Fourteen Months in Canton ... With illustrations

Front matter

FOUETEEN MONTHS IN CANTON. FOUETEEN MONTHS EN CANTON. BY MRS. GRAY. with illustrations. ilunoon: M A C M I L L A N AND CO. 1880. IThe Right of Translation is reserved LONliON : miNTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, STAMFORD STREET AND CHARING CROSS. TO MY HUSBAND, JOHN HENRY GRAY, M.A., LL.D., ARCHDEACON (LATE OF HONG KONG), WHOSE LONG RESIDENCE IN THE CITY OF CANTON, AND INTIMATE ACQUAINTANCE WITH ITS INHABITANTS, ENABLED ME TO SEE AND LEARN SO MUCH OF THEIR MANNERS AND CUSTOMS.

Introduction

. The letters forming the subject of this small work were written during a fourteen months' residence in the city of Canton, where I enjoyed many opportunities of seeing the inner life of the Chinese, and of learning much of their daily life in their own homes. The letters were written for circulation amongst my family and a few friends who kindly expressed an interest in all I saw and did in the far-off country of China. These descriptive letters accompanied others I wrote at the same time to my family, and so they do not contain any reference to domestic matters neces sary to suppress. They are therefore published in extenso. We left Liverpool in the S.S. Abyssinian on our outward journey, January 13th, 1877, and arrived at New York in fourteen days. Our voyage was rough and uninteresting, especially so perhaps to me, as I was very ill the whole time. Fourteen days spent in a cabin is very trying, even to the most patient of minds. b

INTRODUCTION.

. We stayed four or five days in New York, and then went on to Niagara. The Falls far sur passed my most vivid imagination of them, and I felt that had they alone been the object of our journey, we should have been well repaid. The only mistake we made was in our selection of an hotel. We followed the advice of some fellow travellers and remained on the American side of the Falls. The Canadian side is, I think, much more lovely, one is nearer to the Falls, and the view of the Horse-shoe Fall from the windows of the hotels which are situated close to it is most charming. After a three days' stay at Niagara we went on to Chicago, where we spent two days, and were much struck with the indefatigable industry of the people in having raised such a noble town so quickly after the destruction of the greater part of the old city.

We went on from Chicago to the Salt Lake City and stayed there at the Mormon Hotel, so that we might hear as much as possible of the saints and their doings. Mr. Townsend, the pro prietor of the hotel, was most willing to give all details of the Mormon belief and its practices, and made us several long visits in our sitting room, and talked until I felt so indignant that I could scarcely refrain from speaking out my mind. The position of the Salt Lake City is lovely,

INTRODUCTION.

. IX and I never saw a scene that enchanted me so much, as on the evening when we drew near to it. The surrounding snow-capped mountains are grand, and when we first caught sight of them, they were of roseate hue. Brigham Young showed no small judgment when he selected this spot as the cradle of his infant kingdom. It contains in itself all that is necessary for the use of man. It abounds, especially, in mineral wealth. The valley in which the town lies embosomed is a Paradise. I was, however, much disappointed in the town itself, as I had read in some work that it was a paragon of neatness and cleanliness. It is at all events now most commercial in appearance, with large advertisements at the corners of the streets, and " Very cheap," " Not to be rivalled," and so on, written up in the shops.

After visiting all the places of interest in Salt Lake City, we left on the fourth day, and passing by the great Salt Lake itself, the waters of which were as smooth as glass, proceeded by train to San Francisco. And what can I say of that mar vellous journey across the continent of America ? — it disappointed me. The Bocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevadas are magnificent, the country we passed through in California is most charming, but I was not prepared for the hundreds of miles through the prairies, where we saw X

INTRODUCTION.

. nothing to interest us, nor for the dirty towns at which we stopped en route. The travelling, too, is to my mind uncomfortable, and the carriages not so well arranged as they might be. The refreshment rooms at the stations are overheated, and I often only put my head into them to beat a hasty retreat. San Francisco reached, we discovered that our projected trip into the Yosemite Valley was an impossibility. The road was not open, being still choked up by snow, so with regret we had to give up our desire to see this most lovely spot. We remained at San Francisco five days, and then embarked on board the S.S. Belgic, and started on our long sea voyage to Hong Kong. We were equally unfortunate in the weather in this voyage as in that across the Atlantic. The only really fine day we had was that on which we started.

Afterwards we experienced a succession of squalls and bad weather. The captain had predicted a smooth and rapid voyage, as our course, with the view of avoiding tempestuous weather, was 500 miles farther south than is usually the case. Day after day there was the same remark to make at dinner, " What a rough day we have had." The officers of the vessel said it was exceptionally squally and trying. One night not a person on board closed his eyes ; the

INTRODUCTION.

. XI wiDd blew a gale, the. cargo shifted, and we were so much on one side that it seemed as if we must roll over. Another day, during a storm, some high waves broke against the ship, and struck the port-holes of our cabin, which was on deck, with such terrific force, that we feared, for a moment, the sea must dash in. This happened twice during the same gale. We did not reach Japan until four weeks after we had left San Francisco, and the time seemed double in length, as the monotony of sea life was not broken by any ships in sight, save one small vessel, or by other objects of interest. I was enchanted with the approach to Japan, and the sight of land was doubly welcome after one had been so long at sea. Yokohama I delighted in ; and Tokio, in which we spent ten hours rushing about in jinrickshaws, to each of which two men were harnessed, was most intensely interesting to me.

How I laughed when I got into this most curious conveyance, and my two brown naked legged Japanese ran off with me. We visited most of the buildings, temples, etc., in Tokio, our jinrickshaw men taking us from place to place with almost the speed of ponies. I longed to be able to spend some weeks in this most charming country of Japan, and returned with much regret to the Belgic at midnight. Had

INTRODUCTION.

. we known that we could have taken our tickets to Yokohama, and have remained there for four or five days, and then have gone on by another service to Hong Kong, we should most certainly have done so; but the steamboat agent in London told us that by breaking our journey we should incur a fortnight's delay, and this we were not willing to risk. A week's voyage from Yokohama brought us to the port of Hong Kong. The entrance to the har bour of Hong Kong is beautiful, and I was lost in wonder and interest as I watched the ocean and coasting junks and all the river craft in their fantastic and varied forms. The town of Hong Kong, as viewed from the sea, is very fine and important-looking, and stands well, being built along the margin of the harbour, aud on the side of a high hill. The harbour is very broad and deep, aud capable of holding a large mercantile fleet.

I shall always retain a vivid recollection of the interest and pleasure which the quaint and vast city of Canton afforded me, where all was so different to anything I had seen before. I never went into it or its suburbs without seeing some thing new, something which greatly interested me. The formation of the city, its narrow streets, its innumerable alleys and turnings, its shops,

INTRODUCTION.

. XIII with their curiously-fashioned contents, were a never-ending study to me. My residence in Canton was, with much regret, brought abruptly to a close on the Sth of June, 1878, by a serious illness. We were compelled to return to England by the shortest possible route, and to give up our intention of visiting India on the way home. The sea voyage partially restored me to health, and I was able to land at Saigon, Singapore, Ceylon, and Aden, and to see all that it was possible to see in the short time allowed to passengers at those places. Ceylon is a lovely island, and I consider Wahwallah, with its extensive view, one of the most beautiful spots I have ever visited. LETTEE I. Canton, April 1st, 1877. My dear Mother, We were delighted to receive your letters, as well as those from our friends ; please receive our warmest thanks for them.

They only arrived at Hong Kong the same day as we did (last Monday), and as they were reserved for us at the Post Office, and not sent on to Canton, we received them as a welcome to China, aud it was most delightful ! You should have seen us devour all our correspondence as we sat at tiffin at the Hong Kong Hotel. After we had lunched, we hired chairs and began to explore the city. I was much surprised at the size and extent of it, and at the palatial dimensions of the private houses. They reminded me of Italian palaces; and they look so well, as the situation on which they are built, overlooking the B harbour, is very charming. The town is kept in good order, and strikes a stranger as a prosperous city. We wound some distance up the road which leads to the peak, then returned into the main road, and went round the Happy Valley.

The weather now was cloudy and misty, so I did not see this part of the town to advantage, but I could judge how beautiful it must look on a bright, sunshiny day. On our return, we dis missed our chairs, and went into the hotel and ordered dinner. Afterwards we took a stroll through the Chinese quarter of the city, and I saw much that interested and surprised me. The lighting-up of shops and houses with large paper lanterns struck me as so very strange. At nine o'clock p.m. we returned on board the Belgic, where we had been most courteously in vited to spend the night. The following morning we started at eight o'clock in the river steamer for our foreign home, to which I had looked for ward for so many weeks. I was astonished at the immense number of Chinese crowded on the lower deck of the steamer.

These river steamers are very fine, and the journey of ninety-five miles is performed in six hours if the tide be favourable. One thing much surprised me on the steamer and that was to see a man with a naked sword stationed at the closed gangway. He never took his eyes off the gangway, and when he had been at his post an hour or so another man relieved him. On inquiry, I learnt that this precaution is adopted in consequence of some Chinese pirates having gone on board the steamer Spark some months ago as passengers. When they had reached the estuary of the Canton river, they rose, murdered the European officers and passengers, and took the treasure. When we had passed the Bogue Forts, and had so come under the protection of other vessels, the man with the sword relinquished his post. And now I made my first acquaintance with Chinese scenery, with pagodas, with pawn towers, and with all the curious craft upon the river.

As we approached Canton, the goal to which we had been hastening these ten weeks past, my heart was very full, and I was impatient to arrive at our destination. When the steamer dropped her anchor, the noise around us was deafening. Crowds of passenger boats were waiting for hire, and pushing against each other in their eagerness to get a good place near the gangways of the steamer. The boatmen were screaming out to attract the attention of people to their particular boats, and the boatwomen came on board en deavouring to secure passengers. Their costume b FOURTEEN MONTHS TN CANTON. struck me as being so peculiar. It is a dark blue cotton blouse and wide trousers, which reach a little way below the knee. The feet and legs are bare. And then what is so curious to our European eyes, is the hair fully dressed teapot fashion, the jadestone clasps in it, the jadestone earrings, and the jadestone bangles worn by these poor women.

The women's heads of hair strike me as being beautifully neat. The whole scene around me bewildered me. I saw an old China man talking to Henry, and soon learnt that it was our head servant Mak, who, hearing that there was a chance of our arriving on Tuesday, had come to the steamer to meet us. A large crowd of Chinese had assembled to see the steamer come in; and their costumes, their shaven heads, their tails, attracted all my attention. And now Mak (our comprador) having selected a boat out of the many crowding round the steamer, we got into it, and proceeded by the river wall of Shameen* to the Chaplaincy, which is at the farther end of the small island. I thought Shameen looked very pretty as we passed along it, and I was surprised, when we pulled up before the Chaplaincy, to see what a charming, comfortable house it seemed to be.

When I entered it I was still better pleased, * The European settlement. as the house is so well arranged. I will give you a description of my new home. It is iu the Italian style of architecture, built in two stories, with two deep verandahs at the back of the house, looking upon the river. You enter a good-sized hall, and on your left is the drawing room — a large room with two windows opening to the ground at each end, and three windows run ning down the side of it. From the verandah you step on to a narrow piece of grass which separates us from the bund or walk on the river wall. From the front door you face the wide grass walk, which goes down the entire length of the settlement. Our house is in the same compound as the church, which is also of Italian architecture, and which seems to me large, considering the small number amongst the community who are members of the Church of England.

The church, our house, and the wall which surrounds them, are painted a stone colour in two shades. I like our part of Shameen much. It is at the extreme end of the small island, and is all to ourselves. We have a beautiful view of the broad river Pearl. The name Shameen, means "sand face," and was given to the settlement partly from the fact that, until the Europeans bought it, it was but a sand-bank ; and partly from the shape of the island resembling a human face. It is a small island, only a mile and a half in circumference. The bund encircling it. is ornamented by a row of banyan-trees, which look so green at this time of year. The houses in the settlement are very handsome and the whole of it is beautifully laid out. The walks are all bordered by the banyan-trees. I am much struck with the tropical plants I have seen in the gardens, especially with the palm-trees.

Our heavy luggage not having arrived, we are occupying ourselves by walking into the city, and have already seen several of the interesting places in it. We have visited many of the old chinaware shops, and have picked up, even in these two or three days, some good pieces of ancient blue china, so our drawing-room begins to look homelike. You must remember that the Chaplaincy is already furnished. We have purchased some small, square Chinese carpets, some of which are yellow in the ground colour, with devices in blue ; others white in the ground colour, with most curious patterns in ser pents, ancient characters (such as Shau, meaning longevity), and various animals. In make they much resemble coarse tapestry. We could, had we wished, have bought European carpets, as we saw some hanging up in the street where we made our purchases, and I believe that the houses in Shameen generally are carpeted with them ; but we intend to embellish our house as much as possible in Chinese style.

On our arrival (which was somewhat unexpected) at the Chaplaincy, the whole house was in disorder, and the dining-room floor was in the hands of a painter ; but a very short time sufficed for the Chinese boys to arrange the furniture, and as the floors are painted in the sitting-rooms as well as the bedrooms, there is no need to lay down carpets, as with us in England. Whilst we were still in disorder, a friend of Henry's arrived in her chair, and most kindly begged of us to stay with her for a few days, until our house could be made ready for our use ; but we declined her kind invitation, as, after our journey of ten weeks, we longed to be quiet in our own house. During the. ten days we have been here, we must have walked five or six miles daily, and have stood about for hours sightseeing.

Oh! there is so much to see in Canton, and all is so different to what one meets with in European cities. The narrow, long, numerous streets, with their brilliant signboards in all colours, are very curious. These signboards hang in front of the shops, and bear the names of the owners, and the kind of articles sold in the shops. You cannot imagine how gay they are. Some are eight to ten feet long, and are painted scarlet with raised characters in black — or blue with raised letters in gold — or white with red characters ; in fact there is every variety excepting green boards, which are rarely to be seen. The streets often contain shops of one kind only, so you see on a whole row of many-coloured signboards a shoe, a stocking, a musical instrument, or a hat, painted at the bottom, according to the article sold in that particular street.

Over some shops hang signboards made in the shape of the article sold in them, such as a hat suspended over a hatter's, a stocking over a hosier's. One particular shop I passed amused me much. It belonged to a dentist, andjbeside the characteristic signboard denoting the business of the owner, there was a large-sized figure, well executed and coloured, of a man in the act of brushing a splendid row of white teeth. Sometimes a dentist indicates his calling by hanging at the doorpost of his shop strings of decayed teeth. The streets bear very curious names, which Henry translated for me in some instances. I will give you a few of these names for examples. There are " Peace Street," "Bright Cloud Street," "Street of Everlasting Love," " Street of One Hundred Grandsons," "Street of a Thousand Beatitudes," "Street of the Ascending Dragon," " Street of the Beposing Dragon," etc.

Again, some streets are dis tinguished from others by the numbers which they bear. Many of the principal streets are named thus: "First Ward," "Second Ward," " Third Ward," etc. I have thoroughly enjoyed the shopping, and wish you could see us enter a shop, salute the master of it, receive his chin chin in return, then take a seat in the inner shop (for, in many cases, the shops are divided into two compartments), and receive a tiny cup of the simple, in its full sense, as it is without milk or sugar. Then you mention what you require, and the article is brought in and displayed before you. The master of the shop names his price. Henry, after appearing to reflect for a few seconds, probably offers half what is demanded, and the bar gaining is then begun. It is all done in perfect good humour.

Sometimes Henry's first offer is ac cepted, and then one knows that it is more than a fair price ; sometimes he advances nearer to the merchant's demand, but he does this slowly, and, as a rule, as he advances the owner of the shop drops his price little by little. In a street, how ever, where the foreigners generally deal, which is close to Shameen, the price is a fixed one. In this street are some beautiful shops containing ivory carvings, jewellery, silk goods, and black wood furniture. In the provision shops you see strange sights. In some I have noticed dried rats, cooked dogs' flesh — which when cut up, as it is, into joints for sale, I have mistaken for sucking pig—ducks' bills, edible birds' nests, and every variety of meat and fish. The latter is a disgust ing sight, as to make it look fresh each piece when cut is smeared over with blood.

In poul terers' shops I have seen owls, white storks with their eyes sewn up to prevent them from taking fright at the passers-by, as they stand usually on one leg on perches in front of the shops, lizards, tortoises, etc., all for human food. Nothing is wasted by the thrifty Chinese : all and every part of an animal is reckoned by them as good to be eaten. I have also observed a great number of open-air stalls, which are placed either under mat coverings, or simply under large umbrellas made of dried palm-leaves. I have seen most pictur esque groups standing round these stalls drinking soup, or eating boiled rice with chopsticks, or perhaps taking cakes or other light refreshment. The Chinese are most inveterate gamblers, and I have noticed small boys gambling at stalls where nuts, oranges, or other fruits are sold.

In the streets and squares one often sees groups of four or five Chinese squatting, who are engaged in playing cards and dominoes, whilst others stand and open-air refueshment stall. look on at the game. I find the Chinese most polite in the streets, always making room for us to pass ; and although they follow us and stand at the entrance of the shops when we enter them, to gaze at us, they are most good-tempered. When Henry speaks Chinese they are much amused and say, so he tells me, " He speaks the clear language." When he writes down our address so that our purchases may be sent to us, our atten tive followers cry out sometimes, " This barbarian has a written language." You must understand that the shop fronts are not glazed ; all are open to the air. The shops where they sell precious stones, especially jade stone, form one long street, and in its numerous shops are contained thousands of pounds' worth of jadestone, so much prized by Chinese of all ranks.

This jadestone street is quite a mile in length, with shops on each side of it for the sale of jade and other stones. I cannot convey to you an idea of the size of Canton with its hundreds and hundreds of narrow streets. How Henry can find his way about as he does puzzles me; he knows every short cut in this vast labyrinth of streets and lanes, every queer, tortuous turn seems familiar to him. He is a splendid guide in the city. All his Chinese friends seem delighted to see him, ask him where he has been, congratulate me, ask my age, if I come from Eugland, etc. As we pass along, I often hear the Chinese in the streets or in the shops say " Sing-Sang," the Chinese for teacher, and one of the names by which Henry is known to them.

Letter II

Taai-Tusg-Koo-Tsze Monasteet, April 4th, 1877. My dear Mother, Picture us most comfortably seated in an upper room of a garden house of a Buddhist monastery, on the other side of the Pearl Biver from Shameen. Henry has spent many, many days in this retreat before, and the monks have most kindly given him the garden house for his use. Our room is very quaint in its divisions, and in one corner, or perhaps, more correctly speaking, in a small room separated from the one we are in, is a wooden Chinese bed. Our sitting-room is divided into two compartments by wooden trellis carving. In the divisions there are fragments of pictures. When new it must have been very pretty, but it requires to be put in order, and Henry tells me that this is a thing a Chinese does not understand. He builds, by degrees the place becomes ddapi dated, but no money is spent upon it ; and at last, when the building will no longer hold together, it is pulled down, and a new place raised upon the site.

The air is lovely ; and as it is warm to-day, we are sitting with the windows (such windows! divided into the smallest panes, pleasing to the eye of the medievalist) thrown open. The trees in the garden are tall and shady ; a fine pomelo tree is opposite our windows, the branches of which overhang a small square pond surrounded by brickwork. Beyond is a pavilion with one of the beautiful double wooden roofs. We have brought a table, chairs, and a lunch box from the Chaplaincy. On our arrival we saw one of the few monks belonging to this monastery, and he took us into the visitors' room. It is very charming, furnished with carved black wood furniture, and the windows have small panes set in dark wood of a curious pattern. I have just seen a lovely large butterfly pass the windows, its wings black and as soft-looking as velvet.

The birds are singing sweetly in the garden. Here we are as busy as bees — I with my correspondence, and Henry sitting at my side correcting his manuscripts. Before we left home, a Chinese merchant, an old friend of Henry's, called. He is a good-tempered-looking old man of seventy-six years of age. As he spoke pigeon English, I understood but little of what he said. He stared at me, asked my age, and said patronis ingly," You proper face." When speaking of the present Emperor's age (he is a child of five years), he said, "But his mother very cunning, take care of that pigeon," meaning State affairs. When Henry asked him if his new wife (No. had any children, he answered, " No, no piecee : one piecee come but no stay," meaning the child was dead. The poor old gentleman could not understand me at all.

On Sunday evening, after the three o'clock service, we started in a slipper boat for Whampoa, which is at a distance of eleven miles down the river, as Henry is anxious to resume evening services there on Sundays. The place is much altered since he first began to hold services at this port. The large ships are no longer to be seen in its roadstead. The docks, etc., have been sold to the Chinese, and the whole place looks deserted and wretched. The large ocean steamers go up straight to Canton now, and do not, as formerly, discharge their cargoes at Whampoa. As the tide was in our favour, we went down to Whampoa in two hours ; but the return journey was very long, over four hours, and we did not reach home until midnight. On our way there we saw a long procession of state barges, about eighteen in number.

The Chinese Governor was returning to Canton from an inspection of the forts down the river. I was filled with wonder as I saw the river swarming with its boating population. Henry tells me that there are, it is reckoned, 300,000 human beings who live entirely in their boats. They never stay on land and are a distinct community, one may say, to the population on shore. It has been conjectured that they are the descendants of rebels who were com pelled by an emperor of the past to be thus cut off from communion with their fellow men. There are anchorages marked out for each set of boats, and there are streets and streets of boats thickly packed together. Men, women, boys and girls, but more particularly women, scull and row these boats. The costume of the latter is a tunic and wide, short trousers, coming to the middle of the leg, in dark-blue cotton.

They wear neither shoes nor stockings. I am getting accustomed to the naked legs and feet of the lower orders. Even the city guard are without stockings. I have noticed that many superior-looking men take off their smart, embroidered shoes and carry them when it rains. In the streets I have been much struck with the quiet, gentle deportment of the Chinese. I have already seen some small-footed women. One we met on our way to this monastery was riding on the back of her female attendant.* She was the young wife, Henry thought, of a farmer, on her way to visit a friend in one of the neigh bouring villages. * Chinese ladies sometimes ride on the backs of their amahs when going from village to village to pay visits to their friends. This custom they also adopt in getting about their large gardens.