass bed was of foreign +make. The silk curtains and silver ornaments with +which it was later to be hung, were temporarily reposing +in one of the many chests. Embossed silver +teasets of Chinese pattern, silver and ivory chopsticks,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</span> +foreign glass finger bowls, gaudy native silver wine +cups, bonbon dishes, jewelry cases, hand-painted +scrolls, silk banners, later to be converted into gowns +for the bride, these were but a few of the riches lavished +on the girl sitting apart in an upper chamber, shy, half +afraid, wholly expectant.</p> + +<p>The list of attractions on this great occasion would +be incomplete were mention not made of the trays of +edibles, fruits, fancy cakes, and confections of marvellous +variety, intended as a gift from the bride’s parents +to the family of the groom. On the evening of +the wedding day the groom’s parents will return the +compliment by sending to the bride’s home a sumptuous +repast consisting of cakes, fruit, cooked fowls, fish, +and one, possibly three or four, roasted pigs. After +roasting the pig is coated over with sesame oil, which +hardens when exposed to the air and imparts an appetizing +gloss to the skin. The animal is carried +through the streets by coolies in a red tray suspended +from poles, to the admiration of all onlookers and the +despair of the hungry. On arriving at its destination, +the upper part of the head, and the tail, with a thin +slice of meat attached to it, are cut away and returned +to the donors. This is done to insure the uninterrupted +bliss of the young couple, since the head and tail of +the pig represent the beginning and end of happiness in +the lives of the newly wed.</p> + +<p>It was no light contract to get such a generous marriage +dowry conveyed safely from one home to the +other. Early in the morning preparations began, yet +by three in the afternoon the procession had not started.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</span> +People were flying to and fro. Coolie bearers with long +bamboo poles stood around in every one’s way, talking +in loud shrill tones. In a side room sat a scholarly +mandarin writing Chinese characters on slips of red +paper. These were pasted vertically across each chest +beside the lock and served the double purpose of announcing +the name of the bride and adding to the safety +of the contents of the chest in transit, since it could +not be opened without tearing the paper. The quilts +were fastened securely to the couch on which they lay +by an ornamental network of red cord. Smaller +articles, placed on box-shaped trays, were in like manner +made secure from pilfering fingers. Red paper +cards, red ribbon and flowers figured prominently as +decorations. As one by one the pieces were made ready +they were taken to the street and fastened by ropes +to the coolies’ carrying poles. When the long procession +was complete and awaiting the order to start, a +gayer scene could scarcely be imagined. The bride’s +entire dowry, excepting her trousseau, was in full view +of curious eyes, that all spectators along the route might +be duly impressed with the family wealth. Leading +off were two closed carriages (a short time ago they +would have been sedan chairs), in each of which sat +in state two gentlemen “go-betweens,” whose particular +mission at this time was to convey the cases containing +the jewels to the home of the groom. But alas for +human pride and ambition! Just at the critical moment, +when the coachman had whipped the horses into +action, the coolies raised the poles to their shoulders, +and a tremor undulated down the whole line—a few<span class="pagenum" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</span> +drops of rain fell. Then such a scurrying of feet ensued +as servants rushed into the house for pieces of +oiled cloth to protect perishable treasures! So it was +with eclipsed glory that the parade eventually started +on its way, to the vast disappointment of all concerned.</p> + +<p>On the day of the wedding the centre of interest was +transferred from the bride’s home to that of the groom. +He lived in a three-story mansion, becoming the rank +of his father, who was a high official holding a responsible +government position. At the gate of the compound, +or grounds, were stationed several Chinese +policemen whose chief business was to keep the motley +crowd outside from encroaching on the premises. But +either they were unequal to their task, or what is more +likely, condoned the intrusion of the ragamuffins, for +more and more of the nondescript element drifted past +the sentinels, till the yard in front was well filled. The +arched gateway and main entrance to the dwelling were +decorated with flowers and greens, while along the wide +veranda was suspended a row of mammoth lanterns, +gorgeous with crimson silk trimmings and tassels. At +one end of the veranda hung strings of firecrackers, +yards and yards in length, lending an added splash of +colour to the picture. The house was built around the +four sides of a glass-covered court, with galleries on +the second and third stories from which the rooms +opened. Two bands were stationed in the court, one +Chinese and the other Filipino, the latter a contingent +from the Municipal Band of the International Settlement. +The contrast between them was ludicrous.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</span> +The Filipinos in fresh uniforms with shining instruments +sat erect before their leader and played with +spirit. The ten or a dozen Chinese were of all ages, +their rags showing beneath faded red jackets and in +their hands a collection of indescribable instruments on +which from time to time they blew, pounded and pulled, +to the evident enjoyment of all the guests but the few +suffering foreigners present. Beyond the court was the +reception hall. As it was entirely open in front, its +magnificence caught and held the gaze immediately +on entering the front door. The walls were ablaze with +crimson satin banners, while crimson satin covered the +chairs and tables, every piece of it, like the banners, elegantly +embroidered. Wedding decorations are rented +for the occasion as it would cost a small fortune to +buy them. The ground floor was mainly given up to +the men, who sat around in the ante-rooms, in social +groups, sipping tea and wine, and smoking.</p> + +<p>Upstairs the women of the family held court. As +guests arrived they were conducted at once to the bridal +chamber, a large bright room, decked out with the furniture +and bric-a-brac sent over the day before from the +bride’s home. The bed was the most striking object, for +the white silken curtains were carefully hung, though almost +hidden under a glittering assortment of quaint +and rare ornaments in wrought silver, nearly all of +them possessing some symbolical meaning. The carved +teakwood table covered with a heavy white satin +spread embroidered in peach blossoms, stood in the +centre of the room. So many gifts had been sent by +friends to swell the marriage dowry, that the bridal<span class="pagenum" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</span> +chamber and room back of it could scarcely contain +them all. Frequently next to an exquisite bit of ivory +or jade would repose a cheap glass vase or china matchbox +that looked as if it might have come from a ten-cent +store in America. In an adjoining apartment stood a +table set in foreign style. The table-cloth was a strip +of coarse cotton sheeting, and on it were placed fancy +china dishes heaped with all manner of cakes, fruit, and +confections. Even such accessories as knives and forks, +and tiny napkins embroidered around the edge in deep +blue were not lacking. In the centre was a spreading +floral piece of remarkable design. To beguile the time +while waiting for the coming of the bride, guests were +invited to partake of the refreshments, which they did +freely.</p> + +<p>The hours passed slowly by. One o’clock had been +named in the invitations as the time of the wedding, +but three struck and no bride. Four o’clock rolled +around and still no signs of her. Indeed, not a Chinese +guest expected her, for had the bride made her appearance +promptly, she would have been committing a +shocking and unpardonable breach of etiquette. Several +times, according to custom, the bridegroom had +sent his messengers to bring her, but without avail. +The bridegroom must go himself. At last, late in the +afternoon, the word passed around, amid a wild flurry +of excitement, that he was about to set out. He left in +a closed carriage drawn by a span of horses with coachman +and footman. His two little sisters, flower-girls, +in white foreign dresses, pink sashes and hair ribbons, +followed in another carriage. The foreign band went<span class="pagenum" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</span> +too, on foot, while the Chinese musicians exerted themselves +with commendable energy to keep up the flagging +spirits of the waiting guests.</p> + +<p>The minutes dragged heavily till an hour had gone by. +During the interval there were occasional breaks in the +monotony. Coolies hurried in with belated wedding +gifts, women servants of the bride arrived bearing additional +jewel cases, and finally three men walked in, importantly. +Two wore Chinese dress, the third one foreign +clothes of the best modern cut. It was whispered +around that he had come all the way from Peking to act +as chief functionary at the ceremony. Presently the +bridegroom’s carriage rolled into the compound. The +excitement then rose to a tremendous pitch and every one +who was not already crowding forward rushed to the entrance +and the front verandas. Soon the glad shout arose +on every side: “The bride is coming! The bride is coming!” +First in through the gateway marched the Filipinos +playing a stirring air. Close behind was the carriage +of the flower girls, and then came the bride, riding +alone. Her carriage on top had the appearance of a +flower garden with its elaborate rainbow-coloured trimmings. +The horses’ harness too was gaily decorated. But +the poor animals were badly frightened when a match +was set to the firecrackers and boom after boom rent the +air. They reared and pranced, and though a footman +held tightly to each bridle, it seemed for a moment or +two as if the carriage with its precious burden would +not succeed in getting safely inside the gate. By this +time the policemen had abandoned all effort to control +the street mob, and they poured into the compound, a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</span> +gaping throng, in strange contrast to their brilliant surroundings.</p> + +<p>The little flower girls, carrying beautiful floral +baskets, had tripped lightly to the ground, when an +intimate woman friend of the bride’s family stepped +forward to open the coach door for the bride. Not a +glimpse had been had of her, for the blinds were closely +drawn. Very slowly she dismounted as custom required, +but had the poor child wished ever so much to +hurry, she would have been too seriously hampered by +her attire to do so. Delicate satin slippers encased her +small though unbound feet. Her gown was of old rose +satin, stiff with embroidery. Over her little shapely +hands were drawn loose-fitting cotton gloves. Necklaces +without number, of extraordinary design, nearly +hid the waist of her dress in front, while quantities +of gold and jade bracelets encircled her slender wrists. +But the most amazing creation of all was the bride’s +headgear. It was the time-honoured helmet, worn for +centuries back in these parts by Chinese brides, but +seldom seen nowadays in Shanghai. Studded with +brilliants and coloured glass, and encircled with +strings of bangles that fell around and almost concealed +the girl’s face, the weight must have been enough +to bow down, without any effort to appear modest, the +head that had to sustain it. But, O, ye shades of a +stereotyped past, what is this grand climax to the +bride’s dress which now rivets the attention of the +astonished beholder! Can it be? yes, it certainly is—a +modern wedding veil of white net, gathered above +the helmet in a tuft-like bunch and falling around the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</span> +bride to her feet in billowy folds! The towering crown +wavered uncertainly, as, guided by her chaperon, the +girl moved deliberately toward the house.</p> + +<p>Just inside the door she was joined by the groom in a +well fitting Tuxedo, but looking about as ill at ease as a +man can. Keeping a good elbow’s distance apart, the +bridal couple, followed, not preceded, by the flower girls +and after them the groom’s relatives, walked across the +court and on into the reception hall, where a girl was +vigorously pounding out Mendelssohn’s Wedding +March on a clanging piano. They stopped a few feet +in front of an oblong table behind which stood the +three men who had preceded the groom to the house. +The bride and groom bowed low to each of the three +dignitaries, beginning with the one in the centre, who +was the little man in foreign clothes. This gentleman +picked up a document written over with Chinese characters, +and holding it in his two hands, read from it +in a loud voice. After that he handed a ring to the +groom, who placed it on the third finger of the left +hand of the bride, over her cotton glove. This act was +accompanied by formal bows from one party to the +other. The bride then received a ring from her chaperon +and timidly slipped it on the left hand little +finger of the groom. More bowing ensued. At this +juncture some little girls came forward, and facing +the bride and groom, sang very sweetly, in English, +“Jesus Bids us Shine,” a feature of the ceremony introduced +by a Chinese Christian friend with the consent +of the non-Christian families. At the conclusion +of this number, bowing became the order of the programme.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</span> +It took the place of the friendly congratulations +offered to bridal couples in the West The bride +and groom first saluted each other, then the gentlemen +who officiated, afterward the parents of the groom, +kneeling before them with their heads to the floor, in +token of filial respect, and lastly the brothers, sisters, +uncles, aunts, cousins, and friends generally. Each +group was saluted three times, and bowed three times +in return. Those older and higher in rank stood above +the couple, but in the case of children the order was +reversed. The last to be greeted was an aunt of the +bride, the only member of her household that custom +allowed to be present. This ceremony was very formal +and occupied considerable time. While it lasted the +chaperon was kept busy, since it was her duty to turn +the bride around, and push her head forward at the +proper time to bow.</p> + +<p>When all was at last over, strains from Mendelssohn +were again struck up, the bride attempted to +slip her hand in her husband’s arm, which in his +embarrassment he allowed to hang limply by his +side, and surrounded by a chattering, pushing crowd, +the bridal pair ascended the uncarpeted stairs, +soiled with the dust from many feet, and found their +way to the bridal chamber. As the newly married +always do, they sat for several minutes together on +the edge of the bed, then the bridegroom made his +escape to the rooms below, where, constraint cast aside, +he entered heartily into the enjoyment of the hour. +But no such good fortune awaited the bride. Her +ordeal had just begun. She rose to her feet while her<span class="pagenum" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</span> +girl friends pressed close about her for the usual bantering. +“Aren’t you stupid!” “What a hideous +gown!” “How ridiculously you behave!” “Whoever +saw such an ugly bride!” During this tirade not +a muscle of the bride’s face quivered, and the lowered +eyes were never once raised. But perspiration stood +in beads on her forehead and the soft round cheeks were +flushed and feverish, for the thoughtless, teasing crowd +shut out the air, and besides, not a morsel of food or a +drop of liquid had passed her lips that day.</p> + +<p>Seven o’clock brought a respite, for at that hour the +wedding feast was declared ready, and the bride escorted +by her chaperon returned to the reception hall where the +tables were spread. One table was reserved especially +for her, and there she was placed in solitary state facing +the entire roomful of guests. Not so the groom, who +occupied a side table in the midst of a group of friends. +The bride’s wedding veil had been removed, but the helmet +remained, having assumed meanwhile a somewhat +tipsy air, as if the head underneath was too weary to +hold it steady or in the merry-making it had been jarred +out of its equilibrium. But no hand offered to adjust +it, and least of all could the girl herself do so. She +sat immovable, her eyes downcast, her face as impassive +as a Buddha’s. Dish after dish of tempting Chinese +food was put before her, to be taken away untouched. +While others all over the room were eating and chattering +happily, she continued mute and alone. A break +came when the wine was served. Lifting one of the +little silver wine cups in both hands the groom passed +it to the chief guest, who received it in his two hands,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</span> +and after taking a sip returned the cup to the groom. +He presented it likewise to each of the principal guests, +and last of all to his bride amid an outburst of merriment +from the interested spectators. It was then the +bride’s turn. Whatever may have been her inner feelings, +she betrayed no sign of emotion as she stepped +calmly from one to another with the cup and ended +by placing it in the hands of the groom, while the +guests cheered and laughed uproariously.</p> + +<p>With this ceremony the feast broke up but not the +wedding festivities. They continued unabated till early +morning. During the evening, four of the bride’s +brothers came in, but they did not seek her out. The +men, including the groom, stayed below to carouse and +gamble. Upstairs the young friends of the bride gathered +around her once more and prepared for a wild +frolic. First, according to custom, they demanded a +gift, whereupon one of her woman servants distributed +boxes of Chinese confections among them, prepared for +this purpose. After that she was put through a series of +ridiculous performances for the amusement of her persecutors, +such as crawling, hopping, skipping, crowing. +When at last dawn streaked the sky and the house lights +went out with the departing guests, is it a wonder that +the exhausted little bride of eighteen sank down on +the nearest couch and cried herself to sleep?</p> +<hr class="full x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="c12">XII</h2> +</div> + +<p class="ph2">FOREIGN PHILANTHROPIES</p> + + +<p><span class="dropcap1">A</span> BISHOP visiting in Shanghai said he should +sometime like to write a book on the “cries” of +China. It would make interesting reading. The +cries are many and diverse. Most coolies, for example, +whether on land or water, work to the accompaniment +of a rhythmical chant, and though the poor fellows, +carrying heavy burdens, fairly gasp in their effort to +continue the vocal exercise while under the strain of +physical exertion, they seem unable to proceed without +it.</p> + +<p>In the early days, when foreigners first settled in +Shanghai, it is related that house servants, as they +carried food to and from the table, indulged in the +usual monotonous sing-song till the distracted diners +peremptorily put a stop to the habit.</p> + +<p>But of all the cries known to China, the most pitiful +is the cry of the children, the sharp insistent wail +of suffering childhood that ascends night and day all +over this great land. Had Mrs. Browning visited the +Far East she would surely have been impelled to pen +another noble poem on the “Cry of the Children” +whose pathos would have pierced the heart of the +world. Many people believe slavery in China is a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</span> +thing of the past, as a multitude imagine foot-binding +is no longer practised. It is true that edicts from time +to time have gone forth abolishing slavery, but they +have not been enforced and old customs die hard. The +most that can be said is that this hydra-headed monster +no longer stalks abroad as openly and unchallenged as +formerly, though that the evil exists no one who knows +conditions can for a moment deny.</p> + +<p>Out from the centre of the noisy city, where the +fields are green and the air pure and fresh, stands a +substantial red brick building. The presiding genius +is a sweet-faced, motherly woman in the garb of a Protestant +Episcopal deaconess. “Is this the Slave Girls’ +Refuge?” asks the visitor. “It is the Children’s Refuge.” +Then, with a deprecatory smile, “We are leaving +the word ‘slave’ out now because we want to do +all we can to help the children forget their sad past.” +The house is plain, not a dollar wasted on ornamentation, +and filled to overflowing. Built to accommodate +seventy-five, last year a hundred and fifty-six were +crowded into it. Little cots line the upper verandas, +and the superintendent’s bedroom is turned into a day +nursery for the smallest tots. “You surely ought to +have one spot you could call your very own,” exclaims +the half indignant visitor. “I should find it restful +and pleasant, but with my big family I can’t manage +it,” and the ever ready smile again illumines the +kind face.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" id="f15"> +<img src="images/fig15.jpg" alt="refuge"> +<p class="caption">RESCUED CHILD JUST BROUGHT TO +THE CHILDREN’S REFUGE</p> +<p class="caption">OLD MEN AT THE HOME OF THE LITTLE +SISTERS OF THE POOR</p> +</div> + +<p>This work, which is undenominational, was started +by a band of Christian women after the upheaval of +1900, although the present building was not occupied +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</span>till ten years later. Now, in so short a time, it has +been outgrown, and the need for an addition is imperative. +The children range in age from three to +twenty, for some have been in the Home a long time +and developed into useful assistants. Most of the little +ones are rescued by the police, who take them to the +Municipal Mixed Court, and from there they are turned +over to the Refuge. And what eventually becomes +of these waifs? A few are returned to parents from +whom they have been stolen, others are adopted by +families or mission schools, while a large number die, +too weakened because of ill treatment to resist disease. +Occasionally there is a simple wedding at the Refuge +and a girl goes out from it to a home of her own. +Shanghai is a great slave market. Children are sent +and brought here from all over China, kidnappers having +a large hand in the shameful trade. Parents frequently +sell their own offspring, for there are many +mouths to feed and rice is often very, very scarce. +Only girls are slaves. They become the property, body, +mind, and soul, of their owners, who may do with them +as they like. Their pitiful little life stories are almost +too harrowing to repeat. A baby of five had its flesh +pinched with red-hot irons, another of six was tied to +a post for days without food, having had hot needles +run under her nails. One was three times buried +alive. A mite three years old, nearly dead from neglect +and starvation, weighed only ten pounds when +brought to the Refuge. A doctor counted on the body +of a bleeding child two hundred and forty cuts, burns, +and bruises. One was brought in with an arm twisted<span class="pagenum" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</span> +out of shape and an eyelid nearly torn away. A little +slave, after repeated beatings that almost crushed the +life out of her, was thrown by her mistress on an ash-heap +to die. When rescued and sent to the Refuge her +mind seemed clouded. She took scarcely any notice +of her surroundings, but if any one approached her +the poor child shrieked in terror. “You are going to +kill me! I know you are going to kill me!” “A +few weeks later,” said the superintendent, tears filling +her eyes as she told the story, “the little thing was +following me around everywhere, repeating softly to +herself, ‘Jesus loves me, Jesus loves me.’” How the +superintendent with her great warm heart mothers her +flock! The more marred, feeble, and wretched they +are the more her love surrounds them. And it is most +wonderful how these little bruised, neglected plants, +blossom out under her tender care. Until recently she +was the only foreigner in charge of the work. While +so many others flit away in the fierce heat of summer +for a breath of cool air, this faithful worker remains, +season after season, at her post. “I can not leave the +children,” she will urge. But she asks no one’s commiseration, +for a happier heart is not to be found +in China.</p> + +<p>There is a shelter called “The Home for Waifs and +Strays” at quite the opposite side of Shanghai. It +gathers in a somewhat different class of children, not +many slaves, but outcasts, down to new-born infants +picked up on the street by the police. Many of the +children are mentally deficient and some suffer from +incurable diseases. A devoted Christian woman is at<span class="pagenum" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</span> +the head of the Home, which receives its support from +the Municipal Council, by whom the work was inaugurated +several years ago.</p> + +<p>A new building has just been completed close to the +Children’s Refuge, which so long stood entirely alone in +the midst of cultivated fields. It is the home of the +School for Blind Boys. No charity is more appealing in +a country where diseased eyes, leading to partial or total +blindness, are so fearfully common. The school opened +its doors only three years ago in a rented house, yet +the mental development of the boys has been most remarkable. +There is certain to arise soon an insistent +demand for blind teachers for the blind, and the purpose +of the school is to give their boys a general education +which will qualify them for that work. It also has +a growing industrial department, and the Blind School, +like the Children’s Refuge, is in part supported by the +sale of its products. The plan is later to establish on +the same site a similar school for girls.</p> + +<p>One of the best known institutions in Shanghai is +the Door of Hope. As the name implies it is intended +to succor girls bound by a slavery the most cruel of +all. No other city in the country contains as many +brothels as Shanghai. It is often called the Sodom +of China, and is known to many of the native Christians +away from the coast only as the Far Country +of the Prodigal Son. Sadly enough, the presence of +degenerate foreigners is largely responsible for the sin +laid at the gates of the gay metropolis.</p> + +<p>It is safe to say that the majority of Chinese girls +found in houses of ill-fame are there through no fault<span class="pagenum" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</span> +of their own. Kidnappers dispose in this way of many +of the children they have stolen. Often parents, particularly +in famine times, sell their little daughters, +choosing in their ignorance such a fate for them rather +than to see them die of starvation.</p> + +<p>The “Receiving Home” is in an alley-way just off +Nanking Road, which is the Piccadilly of Shanghai. +Several years ago a few philanthropic and influential +Chinese gentlemen succeeded in securing from the International +Municipality the passage of a law whereby +a notice was placed in each brothel telling of the Receiving +Home and how to reach it. Another law was +passed at the same time prohibiting brothels from accepting +girls under fourteen. Both of these statutes +have gradually been allowed to become dead letters, +and little or no attention is now paid to them. A rescued +girl stays in the Receiving Home only over night, +or until her case is brought up in the Mixed Court +and she is committed to the Door of Hope. This +building is in the outskirts of the city, far removed +from the crowded, dangerous district with which the +girls have grown too familiar. For obvious reasons, +although all are under the same roof, it has been found +wise to separate the first-year girls from those of the +second year. This charity is supported by grants from +the Municipal Council together with voluntary gifts +and the sale of industrial work. The Door of Hope +dolls are famed far and wide. The little wooden heads, +beautifully carved, are the only parts of the dolls not +made by the girls. Shanghai firms gladly donate in +abundance bright-coloured scraps of silk, satin, and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</span> +cotton cloth. The dolls are dressed to represent all +grades and classes of society, and a set, consisting of +sixteen, is of real value educationally.</p> + +<p>The first-year girls spend the morning in study and +the afternoon in work. They begin by learning to make +their own clothes, cloth shoes and all, then when the +tailor’s trade has been thoroughly mastered, they are set +to dressing dolls. For this work a slight compensation is +given which acts as a spur and encouragement. The +second-year girls are busy all day at their embroidery +frames with a little schooling in the evening. They receive +regular pay and are expected in the main to clothe +themselves. The embroidery is exquisitely fine and +dainty and there is a constant call for it, both in and +out of Shanghai, especially from prospective brides +and mothers. In the long, cheerful work-room, lined +on both sides with windows, the sixty or more girls +of the second year gather each morning at eight o’clock +for prayers. Half an hour later, the embroidery frames +are laid out on small tables, and materials unrolled to +the accompaniment of happy chatter. When all is in +readiness to begin, a sudden hush falls on the room, as +some one points to the text for the day on a Scripture +calendar hanging on the wall. This is repeated in concert, +followed by a brief prayer from one of the girls. +It is a sweet custom and seems to give just the right +start to the day. The calendar is compiled annually +by a Chinese woman living in Shanghai.</p> + +<p>It is not necessary to ask if the girls are happy. Their +bright, contented faces show that. Few are inherently +bad. Only once in a long while some one tires of the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</span> +quiet routine and revolts or runs away. But it is +natural that they should crave change and the sight of a +face from the outside world is eagerly welcomed. Noticing +this, a foreign lady living in the neighbourhood +once asked the girls in relays to her home for afternoon +tea. The day the first-year girls were present, one +of them, pointing to the piano, turned to the missionary +in charge with the question, “What is that black box?” +It was explained to her that it was a musical instrument, +and when later it was played upon, the delight +of the girls was unbounded. An American visitor +was so touched by the incident that she secured for the +Door of Hope the gift of a splendid victrola which, +being a thing of beauty, is likewise sure to prove a +joy forever.</p> + +<p>Most of those who enter the Door of Hope, after +a few months or a year, become earnest Christians, +and sooner or later are married to Christian men. In +China it is considered no disgrace to marry a fallen +girl, provided she has changed her way of living. +One girl who was recently married to a minister +made such a favourable impression on her husband’s +friend that he went to the Home begging that he +be given a wife just like her. “But how are these +poor girls for whom often a very large sum of money +has been paid, rescued from their owners?” asks the +puzzled caller. Ah, it is here that a ray of light streams +through the darkness. There is a law in China, yes, +and a very old law too, that no woman can be made +to lead a life of shame against her will. If she has a +chance to express herself in court, she may choose the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</span> +better way, and no one is allowed to oppose her. The +difficulty is to escape from bondage and secure the +chance to voice a protest. Besides, many are too young +to speak for themselves, like the baby of three, who +the other day was carried to a brothel in the arms of +her own father and offered for sale. The keepers prefer +to buy very young children, as they cost little and can +be used as singing girls during their early years.</p> + +<p>Five miles out from Shanghai, in a pleasant farming +district, is the children’s branch of the Door of Hope. +In this beautiful protected spot, a hundred and sixty +little ones, snatched from the horrible pit in which they +had been thrown, live happily together. With the +blessed forgetfulness of childhood, the past soon fades +into indistinctness, till it is well-nigh effaced from +their memory. The cottage system is in vogue, and the +big family is divided up into groups of about twenty. +Each cottage has its house-mother, one of the older, +trusted girls from the City Home, and all are under +the care of two devoted foreigners. The hours are +filled with house-work, studies, simple industries, gardening, +play. If a girl shows special aptitude, she is +sent in time to a mission school, where the curriculum +is broader and better adapted to her largest development. +As soon as the children are old enough, they are +trained in evangelistic work, such as teaching in +Ragged Sunday-Schools and holding village prayer +meetings. Practically every one ripens into a genuine +little Christian.</p> + +<p>Two of the most striking philanthropies in Shanghai +are conducted by the Roman Catholics. If there<span class="pagenum" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</span> +is a class of society that draws on one’s sympathies +even more than friendless children, it is friendless old +people, since their capacity for conscious suffering is +greater. A most admirable characteristic of the Chinese +is their usually kind treatment of the aged. Filial +piety shines its brightest in poverty stricken homes, +where real sacrifice is required to provide for the parents, +who are often much better able to care for themselves +than their children are for them. But very +many are left alone in the world without food or shelter, +or money to buy a coffin in which they would so +gladly lie down and die.</p> + +<p>The Catholic Home for indigent old people is popularly +known by the name given to the Sisters of Charity +in charge of it, “The Little Sisters of the +Poor.” The capacious three-story building shelters a +hundred and fifty old men and as many old women, +which is all it will hold. But as fast as any die +others are ready to take their places, for there is always +a long waiting list. The only conditions of admission +to the Home are that the applicant must be +over sixty and wholly without means of support. Most +of those taken in are seventy or more. One might +easily imagine that a place like this, which gathers +under its roof so many old people, whose lives for the +most part have been spent in the midst of poverty and +filth, and with never an idea of cleanly habits, would +be anything but inviting. Yet it is a sort of Eden, +not a speck of dirt on the well-scrubbed floors, not a +bad or even a close smell in the big airy rooms, not a +spot on the white bed curtains and pretty patch-work<span class="pagenum" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</span> +coverlids made by the old people from the scraps sent +in from the shops. And as for the inmates enjoying +themselves, why the faces of the dear old souls fairly +radiate happiness! They are allowed tobacco and +plenty of tea and chatter like magpies over their pipes +and cups. In order not to make life under the new +conditions terrifying for them, a weekly bath is not +insisted on, but clean, neatly mended garments are +donned every Sunday morning. When sick, the simple-minded +folk are attended by old-fashioned Chinese +medicine men, instead of foreign trained doctors whose +new-fangled ways the patients would spurn. All who +are able to work have regular duties, spinning, laundering, +tailoring, nursing. The women’s quarters are on +one side of the building, and the men’s on the other, +with the chapel between them. “Yes,” says the Sister +Superior, stopping a moment as she passes in front +of the altar to kneel and make the sign of the Cross, +“the chapel is in the centre, so you see it is God who +divides and God who unites us.” Several of the Sisters +are Chinese, and one round-faced novitiate works +in the kitchen, where the shining brass and copper vessels +call to mind “Father Lawrence” and his immaculate +domain. No Chinese girl can enter as an +“aspirant” to the privileges of sisterhood, unless she +belongs to the third generation of Christians.</p> + +<p>Shanghai’s great show-place is the Catholic institution +at Siccawei, a suburban village named after the +Jesuit missionaries’ patron saint. No one coming to +the city willingly leaves without seeing it, certainly +not if the visitor is a woman. For the laces and embroideries<span class="pagenum" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</span> +made under the direction of the French +Sisters are the very quintessence of artistic loveliness, +and the salesroom is seldom empty.</p> + +<p>More than fifty years ago, at the close of the +T’aiping Rebellion, the Jesuits, after many persecutions +and vicissitudes, returned to Shanghai, from +whence they had fled, and settled at Siccawei. There +they began a small work, which has steadily grown till +it has reached almost gigantic proportions. Clustered +about the Cathedral, glaringly modern and capacious, +whose tall spires are a landmark in all the country +round, are the old church, a men’s college and theological +seminary, observatory, museum, orphanages, +schools, and industrial plants. The women’s and girls’ +buildings are on one side of a tidal creek, and those of +the men and boys on the other. Asked some question +by a stranger about the boys’ work, the Sister addressed +replied in a tone of finality, “I can’t tell you. +I know no more about what is going on over there than +you do.” Each Sister is assigned her own duties for +which she is responsible, and gives herself to them +exclusively. There are fifty Sisters, more than two-thirds +of whom are Chinese. The spirituelle expression +seen sometimes on the faces of these Chinese recluses, +is most remarkable. The foreign Sisters are all +French. No one can doubt their devotion. They take +no vacation; they never go home on furlough. Several +have been at their posts over forty years.</p> + +<p>It is a large household the Sisters have under their +care, averaging in number seventeen hundred, but the +work is so divided and runs with such systematic regularity<span class="pagenum" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</span> +that there is no suggestion of friction or confusion. +First in order come the foundlings. Each day, +tiny, new-born babes are brought into the Home, or often +left at the gate in the darkness of the night. None +are turned away. They are washed, dressed, laid in +clean little cribs, and as soon as possible baptised with +a Christian name in the chapel on the premises. Many +are so frail when they enter, that a few brief hours or +days end their troubled existence. Next are the day-schools +of various grades for Catholic children, the +large orphanage, and the boarding-school for non-Christian +or pagan children, as the Sisters call them, with +playground, dormitories, dining and school rooms entirely +separate from the others. In a secluded corner +of the grounds live the sixty unfortunates, who are +either blind, crippled, or mentally deficient. Their +chief occupation is spinning cotton by the aid of crude +spinning wheels, something the dullest are found capable +of learning to do.</p> + +<p>But it is through its industrial department that Siccawei +is best known to the general public. Hundreds +of women are employed in making lace and embroidery, +most of them having been reared in the Home, and +married from it to Catholic husbands whose earning +capacity is insufficient for the family needs. A day +nursery and school is maintained for the babies and +young children of the employees. The work rooms +are of enormous size and well lighted. In the centre +of each one, on a raised platform, sits a Sister, +overlooking the women. The proceeds from the sale of +work are very large.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</span></p> + +<p>The industrial plant for the men and boys, on the other +side of the creek, is even more elaborate. It includes +many departments, wood-carving, carpentry, shoemaking, +work in iron and brass, glass-blowing, painting in +oils and water colours, and a printing establishment. +The genial Father in charge of the wood-carving and +carpentering, is in his line a genius. Some of the work +turned out under his supervision is wonderfully beautiful, +and ranks among the finest specimens of Chinese +art sent to the Panama Exposition. The youngest +apprentices, lads of ten or twelve, begin their industrial +training by making little coffins for the foundlings +across the way. “Yes,” Father B. is in the +habit of remarking, pointing to the boys with a smile, +“they start in life where others leave off.” The Siccawei +Mission is self-perpetuating within the limits of +its own constituency. Growth comes through the ever +inflowing stream of helpless humanity. But no effort +is put forth, either by the missionaries or Chinese communicants, +to reach the unevangelized masses. Formerly +this work was subsidized from France, but it now +depends for support wholly on the sale of its industries +and voluntary contributions.</p> + +<p>All Shanghai philanthropies from time to time receive +liberal donations from the Chinese themselves, +many of whom understand and genuinely appreciate +what is being done for their people. The recent founding +of the Society of Organized Charities (Protestant) +has aided greatly in carrying on systematic work in +behalf of the deserving poor.</p> +<hr class="full x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="c13">XIII</h2> +</div> + +<p class="ph2">CHINESE SUCCESSES IN SOCIAL SERVICE</p> + + +<p><span class="dropcap">S</span>EVERAL years ago a company of lepers numbering +about forty, living in one of the southern +provinces of China, were driven from their miserable +shacks and burned alive. When the official by +whose order the atrocious deed was committed was +called to account for it, he excused himself by saying +that since the lepers were public nuisances, mere cumberers +of the ground, he decided that the sooner they +were out of the way the better. Such was his idea of +social service and he represents a class in China who +regard calamities like famine, flood, and pestilence as +heaven-sent blessings to relieve the land of its superfluous +population. But to the educated youth, touched +by the spirit of a common brotherhood, and to the +better elements of an earlier generation the incident +just related is as abhorrent as it can possibly be to a +Westerner.</p> + +<p>Philanthropy of a certain kind is not new in China. +Almsgiving for the sake of winning and storing up +merit is centuries old. But galling poverty, the fierce +struggle for existence, strange customs and superstitions, +have all contributed to deaden the sensibilities +and quench the naturally kind impulses of the heart.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</span> +For example, to care for a man lying sick by the +roadside means to the rank and file that the Good +Samaritan brings down on his own head the ill-luck +that followed the poor unfortunate, and to carry +him into his house to die involves not only the obligation +of paying for his coffin and burial, no small matter +in China, but of answering to his relatives, if he has +any, for his decease. Not long ago in the Chinese City +a humble dwelling-house took fire and quickly burned +to the ground. The family barely escaped with their +lives, a mother with a new-born baby, and a troop of +older children, one of them sick. The father was away, +presumably at work. A missionary passing through +the narrow street saw the poor things huddled together +in a forlorn little group and her heart was stirred with +pity. “Why don’t some of you take them home?” she +asked of the crowd looking on. “Her husband is coming, +we must wait for him,” they answered. An hour +or two later, on returning, the lady found the family +in the same spot, the woman weak and weary, pressing +her infant to her breast. A cold rain was falling. “If +you don’t give these people shelter I shall take them +home with me,” she exclaimed indignantly to a bystander. +“The husband will be here soon, we dare +not interfere,” he said in tones of sharp decision. The +next morning, unbelievable as it seems, the woman and +her children were still on the street, unsheltered and +uncared for. At once they were hurried to the mission +hospital and tenderly nursed. Then, and not till then, +did the real truth in the case come out. Had any +one befriended these outcasts, the evil spirit that caused<span class="pagenum" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</span> +the destruction of their house, would in anger have entered +the home of their benefactor and wrought disaster. +Hence the only safe course, since they had incurred +the displeasure of the gods, was to let them +severely alone. Yet to offset this circumstance is the +sweet story, and by no means an isolated case, of the +old Chinese grandmother, who when a little foreign babe +was rescued from drowning, but chilled to the marrow +and ready to die, quickly opened her padded coat, and +pressed it to her warm bosom, till it revived, thus saving +its life.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" id="f16"> +<img src="images/fig16.jpg" alt="rescued"> +<p class="caption">RESCUED KIDNAPPED CHILDREN AS THEY WERE PHOTOGRAPHED<br> +FOR ADVERTISEMENT IN THE CHINESE DAILY<br> +NEWSPAPERS</p> +</div> + +<p>The recent revolution ushered in many innovations, +but nothing that is destined to result in larger good to +China than the practice of social service as understood +in the West. The idea has met with a quick and enthusiastic +response by the Chinese, Christians, and non-Christians +alike, and is already yielding notable results +in many places. “Why should we not do for +ourselves what foreigners have so long been doing for +us?” the leaders are asking one another, and hospitals, +orphanages, model prisons, refuges, industrial +plants, are rising up here, there, and yonder, till it is +scarcely possible to open a newspaper without reading +of some new project afloat. In progressive Shanghai +social service is fast becoming a slogan. An unusual +opportunity is afforded here of contrasting the old style +of philanthropy with the new, and the study is valuable +as well as interesting.</p> + +<p>The local Charitable Society that antedates all others +has its headquarters, known as The Hall of United +Benevolence, in the Chinese City. Its exact age is<span class="pagenum" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</span> +difficult to determine as no one seems to know. +Some say it has as many as three hundred years to its +credit. A managing board of ten men, with offices in +a Chinese house of spacious dimensions, does the business +of the Society, which is very wealthy, owning large +tracts of public land. Its chief work is to donate lots +to philanthropic institutions, furnish coffins to paupers, +subsidize various existing charities, and dispense free +of charge Chinese medicines. This Association is held +in the highest regard by all classes of Chinese, and may +be called the fountain-head from which most of the +existing charities have sprung.</p> + +<p>One of the older philanthropies, started more than +fifty years ago, is the Home for Widows in the Chinese +City. It receives widows without money or relatives +to support them, who have determined not to re-marry, +a most praiseworthy resolve according to Chinese standards. +The house-mother, an old woman of seventy, +delights to tell that she has been an inmate of the Home +for forty years, and certainly the bright-eyed, rosy-cheeked +dame is as good an advertisement as the place +could have. Widows with young children are allowed +to keep their little ones with them till the girls are betrothed +and the boys able to go out to work. In the +meantime they are sent to day-schools in the city. A +family of three hundred is crowded into the rambling +old house, the gift of a former governor, which consists +of a series of small courts shut in by low two-story +buildings. Each woman has her own little room, +or perhaps more than one if her family is large. The +premises are fairly neat, but what troops of children<span class="pagenum" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</span> +swarm around, noisy and undisciplined, and as a Chinese +caller once pointedly remarked, “How the women +must quarrel!” Their salvation evidently lies in their +industrial work, for while food and shelter are given +them, the able-bodied are expected to provide their own +and their children’s clothes. So they spend their days +making articles which are sold and yield a slight revenue, +chiefly Chinese shoes, idol money, and clothing.</p> + +<p>The Widows’ Home, despite its limitations, commands +a degree of genuine respect, but not so the two +Foundlings’ Homes that awaken only pity and almost +fierce resentment. They are meant to do good, yet +alas, what a travesty on the real thing! The institution +inside of the Chinese City is the oldest philanthropy +in Shanghai and dates back to 1710. From the Hall +of United Benevolence that fosters it an occasional report +goes forth telling about this work. The reports +are written in the usual florid Chinese style, and after +describing at length the virtuous motives of the +founders and supporters, give the rules governing the +organization. For instance the age of each child is +registered, a note made of its appearance and condition, +also “of the lines and fashion of its fingers, five +senses and four limbs.” Wet nurses are made to draw +lots for the babies in order to avoid partiality. Close +to the street entrance is a perforated drawer in which +the foundling is to be left. The one who brings the +baby must rap on the door with a stick that hangs beside +the drawer to announce its arrival. These and +many more minute directions are recorded with painstaking +elaboration.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</span></p> + +<p>They read well, but what are the facts? It requires +considerable tact and insistence for a visitor +to gain access to the inner rooms of the Home, where +the real life of the babies is dragged out. Two or +three of the well-favoured will be brought in the arms +of nurses to an outer court, but when permission is +asked to go inside there is evident reluctance and many +excuses are offered. Sometimes the only sure open +sesame is the official card of the City Magistrate. Apparently +no cruelty is practiced, but it is the gross ignorance +and negligence of the caretakers that makes so +pitiable the brief life of the babies, for most of them +die after a few weeks or months. Each wet nurse is +given the charge of two foundlings. The nurses may +remain at the Home or if they prefer take the little +ones to their own home, in which case they receive somewhat +larger pay. If a sufficient number of wet nurses +can not be secured, the foundlings, irrespective of age, +whether a few days or several months old, are fed on +rice water sweetened with coarse brown sugar. Scarcely +any reach the Home in a normal condition. Diseased, +weak, bruised, one coming with a terrible gash in its +neck given with intent to kill, the death-knell of the +puny things is generally sounded before birth. The +rooms where they are kept are small, and as a rule almost +devoid of light and air. In one of the Homes even +through the heat of a Shanghai summer the babies not +only sleep in stifling rooms but on beds surrounded by +closely-woven cloth curtains. In the other Home they lie +the long day through in bamboo cribs, their little bodies +eaten with flies and poisoned with mosquitoes. The<span class="pagenum" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</span> +chorus of feeble wails that constantly arises pierces the +visitor’s heart, as does the sight of the tiny skeleton-like +limbs. With scarcely an exception the fifty babies +in each of the Homes, and the far larger number that +are put out to nurse, are girls. Just one thought comes +as a slight comfort, that wretched as is the condition +of the children they are certainly quite as well, or +even perhaps better off, than they would be in their +own homes. No wonder physicians in China say the +mortality among children reaches as high as seventy +or eighty per cent.</p> + +<p>In happy contrast to these Homes, is the Hospice +of St. Joseph, which has gathered into its safe shelter +nearly eleven hundred of Shanghai’s sick and poverty-stricken +Chinese. But the story is too good not to be +told from the beginning. Four years ago two Christian +men, members of the Catholic Church, determined +to found a philanthropic institution. One holds several +highly responsible offices in the Chinese Municipality. +The other is a successful business man. Many of the +tramcars in the International Settlement, and all of +those under Chinese control, were turned out from his +foundry. His snug steamers ply the waters of the +upper Yangtse as far as Chungking, conquerors at +last, after many futile efforts, over the difficulties presented +by the dangerous rapids. He subscribes for +American journals on mechanics which he studies diligently +through an interpreter, and after absorbing ideas +gleaned from them, invents and adapts machinery for +use in China. It is his desire to see Chinese farmers follow +improved methods of agriculture, and to encourage<span class="pagenum" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</span> +them he occasionally presents a village with a modern +threshing machine made in his foundry. His Sundays +are frequently spent in evangelistic work in the country, +and busy man that he is, he makes it a practice as +often as possible to leave his work and go to the Arsenal +to pray with condemned prisoners before they die. Recently +the President honoured him with a medal rarely +bestowed, and all who know him, Protestant and Catholic +alike, pronounce him a “rare character.”</p> + +<p>The land for the Hospice was donated by the Charitable +Society of the Hall of United Benevolences, and the +Chinese Municipality gave bricks (those bricks seem to +multiply miraculously!) from the old city wall for +building material. The colony includes a men’s hospital, +a women’s hospital, a home for boys, a refuge +for girls, an asylum for the blind, a chapel, dispensaries, +kitchens, quarters for the insane, for opium patients, +and prisoners from the jail in the Chinese City. These +buildings are already completed and others are projected. +While the two founders direct the business affairs +of the institution, they have given the care of it +to twelve Sisters of Charity, four of whom are Europeans +and the rest Chinese.</p> + +<p>The upkeep of such a great establishment, under the +conditions that exist in China, is no small matter, but +the next to impossible has been achieved and the management +is well-nigh beyond criticism. The long, light +airy wards, with every cot filled, are visited each morning +by a foreign-trained Chinese physician, who donates +his services. On the second floor of the men’s hospital +is a beautiful white-tiled operating room, with all the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</span> +latest equipment. There are industries, indoors or out, +for those able to work. Children study half a day. Incurables +and old people without support are kept on for +life, but the strong and middle-aged are sent away from +the institution as soon as they are well to make room +for others. It is a joy in this land, where the insane +have been so long neglected and maltreated, to find +a retreat prepared for them where they receive the +kindest consideration. The consequence is that many +after a few months go home cured. Every cement-lined +cell is protected in front by iron bars, so that +the door can be left wide open, admitting light and air. +A door at the back of each cell opens into a narrow +corridor which leads to bathrooms with large earthen +tubs and running water. Several of the cells are neatly +padded to accommodate violent patients. This place +and the prisoners’ wards next to it, as clean and wholesome +as heart could wish, are in charge of a Christian +young man of tried character.</p> + +<p>In addition to the Hospice, its two large-hearted +founders have built, on a much frequented street, a +three-story Evangelistic Hall. Said the elder one, “We +want it to be a place where any passerby and especially +strangers in the city, can stop a while and discuss the +Christian doctrine.” There is a day school for boys +in connection with it.</p> + +<p>Out in the neighbourhood of the old pagoda, set in the +midst of blooming peach orchards, is a large orphanage +for both boys and girls. This also is a Christian +institution, but Protestant, and was started eleven years +ago by a group of men, several of whom had studied<span class="pagenum" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</span> +in mission schools. The boys and girls are in separate +though connecting compounds, and a happier, merrier +lot of young folks it would be hard to find. Much +is made of Bible Study, and industrial work among the +boys is strongly emphasized. The sale of their rattan +furniture, painted scrolls, cloth and hot-house flowers, +especially at the time of their annual chrysanthemum +show, goes a long way toward meeting the current expenses +of the work.</p> + +<p>On the same road as the orphanage, but nearer town, +is “The Shanghai Home for Poor Children.” This is +not Christian, but it is one of the most interesting and +best conducted institutions in the city. A few influential +business men are its promoters, Chinese with high +ideals and broad vision. There are in the Home about +twenty girls and a hundred boys, many of them waifs +picked up on the streets by the directors themselves. +A peculiarity of this institution is that the children +do not use beds but sleep on the floor in great breezy +dormitories where there can be no question of well-inflated +lungs. The school has a famous orchestra, +and a picture that catches the eye at once, on the wall +of the reception room, represents the band members, +girls as well as boys, sitting with their instruments in +their hands on the platform in the main hall. This +Home is characterized by two unique features, one, that +the old-time Chinese boxing and fencing are taught +in the fine out-of-doors gymnasium, and the other, +the prominence given to agriculture and horticulture +as school branches. Indeed this seems to be the only +school in Shanghai where agriculture is a study, with<span class="pagenum" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</span> +opportunity for practical work in the ample grounds +around the institution. In connection with this charity +it is worth recording that of the ten members on the +Board of Directors five are women. However, they +have not advanced quite far enough to join with the +men in committee meetings but hold separate sessions. +Or possibly it is the men, poor benighted creatures, +who are to blame!</p> + +<p>It is impossible to lay too much emphasis on the +value of industrial schools, and social service can be +turned into no more beneficent channels than in starting +and maintaining such schools. Until very recently industrial +training was wholly neglected in China. Even +now, if a Chinese educator is asked, “Are there any +industrial schools in Shanghai?” he will answer, +“None,” and yet there are at least two and one more +soon to be opened. But these, it seems, are not classed +as schools, since they admit only poor boys unable +to pay tuition, and because the study of books is made +secondary. The best industrial school was opened four +years ago. Work is carried on in a single large building +that is not divided into rooms, but from whose centre +apartments branch off in different directions like +the spokes of a wheel, all well supplied with windows, +thus insuring plenty of fresh air and good ventilation +even in the hottest weather. “How many boys have +you?” was asked of the head teacher. “One hundred, +and I wish I had room for five hundred!” came the +reply with surprising earnestness. The boys range in +age from very little fellows to lads of sixteen and +eighteen. There are industries enough to suit the bent<span class="pagenum" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</span> +of each one. They include carpet-weaving, wicker +work, soap-making, pottery, portrait painting, the +manufacture of kindergarten toys, clothing made on +sewing machines, and stockings on knitting machines. +The boys work during the day and study in the evening. +Their pride is in their brass band and they earn +quite a bit of money for the school by playing at weddings +and funerals. The third of an acre covered by +the school plant was originally a cemetery, and how +characteristic it is of China, that in order to secure +the land one hundred and thirty-nine graves had to be +removed!</p> + +<p>One of the commonest crimes in Shanghai is kidnapping. +Chinese children, if they are healthy and attractive, +need to be carefully guarded. Most of the kidnappers +are women, and the nefarious business is so +lucrative that a large number are engaged in it. Kidnappers +grow bold as well as wily, picking up children +at play on the street, or off on errands, and even beguiling +or snatching them away from their very doors. +Both boys and girls are stolen, though boys are greater +prizes, being always in demand as apprentices and +adopted sons in families that have not been blessed +with an heir, for the master of a house who has no son +to burn incense before his ancestral tablet after his +death, and to worship at his grave, is of all men most +miserable. Still, pretty little girls are always easily +disposed of, either in brothels or in private homes as +slaves or future daughters-in-law.</p> + +<p>Several years ago about thirty public-spirited Chinese +gentlemen in Shanghai formed themselves into an<span class="pagenum" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</span> +Anti-Kidnapping Society and set to work in earnest +to combat this evil. They hired skilled Chinese detectives +to meet out-going and in-coming coast and river +steamers and arrest all suspicious characters. Cunning +as the kidnappers are, again and again they prove +no match for the quickwitted detectives, who succeed +in rescuing many children. The poor little victims are +frequently concealed in baskets of clothing, or hidden +away in boxes that ostensibly contain fruit or merchandise. +Sometimes two or three will be found +crouching together in a single box with only the tiniest +holes for admitting air. The very young children are +usually drugged, and older ones frightened into silence +by the most terrible threats. Five miles out from +Shanghai, convenient to the railroad yet in the midst +of open country, has stood for years a large Buddhist +temple. At the time of the revolution, when so many +of the temples in China were abandoned, and put to +other uses, this one was leased by the Anti-Kidnapping +Society as a Home for rescued children. Stripped of +its idols and incense burners, the smoke-blackened +walls white-washed, the priests ejected, the old place +that so long echoed the mumbled prayers of heathen +devotees now resounds with the happy voices of between +two and three hundred children. The girls, who +are considerably in the minority, occupy the courts in +the rear, large and pleasant however, and the boys +those in front. The Worship Hall of the temple has +been converted into a school and assembly room for +the boys. Every day in the Chinese newspapers of +Shanghai the Home is advertised, with a description<span class="pagenum" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</span> +and photographs of the children most recently rescued. +In this way hundreds have been identified by their parents +and returned to them. Unclaimed children are +kept in the Home, being taught some kind of industrial +work until they are able to go out and care for themselves. +Ethics is a branch of the school curriculum, but +the children are at liberty to accept whatever religious +belief they will.</p> + +<p>The Chinese gentry in Shanghai maintain several +free dispensaries. The largest of these, fronting on a +crowded street, has in Chinese characters over one door +the motto, “Loving to Save,” and above another +“Heaven Bestows Perfect Happiness.” This charity is +said to be half a century old and the building itself +bears evidence of having endured that long. Every +second day the dispensary is open, when patients by +the hundred visit it. The dozen or so Chinese trained +doctors in attendance are divided into two classes, those +treating internal diseases and the others dealing with +external troubles. They are separated like sheep from +goats, sitting each at his own table, under covered corridors +on opposite sides of a court. In the rear of the +dispensary is a large workshop where coffins are made +and given to the poor.</p> + +<p>Seven years ago, when plague raged, an isolation +hospital was opened by a well-known Chinese philanthropist +in the outskirts of the city. He succeeded in +buying the house of a wealthy Chinaman, whose several +wives and numerous offspring actually performed the +unprecedented feat, for Chinese, of vacating the premises +in two days. Wards have since been added to the main<span class="pagenum" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</span> +building, so that the hospital will now accommodate +about a hundred. Through the efforts of this same +philanthropist, aided by a distinguished foreigner, Dr. +Timothy Richard, the China Branch of the Red Cross +Society was established in 1904 with headquarters in +Shanghai. Three Red Cross hospitals are operated in +widely separated districts of the city, two of them intended +to be used exclusively for cholera patients during +the cholera season. One of these had its opening some +months ago when the hospital was visited by many +influential Chinese and a few foreign guests. Nothing +could have illustrated more clearly the progress +the people are making in the science of social service. +The building is a thoroughly renovated old-fashioned +Chinese mansion, with courts and rooms innumerable +and the usual lovely carved woodwork, mural decorations +and tiny squares of translucent glass set in quaint +wooden screens, though most of these had been replaced +by good-sized modern windows. The most fastidious +Westerner could not have asked for cleaner +wards, arranged for the various classes of patients, +whiter examining and operating rooms for both men +and women, or a more complete equipment, though the +whole was on a somewhat diminutive scale. The question, +it is true, would occasionally intrude itself, “How +will this place look a month from now?” but it was +followed by the reflection “What began best, can’t end +worst,” and that a committee capable of initiating such +a work could be trusted to supervise its upkeep. The +corps of young men nurses wore a neat uniform of +white with blue trimmings. The women nurses,—well,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</span> +to be frank, there were none. “It is so difficult +to find women nurses,” explained one of the doctors. +“We must have them of course or we can’t open the +women’s department.” The keen interest of the Chinese +themselves in the hospital, evidenced by the numbers +present and their painstaking inspection, was one +of the most hopeful signs. An elderly gentleman, of a +singularly refined and benevolent countenance, had +come all the way from Nanking, half a day’s journey, +to study the plant with a view to starting something +similar in his own city.</p> + +<p>Time fails to tell of the fine modern hospital of +the little Chinese woman doctor who received her training +at a mission medical school in Canton, and about +whom a whole chapter could be written. Unselfish to +a fault, serving devotedly under the Red Cross Society +during the revolution, pouring her money and her life +out in kindred charities, no personal sacrifice is too +great for the betterment of her people whose spiritual +as well as physical needs lie as a burden on her heart.</p> + +<p>A minor charity but one by no means to be despised +is that of furnishing on the street in summer free +drinks, not of intoxicants, but of tea. The tea is +poured hot into earthen jars which stand inside small +booths. Beside the jar is a bamboo dipper, and any +passerby may stop and quench his thirst. The tea +stations are scattered at frequent intervals throughout +the foreign settlements as well as the Chinese City, and +are an inestimable boon, particularly to the hard-working +coolies.</p> + +<p>Another charity that well illustrates the poverty of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</span> +China is the conservation of waste rice. Rice is China’s +staff of life. The servant calls his master to eat not +by saying “Dinner is ready,” but “Rice is ready.” +To waste rice is a sin; to save it, meritorious. As +junks laden with rice from the country around are +poled down the river and creeks to Shanghai, a few +handfuls of the precious grain inevitably sift out from +the bags onto the bank. This is picked up by benevolently +minded persons, along with the mud in which it +has fallen, and afterward laboriously separated and +washed. Some hundreds of pounds in the course of +a year are collected in this way and distributed to the +poor. A number of local Chinese guilds during the +coldest winter weather, are in the habit of feeding daily +large numbers of the suffering poor, who line up at +specified hours for their allotted portion; also generous +sums of money are contributed annually by the Chinese +and sent to the districts devastated by flood and famine +to relieve the destitute.</p> + +<p>Perhaps the most significant event of the last year in +Shanghai was the organization by young Chinese women +of a Social Service League. The leaders are Christians, +who in a tactful but persistent way, are sure to make +their influence felt. Already as a beginning five free +day-schools for the poor, with a total attendance of several +hundred, have been started and others are expected +to open soon. A Sunday School taught by volunteer +workers is held in connection with each day-school. It is +the plan to dot the city with these charity schools, which +divide the day between the study of the Chinese language +and manual training. The whole financial burden is met<span class="pagenum" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</span> +by the League members and their interested friends, +while a few, ladies of high position, who heretofore have +led self-centred lives, are giving several hours a week to +teaching. The movement is attracting wide attention.</p> +<hr class="full x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="c14">XIV</h2> +</div> + +<p class="ph2">THE ROMANCE AND PATHOS OF THE MILLS</p> + + +<p><span class="dropcap">I</span>T was the close of a cold December afternoon, and +a raw penetrating wind was blowing. In the mill +district out Yangtsepoo way the road was alive +with people. Women and little children, with a sprinkling +of men, were hurrying along the dusky highway +on foot and in wheelbarrows, for it was nearing six +o’clock, the hour of the night shift. In front of one +of the great cotton mills a crowd of shivering humanity +had gathered waiting for the Sikh policemen to throw +open the gates. Faces were blue and pinched, shoulders +bent, and hands drawn up for warmth inside the padded +cotton sleeves. Nearby, within a shallow niche in the +brick wall stood a small, solemn-faced boy, perhaps +seven years old. He looked like a young sentinel, +straight as a ramrod, arms stretched down close to his +body. When asked what he was doing he replied +briefly, “Keeping warm,” and tried to hug a little +closer the sheltering wall. Poor laddie, the whistle +would soon blow calling him on duty to work without +intermission amid pounding machinery and dizzily +whirling spindles, until the welcome signal set him free +at six o’clock in the morning.</p> + +<p>The story of cotton-growing in China is not a very<span class="pagenum" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</span> +old one. It began only a few hundred years back, some +say in the eleventh, others in the thirteenth century, +when the first cotton seeds were brought here from Chinese +Turkestan. Strangely enough, it was a woman +who gave the cultivation of cotton its initial impulse, +for not until Lady Hwang, public-spirited and enterprising, +took it upon herself to distribute cotton seeds +among the farmers of the Yangtse Valley, was the +plant grown to any extent. This valley is to-day the +most flourishing cotton producing district in the country. +Ninety per cent of China’s millions dress in cotton, +a coarse, strong cloth, dyed blue. But what did +the people wear in the long ago before the cotton plant +had ever been heard of? Did peasant as well as prince +array himself in silk and fine linen? What we do +know is that the introduction of cotton was strenuously +opposed by the silk and hemp growers. It is a curious +fact that as early as 500 A.D. reference is found in +Chinese books to “cotton robes,” though they were evidently +regarded as rarities and were doubtless brought +into the country by travellers, or as tribute for the august +ruler of the Flowery Kingdom.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" id="f17"> +<img src="images/fig17.jpg" alt="mill"> +<p class="caption">ON THE WAY TO THE MILL</p> +</div> + +<p>India gave China her first spinning wheel, and this +same crude wheel, scarcely improved upon at all, is still +seen, not only in the interior, but in many a home in and +around metropolitan Shanghai. Multitudes of families +too, as in the olden days, run their own simple hand +loom. Time-honoured customs die slowly in China, but +the southern provinces are the least conservative, and +Canton is one of the most progressive of cities. So we +are not surprised to find that about 1870 a Cantonese<span class="pagenum" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</span> +company started a factory for spinning cotton by steam-operated +machinery. When all was in readiness would +the farmers trust their cotton to this wizard concern? +Not a man of them! It was their firm conviction that +by some occult process their dearly grown product +would vanish from sight never to reappear. Thus the +enterprise launched so hopefully was doomed to failure. +Twenty years later, however, the experiment was tried +again, and this time with success. Foreign capital too +was attracted to the venture, and at the close of the +Chino-Japanese war, when the new treaty gave assurance +of protection, a number of foreign-owned mills +were built. At first they were operated without profit +if not at a positive loss. This was mainly due to the +fact that on account of the sudden and greatly increased +number of spindles the supply of cotton was not equal +to the demand, which caused a rise in price. That is +no longer true, and dividends now are often very large. +Cotton, to a greater or less extent, is grown in every +province in China, but the quality is inferior and the +staple short. This is not because of an unfavourable +soil and climate, especially in the lower central provinces, +but is wholly due to the carelessness and ignorance +of the farmers. They cultivate the farms in a haphazard +fashion, or strictly speaking, pay no attention +whatever to cultivation, allowing nature to run riot at +her own sweet will. There is no reason why, with the +introduction of scientific methods in seed selection and +planting, China in a few years should not see a complete +transformation in the character of her crops. +Foreigners are planning to start an experimental farm<span class="pagenum" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</span> +in the neighbourhood of Shanghai, and hope each year +to induce a few farmers from the interior to spend several +months working on it and receiving practical instruction. +It is estimated that within the last ten years +the acreage devoted to cotton growing in China has increased +one hundred per cent.</p> + +<p>Great as has been this advance, the end is not yet, and +cotton fields will continue to multiply. “But where is +the land to come from?” some one asks. “China’s millions +must be fed, and surely the rice and wheat fields can +not be sacrificed.” No, but the acres once aflame with the +now prohibited poppy will be available, and then there +are the burial lands. The amount of ground taken up +by the mammoth mound-shaped and horse-shoe graves +is enormous, but little by little it is yielding to the +encroachments of Western civilization. At a recent +medical conference in Shanghai, one of China’s most +brilliant foreign-trained doctors, for sanitary and economic +reasons dared advocate cremation, or at least +confining the sepulchres of the dead to the hillsides +and other untillable spots. Half of China’s cotton crop +is exported annually to Japan. On the other hand she +imports quantities of cotton from America. Foreign +countries send many kinds of cotton cloth to China, +where it is most popular, particularly the cotton prints. +While Japan’s goods flood China’s markets, the Japanese +markets are closed to the finished product from +China. Yet it should be easily possible in the near +future for China to supply her own needs, growing +the best quality of cotton, and opening cotton mills all +over the country. This would relieve the congested<span class="pagenum" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</span> +agricultural districts and furnish employment to many +idle hands.</p> + +<p>What the cotton industry in China requires above +everything else is the fostering care of the government. +Until this is given there will be little advance in either +quality or quantity of production. The most the central +government has done thus far has been to give its +tardy recognition to “The Cotton Anti-Adulteration +Association” of Shanghai, and to place the testing of +cotton against adulteration under a Commissioner of +the Customs, which has led to most beneficial results. +It is a pity that thus far the Chinese-owned mills have +declined to join the Association. The greatest handicap +to the native industry is heavy taxation. In Japan +the raw material is imported and the finished product +exported free of duty. In China not only is no such +encouragement given, but internal taxes are levied as +well, so that the farmer must pay to send his cotton +down the river to the manufacturer, the manufacturer +to return it in yarn and cloth to the merchant, and +the merchant to pass it on to the country buyer.</p> + +<p>At present China has approximately forty cotton +mills, nearly two-thirds of which are in and around +Shanghai. Three in the city are owned and operated +by the Japanese, several are the property of European +companies, but the majority belong to the Chinese. +The oldest cotton mill, started more than twenty-five +years ago in Shanghai, was financed by China’s great +statesman, Li Hung Chang. It is still running under +Chinese management, though the original buildings +were burned a few years ago. This mill is one of the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</span> +largest, having sixty thousand spindles. The assistant +superintendent is a bright young man who recently +graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, where +he specialized in sociology. He brings to his work high +ideals which he hopes gradually to see realized. The +next oldest mill is also Chinese. Its owner, Mr. C. C. +Nieh, an unusual man, recently returned from a five +months’ tour in the United States, where he made a +careful and critical study of cotton growing and cotton +mills. It is his purpose as quickly as possible +to bring his mill up to the highest grade of efficiency. +Indeed his American manager reports that his chief +is anxious to advance more rapidly than the operatives +can be trained to follow, and describes him as a “delightful +man to work for.” The largest mill in Shanghai +is under British management. It operates seventy +thousand spindles and employs between five and six +thousand hands. One of the newest mills, that represents +the very latest thought in building and equipment, +belongs to the Japanese. The brick walls are +lined with cement, the floors are reinforced concrete, +while the saw-tooth roofs, with glass on one side, admit +an abundance of light. The machinery, the best made +in England, is operated by electricity, all of the other +mills in Shanghai, except Mr. Nieh’s, using steam. A +peculiarity of this mill is that the majority of the +employees are men and boys, female help being almost +exclusively found in the other mills.</p> + +<p>A few years ago the Japanese mill owners in Shanghai +did a good thing for themselves and for the Chinese +in sending to Japan a hundred Chinese men and women<span class="pagenum" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</span> +to take a course of nine months’ instruction in the mills. +Since their return, these trained workers have been used +to teach the raw Chinese mill hands in Japanese +employ.</p> + +<p>Wages in all the mills are about the same, and are +good, as pay goes in China. Children receive from +eleven to fifteen cents a day, women from fifteen to +thirty-five according to their skill, and men fifteen to +twenty dollars a month. This is reckoned in Mexican +currency, which would yield less than one-half that +amount in American money. Some of the mill people +come from farms in the suburbs and are in comfortable +circumstances. One or two members of a family may +work in the mill, not so much from necessity as to be +able to add a little to the general income. But others, +and these far outnumber the more fortunate class, +are the poorest of the poor, often unable to pay the +“cash” or two required to ride in a wheelbarrow between +the mill and their home which is frequently miles +distant. A single instance may be given. A young +girl supports a widowed mother and little brothers and +sisters on two dollars and a half a month. She starts +to the mill each morning at four o’clock, as it takes her +two hours to walk there, and when her day’s work is +over, at six in the evening, she is two hours more +walking home. Many a time when the moon is shining +the child mistakes its bright light for dawn and +sets out at three or earlier. The walk is not so bad in +pleasant weather, lonely only until she joins crowds of +other mill folk moving in the same direction. But +what of the chill days in winter, with a bleak wind<span class="pagenum" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</span> +blowing, rain falling, and roads treacherously slippery +with mud? It is hardest for the women who have +bound feet, women too poor to pay for a seat on a wheelbarrow +with five or six others. Yonder comes a group +uncertainly picking their way along in the blinding +mist. One poor soul at last reaches the gate of the +mill and drops all in a heap on the cold wet ground to +wait for the blowing of the whistle. “Have you come +far?” is asked of her pityingly. Half fearfully, half +defiantly, as if braced for a reprimand, she struggles +to her feet and answers, “From Honkew,” a distance +of nearly three miles. A fleeting smile is by and by +coaxed into her pale face, but she is tired, so very tired, +and a long twelve hours of unremittent labour lies before +her. Let us hope she is one who works at a loom, +for then she can have a seat on a narrow bench. The +women and children who watch the spindles must stand +the long night through.</p> + +<p>The employees carry their lunch in a small round +basket, all of uniform size. The basket is half filled +with cold boiled rice, and set in the midst of it +is sure to be a little bowl containing a few mouthfuls +of bean curd, salt fish or some other simple +relish. Before eating, the food is warmed by pouring +boiling water into the basket and allowing the +water to filter through the rice and out at the bottom. +Hot water is also furnished in the mills for tea. In +the new Japanese mill tea itself is given the hands. +“Not the best kind,” says the superintendent, “but +nevertheless, tea.” This mill has rough dining halls +for its employees, and allows a half hour at noon and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</span> +the same at midnight for eating. Another mill gives +fifteen minutes at noon and at midnight. An Englishwoman +living in the neighbourhood says she always +awakens at night when the great engines stop their +throbbing and thinks with tender pity of the wan-faced +women and wide-eyed little children toiling across the +way while she rests in her comfortable bed. In most +of the mills no intermission whatever is granted for +rest or food, and the people eat whenever they are +hungriest, snatching a morsel now and then as they +tend their looms or watch their reels and spindles. +Formerly mothers brought their nursing babies to the +mills, and laid them at their feet while they worked, +but this is no longer permitted in the large mills. Some +relative, it may be a grandmother, carries the little +one to the mother to nurse twice a day, in the middle +of the morning and again in the afternoon. Mothers +who work at night often draw from the breast before +they leave home sufficient milk to last the baby until +they return in the morning.</p> + +<p>All of the mills run their spinning department +through the twenty-four hours, but weaving can not be +done as well at night, so the looms shut down. One +mill makes its day fourteen hours long. “And these +little children must stand and work all those hours?” +asked a visitor of the manager. “Yes,” and with a +slight shrug of the shoulder, “rather hard on them, +isn’t it?” “But then you know how it is in the Chinese +shops,” he added, “they keep their apprentices at +work often eighteen and twenty hours on a stretch.”</p> + +<p>The best mills no longer employ very young children,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</span> +that is tots of five and six. This is not so much +in the interest of the children as because the little ones +are found to be more of a hindrance than a help. But +parents try to smuggle them in past the keen-eyed Sikh +policemen at the gate, who are kept busy at the times +of shift driving them out.</p> + +<p>The hiring of women and girls is generally committed +to Chinese forewomen, who are responsible for +keeping their full quota at work. These women are +usually shrewd and business-like, with a full appreciation +of the dignity of their position. One recently entered +the first class compartment of a tramcar. She +wore the loose blue gown, apron, and head cloth of the +working people and when the Chinese conductor came by +he addressed her gruffly. “Old woman, you belong +in the third class. Get out of here.” “Why should I +get out?” she responded with spirit, “I have money +to pay for a seat in the first class.” The conductor +changed his tone and manner at once, recognizing a +dominant personality behind the coarse clothes. “Pardon +me, Madame,” he said and meekly took the proffered +coppers. The mills as a rule give four holidays +a month, though they are not always Sundays. Some +employees object to Sunday as a holiday as they say it +brings bad luck.</p> + +<p>The Chinese for so many centuries have been an +agricultural race that they do not take as kindly to +mechanical labour as the Japanese, who have long had +industrial training in the schools and make at first +steadier, more dependable mill hands. Yet these patient, +plodding people, with almost unlimited endurance,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</span> +are capable of being trained to do the highest +grade of work. The improvement of their material +condition is a crying need. Said the superintendent +of one of the foreign-owned mills: “I have been in +this work in Shanghai now for twenty years, and I +hope I may not leave for home till I have seen the employees +in the mills better housed, fed, clothed, and +educated. But employers can not do this until the +Chinese government enables them to compete on better +terms than at present with others in the cotton +market.” Mr. Nieh is making practical application +of his philanthropic principles in an effort to divide +the twenty-four hours into three shifts instead of two, +and as fast as possible to dispense with child labour, so +that the boys may be free to enter the public school +which is being built on land donated by him near his +mill. This same generous-hearted man, who recently +accepted the Christian faith, is also planning for a +girls’ school, a day nursery, and a hospital in the mill +district. Several years ago he and his wife, also a +Christian, threw open their beautiful private garden +as a playground for street children. When remonstrated +with by their friends they replied smilingly, +“We feel it is selfish to enjoy it alone.” The recently +organized “Mill Owners Association of Shanghai” it +is expected will pave the way for concerted action in +relation to needed reforms.</p> + +<p>Although cotton is an exotic in China proper, silk is +a native product. More than four thousand years ago, +in the dim, semi-prehistoric days, China alone of all +the countries in the world, understood the art of sericulture.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</span> +Again it was a woman to whom she was indebted, +for tradition has it that as early as 2600 B.C. the +wife of the great emperor Hwang-ti experimented with +silk-worms and finally discovered a way of unwinding +the silk from the cocoons much in the same manner that +it is done now. This was a precious secret and China +guarded it jealously. But during the fifth century of +the Christian era it leaked out, as secrets often will, +and lo, it was a woman who divulged it, which is not +as surprising a happening as might be. It fell out that +the Prince of Khotan in Chinese Turkestan wedded +a Chinese princess, and when the bride was being conducted +to her new home, so the story goes, she managed +to carry with her, concealed in her headgear and at +the risk of her life, some seeds of the mulberry plant +and eggs of the silk-worm. Thus sericulture became +known in Central Asia and later in Europe. It is an +interesting coincidence that while it was Khotan that +learned the art of silk manufacture from China, it was +also Khotan that furnished China with her first cotton +seeds several centuries later. So the debt was paid +back in part.</p> + +<p>Though China shared with the rest of the world +the secret of sericulture, yet up to within fifty years +she possessed half the world’s trade in silk. Then +Japan outstripped her in the race and now leads in +silk production and export. It is generally admitted +that this would not have happened had the Chinese +Government realized the value of the silk industry sufficiently +to foster it, abolish undue taxation, and introduce +scientific methods of sericulture. As it is, under<span class="pagenum" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</span> +favouring conditions she may regain what she has lost, +for the finest cocoons are found in China, with a tenacity +far beyond that of any others. While there is +not a province where silk-worms are not raised, broadly +speaking two-thirds of the silk produced in China +comes from the Yangtse valley and the country north +of it, and the other third from the south. Filature +steam mills are of recent date. During long centuries +it was on crude hand reels that the delicate thread +was spun, and equally crude hand looms wove it into +the exquisite fabrics so dear to the heart of womankind. +Even now there are no silk looms in China run by machinery. +All the weaving is done on hand looms. Their +familiar thud, thud is heard everywhere. As the +traveller stops to look into one of the small, smoke-blackened +shops, where half a dozen people it may be +are busy with their shuttles, he marvels that textiles +so rare and beautiful can come forth from such an environment. +Usually a city is celebrated for some one +kind of silk, or a province perhaps for two or three +hundred varieties.</p> + +<p>It was not till 1882 that an unsuccessful attempt +was made to start a steam silk filature mill. Ten +years later a few were in operation, most of them +under Chinese management. As in the case of cotton +mills, foreign capital was not invested largely +in silk filatures till the close of the war between +China and Japan. By 1901 there were 28 mills in +Shanghai, the number being about the same to-day. +The largest mill in this early period employed 90 men, +630 women and 385 children. It requires considerably<span class="pagenum" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</span> +less capital to launch a silk filature mill than a cotton +mill, but it is a more precarious venture. Cocoons +must be ordered at the time the eggs are hatched and +put in cold storage, but it is impossible to foretell what +the market will be when they are delivered nearly a +year afterward. It is most desirable that the filature +mills be maintained, as their silk brings two or three +times the price of that spun on hand-looms, and the +greater part of the gain goes in wages to the employees.</p> + +<p>Industrial conditions, in some respects, are rather +better in the silk filatures than in the cotton mills. The +mills close down at night, not for humanitarian reasons, +however, but because the work can not be done well +after dark. Sundays are usually holidays. In some +of the mills work continues every other Sunday. Fifteen +minutes are allowed in the morning for breakfast +and an hour at noon for dinner and rest. In at least +one of the Chinese mills mothers keep their nursing +babies with them, the tiny things lying all day on the +floor at the mother’s feet. They seldom cry. It seems +as if they knew by instinct that they must not. The +lesson of patient endurance is learned early in China.</p> + +<p>The first work in a silk filature mill is sorting the +cocoons, throwing out the worthless ones, and separating +the perfect from the inferior. This is an easy but +monotonous task and is given to women. Slipping the +wound silk off the reels, testing, weighing, and twisting +it into beautiful shapes for shipment requires more +skill, and brings somewhat higher wages. Most of +this, too, is woman’s work.</p> + +<p>The pathos of a silk filature mill centres in the reeling<span class="pagenum" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</span> +room. Steam pipes for supplying boiling water +keep it at a high temperature the year around, while +in the fierce heat of July and August, the place, as one +foreign manager expressed it, “is a veritable Gehenna.” +Only when the breeze is not strong enough +to break the silken, web-like threads can the windows +be left open. Down the length of the long apartment +sit rows of women, and in front of them, with a wire +frame between, stand rows of little girls. Each child +controls a stationary copper basin half filled with boiling +water. It is her business to soften the cocoons by +swashing them around in the water, using a small reed +brush. After the threads are sufficiently loosened, the +bunch of cocoons is handed over to the woman opposite, +who also has in front of her a shallower copper basin +filled with boiling water. Dexterously she picks up a +thread from each cocoon and fastens it to the frame. +Then by working a treadle it is spun out and out and +finally passes above and back of her, where it is wound +onto the reel, which is enclosed on three sides by a +wooden case to keep it from the dust. Quickly and +deftly the women splice the almost invisible threads +when they break, keeping often as many as six spinning +at the same time. When at night the silk is taken off +the reel, any shortness in weight or imperfection in +the thread means a fine for the one who has wound +it. Women and children grow very skilful in keeping +their hands out of the water, yet they are loose-skinned +and parboiled, for fingers must of necessity +be continually dipped in. Then, too, the Chinese women +overseers, passing constantly up and down the lines, occasionally<span class="pagenum" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</span> +punish a child’s inefficiency, or supposed +laziness, by thrusting the little hand into the bubbling +caldron. The hours are long, from five thirty in the +morning to five or six at night, and it is not strange +if, as the day wanes, youthful senses are dulled and +energy flags. The children, most of them, are such +slips of girls and some scarcely more than babies. Faces +are blanched by the continuous moist heat, and the +little slim bodies, even in winter, are often wet with +perspiration. Robbed of their birthright of schooling +and play, not the youngest among them knows the sweet +luxury of laying her tired head on mother’s breast in +sleep. An American lady living in the vicinity +of a silk filature mill was aroused morning after morning +about half past four o’clock by the shrill cries of a +child. One day she slipped out on her veranda to discover +the cause of the trouble, and saw a little girl being +dragged along the ground by one arm to the mill. +Frightened perhaps by the sternness of the overseer, or +half sick from the confinement, she was trying to escape +from bondage. But her parents were inexorable, for +in over-populated, underfed China,</p> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">“‘Children’ must work and women must weep,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For there’s little to earn and many to keep.”</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + + +<p>One European mill has for its manager a kind-hearted +Italian, who says he understands sericulture +from A to Z, having learned to care for silk-worms +when a little lad in his native land. He has introduced +several humane features, one of them being stools for<span class="pagenum" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</span> +the children to sit on while at work, the only mill in +the city that has them. Fines collected from the employees +the management allows him to use in buying +medicine for the sick, coffins for the dead, and in paying +for beds in the hospital. “Do the people ever +faint in this great heat?” a visitor asked. “Oh, yes.” +“And drop dead?” “No, they have never done that. +If we see they are getting too bad we send them home in +a ricsha.”</p> + +<p>None of the silk from the filature mills is kept in +China. It is all exported, most of it to Lyons, France, +and to New York. Waste silk, which is made principally +from defective cocoons, is one of the paying by-products +of the industry. The only waste silk filature +mill in China is in Shanghai. The silk it turns out +is coarse in quality and does not keep its lustre but can +be utilized in many ways, as for sewing silk, and in +making cords, tassels, Chinese caps, carpets, and +portières.</p> +<hr class="full x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="c15">XV</h2> +</div> + +<p class="ph2">A PAGE FROM THE STORY OF PROTESTANT<br> +MISSIONS</p> + + +<p><span class="dropcap">L</span>ATE in the autumn of 1842 as the setting sun +was illumining the western sky, a vessel very +different from the surrounding Chinese junks +steamed slowly up the Woosung river toward Shanghai. +On board were the new British Consul and his suite +and the Consul’s interpreter, the Rev. Walter H. Medhurst, +D.D. But the missionary had other and more +important business, for with his colleague, William +Lockhart, M.D., a younger man, he came as the first +ambassador of the Great King to the Yangtse valley. +Eight years before he had called at this port, when +cruising up and down the coast, and distributed thousands +of Testaments and tracts among the friendly natives. +Indeed Dr. Medhurst was already a veteran of +twenty-seven years’ service, while Dr. Lockhart had +landed in Canton in 1839, being the second medical +missionary sent to China. Both men were commissioned +by the historic London Missionary Society, +which gave to China its first Protestant Missionary, +Robert Morrison, in 1807.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" id="f18"> +<img src="images/fig18.jpg" alt="scouts"> +<p class="caption">CHINESE BOY SCOUTS</p> +</div> + +<p>While the Consular party was proposing toasts to the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</span> +greatness of the Shanghai to be, the missionaries were +thinking hopefully and prayerfully of the task awaiting +them in proclaiming the Kingdom of Christ to this +people. For a while, on that memorable day, it was +impossible to see the city because of the intervening +masts on the numberless junks lying at anchor, but +presently, as the little steamer approached the shore, +it was found to be thronged with Chinese who had +gathered to watch and ridicule the strange “fire-wheel +ship” of the “foreign devils.”</p> + +<p>The following weeks sped quickly by, and before +the year closed, a little chapel and a small hospital +had opened their doors inside the Chinese city. It +is easy enough to state the bald fact, but what mountains +of difficulty were climbed, what dangers faced +and discouragements overcome before that much was +accomplished, is told only in part in the sacredly +guarded mission records, yellow and worn with age. +Happily, ludicrous episodes were not lacking. Dr. +Medhurst in particular was blessed with a saving sense +of humour which eased many an otherwise hard jolt +on the rough road he and his colleague were obliged +to travel.</p> + +<p>As time passed other missionaries were sent out +from home to reinforce the pioneers, and women’s +voices and children’s sweet laughter made homelike the +mission premises. Then suddenly a war-cloud appeared +in the sky, and almost before its presence was +realized, it had burst and the T’aiping Rebellion was +raging in all its fury. Grave dangers now threatened +the little foreign community, officials and merchants as<span class="pagenum" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</span> +well as missionaries. It was during this period that a +fair-haired, handsome youth made his appearance in +Shanghai, and although not a member of the London +Mission sought a home among their missionaries. He +was Hudson Taylor, destined to become the founder +of the China Inland Mission. The story of his early +years in China, as told in his recently published biography, +makes one of the most captivating chapters in +the history of Shanghai. From it we are interested +to learn that this sensitive, shrinking young man did +not at first adopt from choice the Chinese dress and +mode of living, afterward a distinguishing mark of +China Inland Missionaries, but because he was driven +to it through scarcity of funds.</p> + +<p>The present headquarters of the China Inland Mission +are conveniently located in the down-town district. +They include business offices, a rest house for +travelling missionaries, and a chapel where both Chinese +and English services are held, although the +Mission, as it has done from the beginning, confines its +actual work to the interior. The buildings form a +square around a spacious, secluded compound that +seems as far apart from the turmoil of the street as if +it were miles distant. In the spring of 1915, at the +Jubilee celebration of the founding of the Mission, +tea was served on the beautiful lawn, and following +it a large company of friends gathered in the chapel +to listen to the reading of reports and papers of thrilling +interest relating to the experiences of the past fifty +years.</p> + +<p>While the T’aiping Rebellion was still in full swing,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</span> +the London missionaries performed a courageous act. +Having succeeded in purchasing a large tract of land at +some distance from the foreign Settlement and the Chinese +City, they at once effected the transfer of their +work and took possession of the new property. When the +British Consul learned of it he shook his head dubiously, +affirming frankly that if the missionaries were +rash enough to risk living in that exposed place, he +could not undertake to furnish them protection. But +unaffrighted they stayed on, and presently a hospital, +a chapel, and a few dwelling houses arose amidst the +rice fields. Events proved that the missionaries builded +better than they knew, for the plot that at first seemed +so far away and out of reach of the very people the +work was intended to benefit is now in the heart of +one of the most thickly populated Chinese districts of +the International Settlement.</p> + +<p>The mission chapel bears the marks of age and is +shortly to be torn down and replaced by a more commodious +one, but will the tablets back of the chancel, +to the memory of the brave missionary veterans, ever +seem quite so appropriate on any other walls? At the +Christian Endeavour meeting held in the chapel every +Wednesday afternoon may usually be seen a little +white-haired lady of over ninety, the oldest Chinese +Christian in Shanghai and some say in all China. +Though exceedingly deaf, Mrs. Lai Sun’s memory is unimpaired +and her mind as alert as a woman half her age. +She delights to see her friends and entertain them +with stories of her romantic life, how in her earlier years +she visited America with her parents, dined at the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</span> +White House as the guest of President and Mrs. Grant +and was made much of at a time when Chinese women +were a rarity in the Occident. But her favourite +topic is her student days in Miss Aldersey’s school +in Ningpo, Miss Aldersey being not only the first single +woman to enter China as a missionary, in 1843, but +the first one to open a school for Chinese girls. Mrs. +Lai Sun is without question the only living pupil of +that far-famed school.</p> + +<p>The chapel built so long ago by Dr. Medhurst in +the Chinese city is still standing, sandwiched in between +a book shop on one side and a shop selling funeral +supplies on the other. Its years exceed the allotted +age of man, and if bricks could speak, many a tale +this pile could relate of fires and floods, famines and +pestilence, riots and rebellions. While destruction was +rife and changes taking place all around, the little +chapel, within whose walls was proclaimed daily the +Evangel of Peace, remained intact as if it possessed +a charmed existence.</p> + +<p>It is rather singular that to-day there is not a single +hospital foreign or Chinese, in the populous Chinese +City. The small plant started so long ago by Dr. Medhurst +was transferred, in 1861, with the other activities +of the Mission, to the new site, now known as +Shantung Road, where a great medical work is carried +on. Accident cases are especially numerous in the +roomy wards, where an empty bed is rarely seen, and +hundreds attend the daily clinic.</p> + +<p>In the centre of another crowded district is beautiful +St. Elizabeth’s Hospital of the American Episcopal<span class="pagenum" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</span> +Mission. This hospital, which is for women only, +receives patients from the Municipal Prison, and when +one looks about the cheerful, sunny wards, it ceases +to be a wonder that the poor creatures often make a +feint of illness in order to be kept on a little longer +where they are so happy and comfortable.</p> + +<p>One other woman’s hospital is located near the western +entrance to the Chinese City. Thirty-five years +ago a large-hearted American, Margaret Williamson, +had a vision of helpless sufferers in China, and in +dying left money for a hospital which bears her name. +While waiting for the building to be completed, the +doctor and trained nurse just out from home opened a +dispensary in a small rented house in the disease-infected +Chinese city. They toiled on day after day +through all the unaccustomed heat of July and +August. “Some friend ought to have warned us of +the danger of it,” one of them, years afterward, smilingly +told a caller. “How did the Chinese feel about +the hospital? Were the women afraid to go to it?” +“Oh, not at all. We were always full. In fact it +was necessary to keep enlarging our borders as fast as +we could get the money.” The sweet face in its frame +of snow-white hair broke into a reminiscent smile, and +the listener knew something interesting was coming. +“We used to have most amusing clinic experiences. +Patients many times would persist in taking internally +what was meant for external application. It was necessary +to be careful and give nothing strong enough +to do any great harm either way. Then, too, the +women would get so excited and jealous over the medicines.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</span> +If one patient received something and another +did not, the latter felt unhappy. It did no good +to explain to her that she wasn’t in need of that particular +medicine. She wanted it just the same. I +remember one time the doctor had ordered a large dose +of castor oil for a patient. Her companion saw it and +begged for some too. She was so persistent that I +finally asked the doctor if I should give it to her. “Yes, +do,” said she. “It can’t hurt her and the experience +may do her good.” The clinics are very large. On a +winter’s afternoon an unexpected visitor found one +young doctor in sole charge, her colleague having been +taken sick. She that day treated two hundred and +forty-seven dispensary patients besides caring for the +wards and performing three difficult operations. “I +shall not stay a minute,” declared the caller when the +last woman had departed, “you must rest.” “Oh, do +sit down a little while. I need to get my mind off my +work,” urged the doctor. Just then the friend, noticing +the exhausted look on the wan face before her, remarked +impulsively, “I wish I could take you home +with me and put you to bed and give you a little mothering.” +“Don’t speak to me like that,” cried the +younger woman almost sharply, while a few hot tears +forced themselves into her eyes. “I shall break down +and cry if you do, and I mustn’t; I mustn’t!” This +hospital belongs to that pioneer in the field of woman’s +work for women, The Woman’s Union Missionary Society +of America.</p> + +<p>The glory of the Presbyterian Mission is its Press. +In 1843, that year of momentous happenings in the Far<span class="pagenum" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</span> +East, it was first set up in Macao, a Portuguese settlement +near Canton and of chief interest to Protestants +because on its tropical shores Robert Morrison, +the first Protestant missionary to China, was laid to rest. +Soon afterward the Press was brought north to Ningpo, +and in 1860 was moved to Shanghai. With it came +Mr. Gamble, whose name was William and not John, +but if ever a man was “sent of God” to do an all-important +work, he was one. A native of Ireland, +from an old Protestant family that had the honour +of giving many ministers to the Presbyterian Church, +he migrated to America in his youth and got his training +as a printer in a publishing house in Philadelphia +and later in the Bible House, New York. Mr. Gamble +spent only eleven years in China and nine of them in +Shanghai, but in that brief period he accomplished a +monumental work. With a prophet’s eye he foresaw +the future development of the city when few believed +in it and urged the removal of the Press to this metropolitan +centre, influenced “by his desire to plant the +Gospel in the heart of China with the minimum of +effort and the maximum of results.” His energy, industry, +and inventive genius gave a great impulse to +printing throughout the country, not only in connection +with the mission press but the secular press as well. +This was so universally recognized that when he died +years later in America every one realized the truth of +the eulogy pronounced at his funeral: “For a century +to come not a Bible, Christian or scientific book in +China or Japan but will bear the impress of Mr. Gamble’s +hand.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</span></p> + +<p>The Presbyterian Press justly claims to be the +oldest in China, although the London Mission Press, +established by Robert Morrison in Malacca in 1818, +was removed to Hongkong, at very nearly the same +time. The Presbyterian Press was the first to introduce +movable Chinese type in China, and for a +long time remained the sole source of supply. During +the fifty-seven years since the plant was set up in Shanghai +it has changed homes several times and is now +housed in new, completely equipped quarters which +would have delighted the aspiring soul of William +Gamble. A dozen power presses are kept busy from +Monday morning till Saturday night turning out vast +quantities of Christian literature, veritable “Leaves of +Healing,” which find their way the year through to +the remotest corners of this needy, sin-cursed land and +whose uplifting influence far outreaches all human +reckoning.</p> + +<p>Among the Chinese publications which are working +a quiet transformation in the lives of the people are +two popular monthly magazines, “The Woman’s +Messenger” and “Happy Childhood.” The very artistic +cover of a recent Christmas number of “Happy +Childhood” was designed by one of the pupils in a +Girls’ Baptist Mission Boarding School.</p> + +<p>The spiritual interests of the large force of Press +employees are not forgotten. In two chapels Sunday +and week-day services are held. There are day schools +and a kindergarten for the children of the men, the +wife of one of the Presbyterian missionaries devoting +much of her time to evangelistic work among the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</span> +women. Every morning prayers are conducted by the +missionary in charge, attended by most of the employees, +at least half of whom are Christians. Many +give touching and convincing proof of the sincerity of +their profession. The case of Elder Loo is an illustration +and refutes the oft-repeated assertion that no Chinese +can handle money without some of it clinging to +his palm. For twenty years all the Press’s money excepting +checks passed through Mr. Loo’s hands. He +died one night very suddenly. It was with considerable +anxiety that the foreign manager the next morning +opened the accountant’s safe and examined his +books, but they balanced exactly. In a corner of the +safe were found stowed away several bad dollars +that had been palmed off on Mr. Loo, but which +he had quietly made good out of his own meagre +funds.</p> + +<p>“Where did you receive your education?” The +question was asked of a bright young Chinese matron +into whose pretty home a foreign friend had just been +introduced. “In McTyeire School,” came the smiling +answer. This reply, in response to similar inquiries, +is given so often in Shanghai that a newcomer, unfamiliar +with local mission work, is sure soon to ask +another question: “What and where, pray, is this famous +institution?” Every resident knows, or nearly +every one. Those who do not are half ashamed to confess +it, for to be uninformed about McTyeire Girls’ +School is to be ignorant indeed. Its capacious buildings +are kept full, too full, even though the younger +pupils have just been transferred to rented Chinese<span class="pagenum" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</span> +houses across the road, the Assembly Hall converted +into dormitories and every available foot of space utilized +to the best advantage.<a id="FNanchor_2" href="#Footnote_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> Pleasant recitation rooms +open from either side of the school corridors and a +peep inside shows well organized classes hard at work, +in algebra, drawing, physics, sewing, domestic science. +What an immaculate place is the domestic science +kitchen, with snowy tables, muslin window curtains, +shining stove, and artistically arranged enamel pots and +pans! No wonder the cooking class covers itself with +laurels. The missionary in charge modestly disclaims +the credit, but adds, “I do mean that my girls shall +learn two important lessons, to keep themselves tidy +and to clean up when their work is done,” items that +it would do no harm to emphasize in other countries +than China. The music rooms are upstairs. An invitation +to a musicale is something to rejoice over. +Last year one of the graduates in music gave a recital, +all her own, and acquitted herself most creditably. Two +years ago Commencement week opened with Baccalaureate +Sunday, a distinct innovation in the history +of Girls’ Schools in China, but a custom other +mission schools are beginning to follow.</p> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_2" href="#FNanchor_2" class="label">[2]</a> Since writing the above a splendid piece of property covering +about fifteen acres, with a three-story brick mansion on it built by a +wealthy deceased Chinese, has been purchased, and the congestion +is relieved now that the High School pupils have removed to the new +quarters.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="figcenter" id="f19"> +<img src="images/fig19.jpg" alt="stone"> +<p class="caption">CORNER STONE OF BOYS’ BUILDING, Y. M. C. A.</p> +</div> + +<p>It is doubtful whether any department of work in +McTyeire School is yielding more abundant fruit than +the “Annex,” a school for married women and girls +too old or backward to enter the regular classes. Last<span class="pagenum" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</span> +term among the many interested pupils was the wife +of the socialist leader of Shanghai, the mother of five +young children. The patriarchal system of family life +common in China makes it possible for a mother to +leave her children for lengthy periods, as there are +usually plenty of women relatives ready to assume the +care of them in her absence. Any pupil in the Annex +ambitious to pursue a complete course of study is admitted +to the regular school classes as soon as she can +be prepared for them.</p> + +<p>Above the mantel in the parlour of the Missionary +Home, adjoining the main building, hangs the portrait +of a noble-faced woman. It is Laura Haygood, the first +principal, who “being dead yet speaketh.” She was +sent to China in 1884 by the Woman’s Board of the +Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and for eight +memorable years prayed and toiled, much of the time +weighed down by great physical weakness. Then came +the glad realization of her cherished hopes in the opening +of this girls’ school named for a bishop of the +denomination.</p> + +<p>The highest grade of scholarship is the goal, but the +building up of Christian character and training for +service have always had first place. “I want to save +my people,” sobbed a girl in a burst of confidence +to her foreign teacher. “As soon as I finish here I +mean to go as a missionary to my native place and teach +and try to save that place.” This is the spirit that +prevails among the Christians. Every week Bible students +and teachers go out to hold services for the street +children in the neighbourhood. Last winter evangelistic<span class="pagenum" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</span> +meetings were held in the school chapel. “I wish you +could see how our Christian girls work for their unconverted +friends,” said one of the missionaries. “They +have their sweetest and holiest times in their own little +prayer-meetings, led by themselves. The passionate +earnestness of their prayers and testimonies would move +any heart.”</p> + +<p>It was the beautiful month of May and invitations +were out for a great celebration at St. John’s University +of the Protestant Episcopal Mission. Early in the afternoon +guests began to arrive, for the first number +on the programme was the military drill, set for two +o’clock, something no one wanted to miss. Promptly +at the hour the students in trim uniforms assembled +on the parade-ground and lined up for inspection. The +tactics over, and enthusiastically applauded, every one +hurried to the Assembly Hall to listen to speeches in +English and Chinese, and witness the crowning event +of the day, which was the presentation to the President, +Dr. F. L. Hawks Pott, for the University, of a generous +gift of money from the alumni in commemoration +of this twenty-fifth anniversary of Dr. Pott’s incumbency. +An alumni supper followed, and then, as evening +shadows fell, the spacious grounds were transformed +into a sort of fairyland by the soft light from countless +Chinese lanterns, hung in graceful festoons from tree +to tree and building to building. Fireworks brought to +a close a notable anniversary that will not soon be forgotten +by the people of Shanghai.</p> + +<p>St. John’s University and campus, covering forty-nine +acres, is undeniably the most charmingly picturesque<span class="pagenum" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</span> +spot in the city. It lies five miles out from +the centre of the town in the suburb of Jessfield. A +more ideal location could not have been found, and +the wonder is that when the larger part of the property +was bought as early as 1878, the bishop who made the +purchase had the foresight to choose so well.</p> + +<p>Like most great enterprises, the University had a +small beginning and developed gradually, through successive +stages. The work really started back in 1845 +with some little day schools for boys, for it must be +remembered that while the London Mission pioneers +were the vanguard of the missionaries to enter Shanghai, +they were soon reinforced from America by the Protestant +Episcopalians, the Presbyterians and the Southern +Baptists. The day schools grew into successful boarding +schools, chief among them one for older boys,—seventy +youths so poor that tuition, board, and clothing were +furnished them free of charge. Soon a call came for an +English department and it was added. By and by a few +ambitious students begged for college work, and finally, +in 1906, by an act of Congress at Washington, D. C., +St. John’s was formally incorporated as a University +and empowered to grant degrees. Her alumni are now +privileged to enter institutions in Europe and America +for post-graduate work without examination, and she +has the honour of sending more students abroad than +any other mission college in China. Including all departments +the student body numbers over five hundred, +whose fees make the work in large measure practically +self-supporting.</p> + +<p>A five-story brick building was opened last year in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</span> +one of the busiest sections of the down-town district, +not in itself a singular occurrence, but in this case +of unusual purport, for it is the headquarters of the +Chinese Boys’ Branch of the Young Men’s Christian +Association. This is the only building of its kind in +the Far East, and it is certain that nowhere in the +world is the kind of work it stands for more needed +than in Shanghai, where the boy problem is one of +the gravest. Figures are often dry reading, but in this +connection a few will tell in a nut-shell a story of remarkable +progress. The Boys’ Branch was started less +than three years ago, and now what does the first report +record? Seven hundred members, five hundred in the +schools, three hundred voluntary members of Bible +classes, one hundred regular boarders, two hundred at +meals each day, and forty scouts, the scoutmaster being +one of the Chinese secretaries. In the city are altogether +no less than five hundred Chinese scouts. The +organization among the Chinese is quite new but it may +be called a “howling success,” the boys taking to it like +ducks to water, and it is doing much for them in numberless +ways. The Y.M.C.A. boy scout, who is taught +reverence toward God, kindness to women, children, the +aged, and animals, truth, honesty, courage, faithfulness +without pay, loyalty and obedience to all in authority, +and who stands for clean thought, clean speech, and +clean habits, is bound to grow up into the kind of man +that China has dire need of to-day. The new Boys’ +Building is finely equipped from top to bottom and +connects with the local headquarters of the Y.M.C.A., +which fronts on Szechuan Road.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</span></p> + +<p>The National offices are likewise in Shanghai but in +rented quarters. An eligible building site has been secured, +and as soon as money is a little less scarce the +work of construction will begin. The local headquarters +is a centre of ceaseless activity, with day and evening +schools offering all kinds of practical courses, gymnasium +and swimming classes, athletic and reading clubs, +“movies,” lectures, socials, Bible classes, and evangelistic +meetings. A busier hive can not be imagined. It +was the Y.M.C.A. that led in the Mott and Eddy Evangelistic +Campaigns, it has inaugurated a health movement +in the interest of sanitation and the prevention +of disease, it has attacked the problem of social service +which it is stressing by every available means, and +it brought to China the Olympic Games with their rejuvenating, +health-giving influences. Through its remarkable +scientific lecture department it is reaching men +that could not be approached in any other way. In +short, the Association is a “live wire” and a tremendous +force for good.</p> + +<p>The Sunday Service League was organized by the +Y.M.C.A. for the benefit of the large body of students +from abroad who so easily slip their moorings and go +adrift on their return to China. There is a well-attended +five o’clock service in English for them on Sunday +afternoons which is often addressed by notable +speakers passing through Shanghai. Excellent music +is furnished by the Chinese Glee Club, composed of +both men and women. The Returned Students Club +was a spontaneous outgrowth of the Sunday Service +League. It holds occasional socials during the winter<span class="pagenum" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</span> +in the parlours of one of the foreign hotels, where music, +conversation, a few simple games, and light refreshments +make a most enjoyable evening. The gentlemen, +all of whom wear foreign clothes, represent almost every +profession and calling. With scarcely an exception +the women appear in Chinese dress; wherein they show +their good taste and good sense, for nothing becomes +them half so well. Most of them are happy young +wives and mothers, but there is sure to be a generous +sprinkling of unmarried teachers, specializing it may +be in English, music, elocution, physical training, or +kindergarten work, with perhaps a doctor or two, a +charming company in short, such as only Shanghai can +bring together.</p> + +<p>The Young Women’s Christian Association is a +younger organization in China than the Young Men’s +Christian Association, but it is doing on a somewhat +smaller scale the same efficient work. The first secretary +was sent to China in 1903 expressly to labour +among the mill hands. It was later felt, however, that +this plan of campaign was too slow, and that to win +the upper and middle classes, make Christian leaders +of them, and then send them out to evangelize the multitudes, +would yield larger and more lasting fruitage. +So this is the course being followed now, and the outcome +abundantly proves its wisdom. The consummation +of a long-cherished hope has been realized in the +opening of a National Normal School in Shanghai for +Physical Training. The school is under the direction +of a foreign secretary of large experience, assisted by +a Chinese secretary, a graduate of Wellesley College<span class="pagenum" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</span> +who received her professional training in Boston. One +result of the interest aroused by the work of the Normal +School is the recent organization of a Young Woman’s +Athletic Association, with a charter membership of +twenty-six. Wonderful indeed!</p> + +<p>The school classes are always popular, especially +with young married women who have been deprived +of early school advantages. Besides teaching from +books there are classes in embroidery, plain sewing, +stenography, and cooking. Chinese girls are delighted +to understand a little about foreign cooking, especially +if they are the wives of young men who have been +educated abroad, and it is a proud moment for them +when they are able to serve their husbands with some +of the dishes the latter have learned to relish during +their residence in the Occident. The first class in +Scientific Chinese Cooking has just been started, with +a most gratifying show of interest.</p> + +<p>The strongest emphasis is laid on student work not +only in mission schools, but as fast as opportunity offers, +in private and government schools as well. Many +hundreds are converted and baptized annually as a result +of the evangelistic meetings conducted by the +student secretary. Six summer conferences were held +last year with a far larger attendance, and more encouraging +manifestation of genuine heart-awakening +than was ever known before. The force of secretaries +for this vast field numbers in all thirty-three, eight +Chinese, three English, one Australian, one Swedish, +and twenty American. The remark is often heard regarding +the staff, “What unusual young women!” And<span class="pagenum" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</span> +it is true. Deeply and genuinely spiritual, broadly cultured, +resourceful, of wide vision and keen insight, they +are pushing forward with unwavering devotion a unique +and regenerative work in China that but for them would +in large measure be left undone.</p> + + +<p class="c sp more p4">PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA +</p> + +<hr class="full"> + +<div class="transnote"> + +<p class="c">Transcriber’s Notes:</p> + +<p>Variations in spelling and hyphenation are retained.</p> + +<p>Perceived typographical errors have been changed.</p> + +</div> +<div style='text-align:center'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 77783 ***</div> +</body> +</html> diff --git a/77783-h/images/cover.jpg b/77783-h/images/cover.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c06602c --- /dev/null +++ b/77783-h/images/cover.jpg diff --git a/77783-h/images/fig1.jpg b/77783-h/images/fig1.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7bdf83 --- /dev/null +++ b/77783-h/images/fig1.jpg diff --git a/77783-h/images/fig10.jpg b/77783-h/images/fig10.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..1d4a2b9 --- /dev/null +++ b/77783-h/images/fig10.jpg diff --git a/77783-h/images/fig11.jpg b/77783-h/images/fig11.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..96155e8 --- /dev/null +++ b/77783-h/images/fig11.jpg diff --git a/77783-h/images/fig12.jpg b/77783-h/images/fig12.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..2aa4962 --- /dev/null +++ b/77783-h/images/fig12.jpg diff --git a/77783-h/images/fig13.jpg b/77783-h/images/fig13.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..a7da896 --- /dev/null +++ b/77783-h/images/fig13.jpg diff --git a/77783-h/images/fig14.jpg b/77783-h/images/fig14.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..2f742b9 --- /dev/null +++ b/77783-h/images/fig14.jpg diff --git a/77783-h/images/fig15.jpg b/77783-h/images/fig15.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..b4ea0e8 --- /dev/null +++ b/77783-h/images/fig15.jpg diff --git a/77783-h/images/fig16.jpg b/77783-h/images/fig16.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..0d9605f --- /dev/null +++ b/77783-h/images/fig16.jpg diff --git a/77783-h/images/fig17.jpg b/77783-h/images/fig17.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..400f38f --- /dev/null +++ b/77783-h/images/fig17.jpg diff --git a/77783-h/images/fig18.jpg b/77783-h/images/fig18.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..ec69df9 --- /dev/null +++ b/77783-h/images/fig18.jpg diff --git a/77783-h/images/fig19.jpg b/77783-h/images/fig19.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..87d00b7 --- /dev/null +++ b/77783-h/images/fig19.jpg diff --git a/77783-h/images/fig2.jpg b/77783-h/images/fig2.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..d1585c4 --- /dev/null +++ b/77783-h/images/fig2.jpg diff --git a/77783-h/images/fig3.jpg b/77783-h/images/fig3.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..dc8d9a0 --- /dev/null +++ b/77783-h/images/fig3.jpg diff --git a/77783-h/images/fig4.jpg b/77783-h/images/fig4.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..263425d --- /dev/null +++ b/77783-h/images/fig4.jpg diff --git a/77783-h/images/fig5.jpg b/77783-h/images/fig5.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..9b87091 --- /dev/null +++ b/77783-h/images/fig5.jpg diff --git a/77783-h/images/fig6.jpg b/77783-h/images/fig6.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..120e77e --- /dev/null +++ b/77783-h/images/fig6.jpg diff --git a/77783-h/images/fig7.jpg b/77783-h/images/fig7.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..cf5745a --- /dev/null +++ b/77783-h/images/fig7.jpg diff --git a/77783-h/images/fig8.jpg b/77783-h/images/fig8.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..e310b4a --- /dev/null +++ b/77783-h/images/fig8.jpg diff --git a/77783-h/images/fig9.jpg b/77783-h/images/fig9.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..2c379e0 --- /dev/null +++ b/77783-h/images/fig9.jpg |
