Pictures of Southern China ... With seventy-seven illustrations

Chapter I Shanghai

Whangpoo River and Scenes on it — Port of Shanghai — The Bund — Weather Signals — Pictures of Scenes on the Bund — A Saunter through the Town — Nanking Road — The Mixed Court — The Public Market — Silk Shops — Curio Shops — Policemen — An Opium Palace — Bubbling Well Road — American Concession — Wusung Road ..... 9

Chapter II Foochow

Leaving Shanghai — Scenes along the Coast — The Min — Foochow — Tea Clippers of Former Days — Description of Foreign Settlement — Kuliang as a Health Resort — Consuls and the Consular System in China . ... 70

Chapter III Kushan

The Monastery of Kushan — Its Surroundings — The Services in the Temple — The Priests in it — The Boats on the Min — The Bridge of 'Ten Thousand Longevities' — The Street leading to the City, and Scenes on it . . . . . 104

Chapter IV Amoy

From Foochow down the Coast to Amoy — Amoy Harbour and Hundred Gun Battery — Kulangsu — The Church — The Club — The Masonic Hall — The Tennis Ground, etc. — Scenes in the Harbour — The Town — Smells — Temples — Graves — Scenery — Tiger Shooting 134 CONTENTS i \<,i

Chapter V Swatow

Journey from Amoy to Swatow— Sea Scenes— Double Island — Harbour of Swatow— The Native City -Scenes in the Town — Crossing the Bay — Kakchio '§9

Chapter VI Hong-kong

Voyage from Swatow — Hong-Kong — Scenes in the Harbour — Queen's Road — Shops Described — Banks — City Hall- Cricket Ground — Public Gardens — On the Way to Happy Valley — Scenes by the Way — Crowded Tenements and Causes of Disease — Happy Valley— Chair Coolies and their Loyal Services to the Englishman— The Peak — The Tramway— A Street in the Town — Street Scenes . . . 215

Chapter VII Canton

The Canton Steamer — Scenes on the Pearl River — Fishing — Crab Baskets — Whampoo — The Bogue Forts — The Scene of the Naval Battle with the Chinese under Admiral Kwan — Dragon Boat Festival — Shameen — City of Canton — Bound Feet — Temples— Examination Hall — Estimate of Chinese Character ........ LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE The Temple of Heaven Title-page A Country Scene in the Tea District near Foochow .

Frontispiece Bridge connecting the English with the American Concession . 1 1 A Scene on the English Bund 12 Another View of the English Bund 13 A Creek with Boats laden with Firewood ..... 16 Another View on the English Bund 18 Two Ladies on a Wheelbarrow . . . . . . .21 Types of Coolies 23 Two Coolies in their Straw Waterproofs . . . 25 A Scene at the Mixed Court 33 A Native Court of Justice ........ 35 A Man Condemned at the Mixed Court yi A Travelling Kitchen . . . . . . . . .41 Middle-class Shanghai Ladies ....... 43 The Head-dress of a Woman ....... 45 Chinese Loom and Woman Weaving 47 Two Men lying in Luxurious Postures ready to smoke Opium . 53 Sitting-room of a Well-to-do Chinaman 60 A Glimpse of the Native City of Shanghai 63 A Musical Party 65 Shanghai Cathedral ......... 67 A River Scene .......... 74 A Junk Scene 75 The Foreign Settlement of Foochow and the Island of Nan Tai 79 Another View of the Foreign Settlement at Foochow . . . 83 The Long Bridge connecting the Mainland and the Island of Nan Tai 87 A Chinese Temple 93 A Mountain Road 99 View of Kushan Monastery ........ 107 A Group of Buddhist Priests 109 Two Buddhist Bonzes or Priests . . . . . . .113 Mandarins in their Official Dresses 121 A Trading Junk 124 The Bridge of Ten Thousand Longevities, Foochow . . . 125 An Itinerant Cobbler at Work 128 A Chinese Barber 129 Part of the City Wall of Foochow 131 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 8 PAGE Fishing on a Chinese River ....■•■• '33 Harbour and Island of Amoy ...•■•■ '35 A Scene on Kulangsu, Amoy . . . ■ ■ ■ ■ '47 Theological Training College ofthe London Missionary Society 154 Christian School Girls . . . . . • • • '55 A Christian Family . . . . . ■ • • '57 Temple of Lam-Paw-To, near Amoy ...■•• I09 Part of the Temple of Lam-Paw-To ...... 171 Large Buddhist Temple . . . . . ■ • 1 7 5 A Method of Irrigating the Rice Fields 176 Temple of Ten Thousand Rocks . . . . . . 1 77 Memorial Arches, Amoy ........ 179 A Celebrated Bridge, Twenty Miles from Amoy . . . .183 The Tiger's Mouth Temple . . . . . . . . 185 Swatow ... . . . . . . . . 199 Kakchio, Swatow . . . . . . . . . .211 Hong-Kong as seen from the Peak . . . . . .217 Pedder's Wharf, Hong-Kong ....... 223 View of Hong-Kong from Kowloon ...... 227 Jinrickshaw and Sedans ........ 231 Pedder's Wharf and the Clock Tower, Hong-Kong . . 235 Wellington Street, Hong-Kong 237 The Tramway to the Peak . . . . . . . .261 A View on the Peak, Hong-Kong ...... 267 An Itinerant Cake-seller ........ 271 A Travelling Kitchen ......... 273 A Physiognomist .......... 275 A Family Group of Three Generations .... 279 A Canton Sea-going Junk 281 A Scene on the Pearl River ........ 283 Dragon Boat 289 A River View at Canton ........ 293 Shameen, Canton .......... 295 The Church and Road on Shameen, Canton . . . . 297 A View in Canton ......... 301 Hall where the Canton Merchants Meet 305 A Famous Pagoda 309 Examination Hall, Canton . . . . . . . .312 Temple of the Five Hundred Genii, Canton . . . .313

Chapter I

Shanghai Whangpoo River and Scenes on it— Port of Shanghai— The Bund- Weather Signals — Pictures of Scenes on the Bund — A Saunter through the Town— Nanking Road— The Mixed Court— The Public Market — Silk Shops — Curio Shops — Policemen— An Opium Palace — Bubbling Well Road— American Concession— Wusung Road. SHANGHAI is one of the most remarkable and flourishing cities of the East. The traveller who visits it for the first time is attracted by its picturesque appearance. As he stands upon the deck of the steamer, and its various glories come slowly into view, he is fascinated with what he sees, and as the vessel winds her way through long lines of tall-masted ships and men-of-war of different nationalities, and huge unwieldy junks, to its final resting-place alongside the wharf, he gets the impression that rarely in his life has he beheld a scene that has so charmed and de lighted him as this.

The effect is increased by the comparative suddenness with which the beauties of the Settlement have burst upon his view. After leaving the broad Yangtze, along which the vessel has steamed for many miles, as though she had been on a veritable sea, she enters the Whangpoo at Wusung. For fourteen miles the river winds its way through a country in the highest state of cultivation. On both banks a charming and ever-varying scene meets the gaze. Fields covered with luxuriant crops, as green -as Nature with her wonderful alchemy and with this ever-flowing stream as her ally can make them ; clumps of bamboos and willows, which cluster n around hamlets and villages, through which the roofs of houses can be seen peeping, and which conjure up before the mental vision familiar scenes in the home land; and household groups scattered throughout the fields, busy tending the crops that the land has given so lavishly in response to their labours, are the pro minent features of the landscape.

But the river has its attractions as well as the country. Junks with huge sails and square bows and brightly painted eyes, without which it is believed they could never find their way ; and fishing-boats, from which the nets are constantly being deftly thrown by hands that never miss their aim ; and sampans crowded with passengers ; and steam launches towing huge boats with cargoes for the steamers that cannot cross the bar at Wusung, all tend to enliven a scene that never becomes dull or uninteresting. The variety of the pictures upon which we have been looking has made us forget for the moment that we have been rapidly approaching Shanghai. A turn round a great bend in the river, however, changes the whole current of our thoughts, and brings us al most instantly from country into city life.

Great buildings, very much like Lancashire cotton factories, with tall chimneys belching forth volumes of smoke, stand conspicuous on the bank. A little way ahead and we reach extensive wharves, alongside of which steamers are discharging their cargoes. Still further on we find ourselves at the entrance of a harbour that seems so blocked with shipping that ingress appears to be an impossibility. Our captain, however, threads his way along the narrow avenues formed by the ships at anchor as deftly as though he were only guiding a carriage instead of an ocean steamer. We pass the Japanese and American Consulates, then swinging round another bend come in front of the Bund,1 where we look with wonder upon the splendid 1 Esplanade. SHANGHAI 11 business houses, that seem like palaces. Still on we steam, with the English and French mail steamers on our left, and on our right the new Custom House with its beautiful tower and clock that is just chiming the half-hour.

Still on we glide, till finally the engines have stopped their throbbing, and we lie alongside the wharf on the French Concession. \. walk along the Bund tends to increase the ad BRIDGE CONNECTING THE ENGLISH WITH THE AMERICAN CONCESSION. miration we felt as it seemed to move by us for inspection, when we looked at it from the poop of the steamer. The first thought that strikes one is the mag nificence with which everything has been planned. That the English have imperial ideas is manifest from the sights that burst upon us, as we leisurely stroll along. It would seem indeed that trade had not been the prime motive in bringing men from their far-off homes to this land, but rather the desire to build palatial residences, and plant trees, and lay out broad and spacious streets. That this was not the case is quite evident, though it is equally true that higher forces than the mere passion for gain have been at work to produce the splendid results that appear before us.

Whilst Englishmen have the commercial instinct strongly implanted within them, and there are few nations that can successfully compete with them A SCENE ON THE ENGLISH BUND. in matters of business, they are moved by higher thoughts than merely the desire to accumulate wealth. There is a profound consciousness in many of them that England's mission is to elevate the world. This idea exalts commerce, and drives out the meaner mo tives in connection with it, by surrounding it with beautiful houses, and exquisite gardens, and lines of charming trees, that all tend by the association with the beautiful in nature and in art to prevent men from SHANGHAI 13 sinking to the low and sordid ways that trade is apt to develop. The Bund is wide and spacious, and kept in splendid order by the members of the Municipal Council, who have never lost the home spirit in their love for well kept roads.

On one side is a broad pathway lined with trees that throw a pleasant shade upon the ground and keep off the fiery rays of the sun when he feels his strength in the hot months. The effect of these trees is particularly beautiful after dark, when electric ANOTHER VIEW OF THE ENGLISH BUND. lamps flash their dazzling light upon them, and when the trembling leaves shimmer beneath the invisible touch. On the other side are the business houses, which are also residences, and which have been built as though their owners meant to live there for ever, and with such artistic beauty and disregard of expense as would give the natives the idea that the owners were all men of fortune before they began to trade. One very striking object that stands in a conspicuous place at the head of this Bund is a flagstaff, surmounted by a large ball and having a number of flags flying from it.

These are weather signals that inform the maritime part of the community what kind of weather is prevailing at that moment at sea, both to the ex treme north and down the southern coast as far as Hong-Kong. In a little house at the foot, explana tions of the above signals are given, together with forecasts of the weather that may be expected within the next few days, both in the Yellow Sea and in the Formosa Channel. That this system is highly appreciated by the captains of sea-going ships is evident from their frequent visits to this place, and the ear nestness with which they study the statements re corded from day to day. This is specially true during the typhoon season. Then all outward-bound captains study their barometers, and mark every rise and fall. The direction of the wind and the look of the sky, but especially the signals that are hoisted at this station and the directions within, are marked in their memory as something to be well remembered.

The thought of having to meet a typhoon is such as to affright the boldest mariner, for what can science or skill do to make him confident that he shall successfully carry his ship through that awful hurricane, which has some times cast the finest vessels shattered on a rocky coast, or hurled them with all hands to the bottom of the ocean ? The next prominent object is the new Custom House, which is well worthy of a place on this road where so many beautiful buildings abound. The position is ad mirably chosen for its purpose. The merchants' offices are grouped on each side and behind, whilst the ships that have come in with their cargoes are either moored to the wharves, or anchored in the Whangpoo that flows in front of it. It is therefore easily accessible to all the different classes that are constantly requiring to use it.

Beside all this, its large clock makes it a public SHANGHAI 15 benefit, for its face can be clearly seen at a considerable distance, whilst every quarter of an hour its chimes remind the passing throngs and the dwellers in the neighbourhood of the lapse of time. A little further on is the statue of Sir Harry Parkes. It stands just off the road where the crowd is the greatest, and where from morn till night the sounds of footsteps rarely cease. No Englishman acquainted with the history of this man ever passes by it without feeling in his heart that it well deserves the place it occupies. No representative of England in the Far East ever more thoroughly sustained her honour, or by firmness and justice in his dealings with the high authorities of this great empire constrained them to carry out more fully the treaties they had made.

Of course the charm of this magnificent Bund is considerably enhanced by the river that flows by. The scenes upon it are ever varying, and full of the deepest interest, especially to an Englishman, in whom love for the sea is born. Vessels of nearly all nationalities lie anchored upon its broad surface. Here is a large English man-of-war that looks the very emblem of strength. Beyond her lies a huge French mail steamer, that with her many tiers of decks seems like some great fortress transferred from land to sea. Further on is an Italian man-of-war, with her beautiful flag that reminds one of that sunny land where art and song found their home and flourished so long. And scattered thickly about are French and Chinese men of-war, and merchant steamers, unwieldy-looking and unsymmetrical, unlike the ideal ship, especially when contrasted with the beautiful clipper close by, with her four masts and trim-set yards, and endless lines of ropes that run throughout each other in a hopeless maze, that only the eye of the experienced sailor can follow.

The scene is indeed beautiful. The sky is blue, with here and there a fleecy cloud sailing leisurely by. The sun flashes down his rays, and the water sparkles as though it were made of diamonds. His beams play upon the sides of ships and amongst their rigging, and when the shadow of the passing cloud falls upon them they hurry off and touch the sails of junks, and light up the vessels in the distance, and flood the houses on the Bund, till the whole landscape is filled with beauty. The panorama is continually changing, and so fud A CREEK WITH BOATS LADEN WITH FIREWOOD. of life that one's interest never flags. Steam launches rush up and down the river as though running for life, uttering the while unearthly screams. Chinese junks, some with flowing sail, and others beating against a head-wind, have a picturesque and old-world look about them as they thread their way amongst the newest specimens of Western civilization.

Huge rafts of wood from up country drift down with the tide, and Wusih boats with their luxurious accommodation for interior travelling, and countless sampans that reck- B ANOTHER VIEW ON THE ENGLISH BUND, SHANGHAI 19 lessly cross the paths of larger boats in their hurry to carry their fare to the opposite side of the river, all contribute to produce a picture that, like the changing views in a kaleidoscope, is endless in its variety. The scene upon the Bund is in no way inferior in interest to that just described. This great thorough fare is crowded with passengers the livelong day. Of course the vast majority are Chinese, and of all grades of society. There is the coolie, rough and unkempt, with his bamboo pole and ropes with which he will carry his load, and with thews and sinews that would enable him to fell an ox.

Close beside him comes the scholar, with pale and refined-looking face, and with that peculiar swing of body affected by the literati of China. Immediately after, three or four ' boys ' swagger along smoking cigars, and making themselves generally offensive. These are in the employ of foreigners, and they think that by imitating the most objectionable manners of their masters, and by consuming tobacco, they are on the high-road to civilization. But watch the crowd as it moves to and fro. Here pass before us shopkeepers, and beggars in ragged and unsavoury garments, and wealthy merchants in silks and satins of the most brilliant colours, and blind fortune-tellers, and dilapidated broken-down wrecks, and young bloods, and pale-faced opium-smokers, all making up those varied forms of life that constitute Chinese society.

In addition, the foreign element is conspicuous, and in some respects as diverse as the native. Wealthy merchants drive by in luxurious carriages. Brokers rush about in one-horse chaises, speed seeming to be the ambition of their life, and perhaps haunted by the thought that should they take things leisurely, some sudden fall or rise in the exchange would cause them to miss a fortune. Sailors from the men-of-war, with rollicking manner, their faces wreathed in smiles, sprawl about in rickshaws, uproarious in their enjoy ment, as the coolies, hot and perspiring, fly along at their highest speed in response to the excited shouts of their fares. Men of different nationalities mingle in the throng, and we see Parsees, with their strange hats, and Coreans, and Japanese, and representatives of all the Western nations that have come to this great mart for the purposes of trade.

Next to the carriages that play such an important part in the every-day life of this city, the rickshaws are the most prominent, and of the most service in affording pleasant and speedy locomotion from one place to another. In shape they are very much like a two-wheeled perambulator, with long shafts, between which the coolie that drags it stands. They are found in considerable numbers in almost every street, either on recognised stands or moving slowly along the road in search of a fare. That their numbers are very large may be learned from the fact that, not including those under French jurisdiction, there are three or four thousand running in the English and American Concessions alone.1 The men that work them are on the whole very civil and very industrious, and do their work well and pleasantly.

They seem to have vast powers of endurance, for they never object to a fare, no matter how distant his destination may be. They go along at a steady trot for miles without a murmur, and though they must in the longer journeys find themselves distressed, the only indications they exhibit are the heightened colour of the skin and the gradual 1 Shanghai is made up of three territorial Concessions — the English, American, and French — which have been granted to England, Amer ica, and France by the Emperor of China for the use and enjoyment of the citizens of those countries. Chinese rule stops at the bound aries of each. The three nationalities, through their representatives, administer their own home laws in the government of their subjects, whilst Municipal Councils have control over purely local matters.

A Mixed Court, in which a foreigner and a Chinese official sit on the bench, has been established for the trial of cases where the Chinese are concerned. The Americans have no separate Council of their own, as they have elected to be under the jurisdiction of the English one. SHANGHAI 21 moistening of their thin garments with perspiration. Like the cabmen at home, they will sometimes endeavour to extract a larger sum than is their due; but if the legal fare has been given them, it requires only a few pleasant words to send them away smiling and, out wardly at least, satisfied. The Chinese have an in herent respect for law, and the fear of losing their licences, through being reported to the authorities for TWO LADIES ON A WHEELBARROW. having infringed it, makes them very careful in their treatment of passengers.

Another vehicle on the street which also plays an important part in the life of the common people, is the wheelbarrow. It is less respectable, and in the town at least is patronized only by those that do not care to go to the expense of hiring a rickshaw. The barrow is a purely Chinese institution, which tradition says comes down from the period of the 'Three Kingdoms.'1 It is said to have been invented by the great general and strat It is slow, uncomfortable and undignified, but it is cheap — a matter of vast importance in the eyes of the Chinese masses, who are not troubled with an overplus of money. It is within the reach of the poorest, and has been a factor in the life of the Chinese from the earliest times. It can be used in the by-ways throughout the country where the rickshaw could not venture.

The Chinese barrow is differently constructed from the English. The wheel is large and in the centre, projecting considerably above the level of the boards, and leaving room on each side of it for the passengers to sit, or for luggage, which is strapped on to a bar that runs over the wheel, and which also the hirers may hold on to when it is in motion, or when the needs of the case require the vehicle to be tipped up. The weight of whatever is on the barrow is thus thrown upon the wheel, and all that the driver has to do is to propel it. The usual complement of passengers is two, though on occasions more than two can be accommodated with ease. These barrows are invaluable for carrying luggage. Each one is supplied with ropes and pulleys by which a good number of boxes can be strapped on, and for a moderate cost conveyed to any part of the town.

The comfort of this arrangement can only be thoroughly appreciated by those who have arrived in Shanghai with a considerable amount of luggage. A rickshaw would be unsuitable, whilst no carriage is at hand that can be immediately used. Barrows abound everywhere. One is called, the boxes are strapped on, the man's number noted, the address given, and in a short time they are faithfully delivered, whilst the expense is but a fraction of what it would have been had one been com pelled to seek and hire a carriage. In connection with the Bund the prominent position gist K'ung-Ming, who lived during the dynasty of the Three Kingdoms (A.D. 181-234), in order to facilitate the transport of his army stores over the bad roads of Sz-Chiwan, in his campaigns with Sz-ma-i. SHANGHAI 23 the shipping occupies plainly indicates how the pros perity and indeed the very existence of Shanghai de pends upon commerce.

Jetties and wharves, where boats and great steamers are unloading their cargoes, are numerous along the whole water frontage. When there is a pressure to get a steamer away to sea, the greatest activity prevails at these the livelong day, and very often into the small hours of the night. It is amazing with what rapidity a heavily laden "ship can TYPES OF COOLIES. have all her cargo taken out, be reloaded, coaled, and sent away outward bound. This work is done by coolies, whose whole time being occupied in it are well qualified by experience to do it thoroughly and expeditiously. The moment a ship arrives, and the hatches are thrown open, a stream of poorly dressed but sinewy men invade her at every open gangway. They are noisy but good-tempered, and every man with his bamboo and rope has business stamped on his face.

What a pressure there is by every man to get to the place where he can lay hold of something, and thus begin to earn his wages. There appears to be an utter want of system in all this hurry and scramble, and when two sturdy fellows stride away with a loud shout under a heavy load, it would seem as though there might be a great risk of their walking off with it, and never being seen again. This disorder, however, is the result of a defined system by which the greatest amount of work can be got at the cheapest and quickest rate. The merchants know nothing directly of coolies. They have compradores, or headmen, who contract to load and unload a ship for so much. The coolies, there fore, are the servants of these men, who engage them at a certain market rate, and who have under-headmen and friends who superintend the whole business, and see that the work is done thoroughly, and that all the cargo finds its way into the godown.

The compradores make their fortunes out of these contracts ; for the coolies are underpaid, and have to do all the hard work whilst their masters pocket the gains. There is so much competition, however, that they have to submit to the present system. The country towns and villages from far and near send in their surplus labour to this great emporium, and the supply therefore is greater than the demand. The labouring classes are numerous in China, and in their own districts they are miserably paid.1 They therefore flock in large numbers to the ports, where if they get double or treble the sum they could earn at home, they consider themselves exceedingly happy. As you come in contact with the first rush of the batch that are to unload the steamer by which you have arrived, you would imagine that they are a wild set of men, to whom it would be unsafe to trust oneself beyond 1 The ordinary labourer is paid about ten cents a day anywhere out of the ports, and in some places even less.

One hundred cents at the present rate of exchange are worth about two and three pence. SHANGHAI 25 the reach of the strong arm of the law. This impression would be unjust. One sees them at their worst. They are in their working clothes, and in consequence of the Chinaman's distrust of cold water they are grimy and untidy. They are, moreover, strangers in this busy city, and with the love of home that characterizes their race they are living meanly and poorly, and eat barely enough to sustain life, in order to be able to send as TWO COOLIES IN THEIR STRAW WATERPROOFS. much of their earnings as they possibly can to their families. If these men could be seen at home, they would be found pleasant, kind-hearted follows, simple in their tastes, and trusty companions, if one had to make a long journey with them.

The ordinary working men of China, wherever we have met them, are as a rule a simple-hearted, genial people, whose character grows upon one the more they are known and studied. Rough and uncouth though they may seem to be at first, there is a native polite ness and fund of humour about them that draws one to them the more one gets into their inner life. Just mark the change that has come over this man, that we now meet in his home, since we saw him amongst the crowd of coolies that rushed wildly into the steamer in Shanghai, when she arrived at the wharf. | He is a farmer now, though still poor, and showing by his dress and surroundings that he has to struggle hard to keep the wolf away from the door. There is an easy, semi dignified way about him, that one never dreamed he could assume, when he was seen covered with perspiration and panting under a heavy load under the burning sun.