John Chinaman and a few others, /

Preface To The Third Edition

IT is nearly eight years since “ China,” “John China- I man,” and “ China, Past and Present ” were written.

The first and the last have been out of print for some time, but “ Honest John,” “ yielding to the solicitations of his friends,” survives still to risk a third edition. Things were looking particularly black for China in those fin-de-siecle days, nor had British and Japanese interests in the Far East a very rosy outlook. It was suggested in one or the other of the above three works that an alliance with Japan was our best policy, and that, at any rate, she would never allow herself to be dished by a jealous combination again. Also, that we should endeavour to settle our numerous differences with France, and, through her, with Russia, in an equitable spirit, steering clear of the restless aggressiveness manifested in other quarters. It was submitted that the ordinary European diplomat was out of his element in the Far East, and that the British Foreign Ofifice should do more to encourage and utilise the consular element. As to Chinese finances, the services of a

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VI second Lord Cromer were described as being necessary in order to bring about re-organisation. Reform in the army was pleaded for, and special stress was laid upon the innate capabilities of the Chinese soldier. Full particulars were given of all dynastic entanglements, and it was insisted that amongst the most urgent necessities was the abolition of class distinctions between the Chinese and Manchus, besides the gradual extinction of the “ Peking Contingent ” and other drains for the nourishment of idle Bannermen at the capital and in the provinces. At that time Yiian Shf-k‘ai (to whom a special chapter was devoted) was nobody in particular, and had barely emerged from his capitis diminutio in connection with the Japano-Chinese war. By the time the second edition of “John Chinaman” had been called for, however, Europe was congratulated on the fact that Yiian Shl-k‘ai, as well as Japan, had secured their rightful places in the world of statesmanship. Black though things had been looking for China in Manchuria, it was pointed out that China had several times emerged unscathed from almost exactly similar difficulties before, and that the feeling of bitter resentment at European aggression in China and Japan might have rueful results at no very distant period, and more especially for Russia, France, and Germany.

Of course, this purely academic “ plan of campaign,” as is now the fashion of the day, had its “ coincidences,” even though the rival “ aphorisms ” only shone forth in vii

the archives of distinguished publishers ; and therefore no claim is made on the ground of coincidence to the wisdom of prophecy. “ John Chinaman ” was originally intended to create a human sympathy for the still mysterious Chinese ; and to show that, after all, they were in the main creatures exactly like ourselves, actuated by their own ideas of real honour, real kindness, real fidelity, and real affection : the book was also intended in part as a reply to those critics who had complained of the general unreadability of all purely serious treatment of Chinese affairs. I am proud to say that several scientific and professional men personally unknown to me have written to thank me for having contributed a mite to the gaiety of nations in publishing “ John Chinaman ” ; and I have reason to believe that at feast one of them uses it as Darwin is stated to have used Mark Twain’s “ Innocents Abroad,” — as a means of securing sleep in a jolly frame cf mind when he feels overwrought.

E. H. PARKER.

November, 1908.

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Preface To The Second Edition

HANKS to amiable critics, I am able to introduce an edition more accessible than its predecessor to many who have expressed a desire to honour it with a permanent place in their own homes ; and, perhaps I ought to say, at a price better proportioned to its own inconsiderable merit than was the case with the first edition. No change has been made in the text — beyond the indispensable correction of a few inaccuracies. Whether I myself am responsible for false quantities, doubtful grammar, and other analogous defects ; whether the publisher is to blame ; whether the reader has been careless ; or whether the printer’s brains have gone a-woolgathering, — all this, like the Bank of England ink, is a matter of professional secrecy, which ought to go down with the knowing ones to the grave. Wild horses shall never tear disclosures from me, even though the others be induced under mental torture to confess.

I take this opportunity of congratulating Europe

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X upon its improved attitude towards “ Honest John.” Within the past few months the capacity of Yiian Shf-k'ai has been amply recognised. Gallant Japan has secured her rightful place. Sir Robert Hart has received high distinction from the Empress-Dowager, who on her part has bravely “ faced the music.” A competent financial adviser has been sent out, and there is every prospect of likin being shortly abolished. Manchus can now intermarry with Chinese. Education is coming to the fore. Missionaries have brighter prospects before them. And, generally, a feeling that it is better to forgive — to live and let live — seems to be taking possession of men’s minds.

E. H. PARKER.

SOME books have been likened to molehills : without being exhaustive treatises on the work to which an author has devoted his life, they serve to show the direction in which he has been burrowing, and the soil in which he has been working. Some such character I would claim for the reminiscences contained in the following pages. It will be observed that humble folk are throughout placed absolutely on a footing with great personages ; I, for one, being persuaded that the lowly are just as interesting company as the mighty. In fact, a (since then very distinguished) diplomatist once said to me, as he took the air upon my consular verandah, when on tour amongst the treaty ports : — “ A celebrated man on a certain occasion repeated in my hearing the old remark that the world would be positively astounded if it only knew with what a very small amount of capacity and ability it was governed.” To this I may add as a corollary : — “ and how much excellence there is to be found in obscure persons ” — such as I describe

XI xii

here ; to one of whom, I may say with gratitude, I owe my safety if not my life two or three times over: I consequently give him a place of prominence in the frontispiece. It will also be noticed that my experiences with the Chinese have always had a Quixotic tinge about them ; that is to say, that I have had to socorrer viudas, enderezar tuertos, and remediar agravios as often for Frenchmen, Germans, Russians, Italians, Danes, Americans, Portuguese, Spaniards, and Chinese as for British subjects ; having el buen Sancho always at my heel : it would almost look as though I had gone through a career with the coat-tails provokingly trailing under the nose of every man armed with a buckthorn, and always spoiling for a fight. Ten years after making the above remark, the same distinguished diplomatist wrote to me : — ‘‘ The more rows you are in, the better for you, so long as you don’t cause them yourself ” ; and this is also true, — subject, however, again, to a slight addition : ■“ and so long as the game is played squarely.”

But the main object is not to describe my own doings ; it is to illustrate Chinese character by means of concrete examples, docketed and dated so that they can be verified, either by reference to the persons mentioned, or to the archives of the countries named. To the best of my powers, I relate nothing but what is true ; what I have seen with my own eyes, heard with my own ears, or searched out with my xiii

own brains (or what does duty for brains) ; and it is quite impossible, therefore, for me to draw convincing life-pictures unless I introduce the tertium quid of my own personality, which must consequently be always regarded simply as a mere peg whereon to hang a tale. What I wish particularly to point out is that, shifty and crafty though Chinese officials may be, they have never been impenetrable to “ suasion,” so far as my personal experience goes ; and have never failed in the end to settle any case, however long pending. Also that, hostile though the ignorant Chinese people may often be, I have never found them inaccessible to “chaff” or reason; nor have they ever actually injured my person, or any individual whom chance may have placed under my protection, however near they may have come to the point of violence. To the best of my recollection, I have never had to dismiss a Chinese servant, either private or public ; nor have I ever found it indispensable to punish, humiliate, or crush. Possibly self-consciousness of many imperfections may have instinctively caused me to refrain from too readily condemning others ; but whatever the inner inwardness of it may be, the facts are, I believe, strictly as stated.

I do not say the Chinese are very nice people to live amongst ; in fact, odi profanuni vulgus et arceo was always my feeling towards them. Yet I have always met them in a tolerant spirit of equality, and possibly

XIV that is partly why I survive to state the circumstances of it all. — Nor, on the other hand, do I deftly insinuate that my methods have always been good methods, or my judgment a sounder one than others’ judgment : but in the firm belief that the public, as a body, generally forms its conclusions more justly than locally concerned individuals, who often have private axes of their own to grind, I simply leave the verdict in popular hands.

It will be seen that a consular officer’s experiences, though obscure, may yet be very varied ; and that, although he cannot pretend to such services as are rendered by members of “ another circle,” he still finds occasional opportunities for proffering a useful hand in a humble way. If, on the bare retrospect of his experiences among the Chinese, a mere hack, so to speak, can summon up such various recollections, it may be well imagined what a wealth of incident the more distinguished members of the same service might recall, did not their diffidence, their modesty, or their “diplomatic” prudence stand in the way.

I believe with Sir Robert Hart that in attempting to crush the Chinese spirit we are making a great mistake, for which we shall pay dearly in the future, — unless we stay our hand in time ; and there is yet time. I cannot quite follow, and therefore am unable to agree with, all the sentimental involutions of his reasoning, making mental allowance for the fact that he has been too practically busy for forty years to fall in at once

XV with the conventional style of mere “ writing fellows ” ; but none the less it appears to me that he has stood generously forward as the one just man among a mob of degenerate Christians. “ This was the noblest Roman of them all,” say I, It is just seven hundred and seventy-five years ago since the ancestors of the Manchus {i.e. the old Manchus) destroyed the Cathayan power, and then took the southern Chinese capital of Pien (modern K'ai-feng Fu). They imposed an “ indemnity of 10,000,000 ounces of gold, 20,000,000 ‘ shoes ’ of silver, and 10,000,000 pieces of silk,” which is about the sum the united Powers are now trying to extract. But a century later the Mongol hordes swept both these same early Manchus in the East and also the early Russians in the West out of political existence, only to be themselves driven away by pure Chinese one hundred and fifty years later. This is but one solitary instance of how the Chinese “ eels get used to skinning ” ; and I cannot help thinking, therefore, that we Christians have not only acted foolishly, uncharitably, and unjustly, but that we are rousing a feeling of bitter resentment both in China and Japan, which may have rueful results for us all at no very distant period ; and more especially for Russia, France, and Germany : that is to say, unless we decide to recognise and make allowances for a human nature which is to all essential purposes our own.

18, Gambier Terrace, Liverpool.

E. H. PARKER.

Chapter I Pages

An Event in the Snow (January 17, 1878) — The Captive Girl (1879)

— The Joys of Matrimony (November, 1890) — Mrs. Patrick Fitzpatrick O’Toole (1891) — Death of A-sz (September 28, 1879)

— Suicides (1880, 1890) — The Death of Ano’s Brother (May 19, 1884) — Potted Ancestors (1870-8) 1-26

Chapter II The Hand Of God

Cholera at Foochow (September 6, 1877) — The Great Canton Tornado (April II, 1878) — Wang-erh and the Cholera (December, 1880)

— A Celestial Coincidence (November 4, 1892) . . 27-36

Chapter III The Innocents Abroad

Chinese Washermen (March 22, 1877) — The Chinese Diplomat in Russia (July, 1882) — Chinese in Sumatra (June, 1888) — Chinese in Australia (August, 1888) — The Chinaman in New Zealand (October, 1888) — French Chinamen (1888, 1892, 1893) — The Chinaman in Hawaii (November, 1888) — Don Magnifico (May, 1893) — Chinese Gamblers (September, 1894) . . , 37-61

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Chapter IV Kings, Popes, Premiers, And Philosophers

PAGES

The Tsungli Yamtn (1869-71) — Wensiang (June 28, 1871) — The Taoist “Pope” (September 10, 1880)— The Philosopher Cincius (October 15, 1881) — Chinese Royalty (July 10, 1891) — The Emperor of Annam (January 30, 1892) — Chinamen as Princes (November, 1892) — Vae Victis (November 27, 1892) — The Wild Kachyns (February, 1893)— His Holiness the Pope (January 27, 1894) 62-89

Chapter V

A Row with Students (November 22, 1872) — The Caged Warrior (December 15, 1877) — A “Missionary Row” (September 15,

1880) — Falling He Fell, and Falling Emitted a Thud (July 3,

1881) — An Extinguisher at Wenchow (October, 1884) — A Nice

Little Family Party (October, 1884) — A Chinese “Revolution” (January 25, 1886) ........ 90-123

Chapter VI Piracies And Murders

The Piracy of the Spark (August 22, 1874) — A Piratical Attack (February 19, 1884) — A Real Murder (November 17, 1886) —

The Great Murder Case (March, 1890) — The Great Spanish Murder Case (August, 1889) — The Piracy of the Namoa (December, 1890) — Murder Will Out (1892-3) . . 124-142

XIX

Chapter VII Paces

The Government and the Pickpocket (May, 1871) — The Dishonest Postman (November 4, 1874) — The Thief on the Roof (1878)

— An Unsolved Mystery (March 9-19, 1880) — Another Dishonest Postman (June 2 — July 6, 1880) — The Head Thief (December 25, 1880) — Who Steals my Purse Steals Trash (April 15, 1881) 143-162

CHAPTER VIII Li Hung-chang (1871-72) — The Governor Hii Ying-hung (1872)

The Viceroy Jweilin (September, 1874) — The Viceroy Yinghan (March, 1875) — The Viceroy Liu K'un-yih (1878-9) — Yuan Shik'ai (1885-6) 163-179

Chapter IX

A Chinese Convert (1871-2, 1885-6) — Mussulmans in China (1869, 1881) — Saul! Saul I why persecutest thou Me? (1878-9) — A Narrow Escape (October 21 — November 28, 1885) — The Seed of the Church (February 19, 1881 ; February ii, 1887) — Father Cadoux (1888, 1892-3)— Roman Catholic Education (1884-5, 1888, 1892-3) — Pagan Christians (May 20, 1893) . . 180-204

Chapter X H U M Anitas

Chinese Teachers (1867-8)— Old Ow (1874-5, 1878-9) — “Full of Strange Oaths” (1879) — A Chinese Barrister (1876) — Old Lu (1874-5, 1878-80; January, 1891)— Doctor Wong (1874-5, 1878)

— The Chinese Lettri (1884) — Chinese Poetry (1879, 1900) 205-228

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Chapter XI Army And Navy Pages

The Chinese Army (October 30, 1870) — A Warrior in Trouble (October 27, 187S) — A Gallant Admiral (November 17, 1880)

—A Soldier of the Old School (1880-1) — The Chinese Navy (May, 1890) — An Instigator of Rebellion (February, 1893) — Captain Ch'en (1893-4) — Admiral Ting (July 4, 1885 ; May 8, 1890)— A Corean Admiral (May 16, 1885) — Captain Teng (July,

1885 — ^January, 1886)— A more than Royal Salute (August 27, 1886) 229-262

CHAPTER XII PSEUDO-CFIINAMEN The Jlurderous Mongol (November ii, 1869) — The Miao-tsz (1881)

The Corean Mafu (1885-6) — The Grave of Empire (March 16, 1888) — Joseph the Sinner (1892) — An Annamese Noble (January, 1892) — Sic Transit Gloria (April 29, 1888) ... 263-281

Chapter XIII

Chinese Processions (November 2, 1870) — Sir E. B. Malet among the Likm and Philology Men (September 11-13 and 17-20, 1872)

— Archdeacon Gray (1874-5, 1878) — Sir Samuel Baker, Pasha (September 4, 1880) — An Imperial Ambassador (April 7, 1881) — How the Chinese Telegraphs Used to Work (December, 1886) 282-303

Chapter XIV Raising The Wind

Chang-erh’s Winnings (1878)— Hongkong Salt-smugglers (July 17 — August 23, 1878) — A Scandalous Squeeze (September 20 — October ii, 1878) — Who’ll Buy My Gingham? (May 12, 1881) — There’s Money in It (1881)— The Salt-smuggler (1873, 1883) 304-321

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Chapter XV Pages

The Manchu Agent- Provocateur (June 8, 1880) — The Vagabond Escort (June, 1881) — My Escort (October, 1881)— The Big 7" ing-ch'ai and the Small P ing-cKc.i (October i, 1884) — Tit-for-Tat (March 21, 1891) — The Taotai Chu (1891-3) — ^A Truculent 0£5cial (July 4-16, 1893) .••••• 322-343

CHAPTER XVI PERSONAL Chang-erh (1869-94) — A Dangerous Outing (May 13-14, 1872)

The Barber’s “ Pidjin” (1879) — And He Went for that Heathen Chinee (1881) — Chang-erh’s Villainy (1885) — That Straight Heart (1S90) 344-359

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

CHANG-^RH *•••••••• Frontispiece

THE CAPTIVE GIRL AND HER FRIEND .... Facing p. 6

PEI yin-s£n’s arsenal students and their instructor, MR. BREVVITT- TAYLOR

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THE OLD JESUIT INSTRUMENTS OF THE ASTRONOMICAL BOARD (taken BY GERMANY) {Wustrates Eclipses) .

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TUNG SUN THE POET, WITH HIS TWO CHINESE COL- LEAGUES, 1871

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THE KING (“ EMPEROR ") OF ANNA.M

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TOMB (NANKING) OF THE FOUNDER (1368-98) OF THE MING DYNASTY (VISITED FROM CHINKIANG)

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LOOKING DOWN THE CANTON RIVER

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PAGODA FROM WHICH A-NO FELL ....

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THE KING (now “EMPEROR”) OF COREA

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PAGODA ISLAND, FOOCHOW RIVER ....

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THE BHAMO “CHINA STREET” AND BARBER’S SHOP

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HIS EXCELLENCY THE VICEROY LIU k'uN-YIH yy

THE LATE TAI-WON-KUN, FATHER OF THE KING COREA

OF

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ONE OF THE SHANGHAI JESUITS’ ORPHANAGES

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“old OW” and HON. J. STEWART-LOCKHART

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A student’s UP-COUNTRY RETREAT . . .

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LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

THE NINGPO TEACHER AND THE LITTLE T'lNG-CH'AI . Facing p. 224

THE BRITISH CAMP AT BHAMO .. 244

INTERIOR OF THE TOMB (NEAR PEKING) OF THE CHINESE MING EMPEROR YUNG-LOH, I4O2-24 (Illu$trales Annamese tomb) •••••• 1 • it >> 272

THE INTERIOR OF THE TARTAR GENERAL’S YAMEN AT

CANTON {Illustrates Amtamese reception-room) . • tt it 276

CREEK DIVIDING JOHORE FROM SINGAPORE . . • „ „ 2S0

THE VICEROY OF CANTON IN HIS SEDAN-CHAIR

{Illustrates Processions) • • • • . • >> >i 284

THE COREAN HEIR- APPARENT tt tt 300

A FAVOURITE WALK WITHIN THE WALLS OF WENCHOW

I am indebted for photographs to Mrs. Cave-Thomas, Mr. George Hardy, Rev. E. Chargeboeuf (Alissions Elrattgeres), His Excellency Charles Waeber, Rev. A. J. Colombel, S.J., Mr. J. Thomson, Professor E. Chavannes, His Excellency Liu K'un-yih, Captain Ballantine, Prince Hassan, Hon. J. Stewart Lockhart, etc., etc. ; but it has only been found possible to utilise a tithe of those kindly supplied.

JOHN CHINAMAN

Chapter I

AN EVENT IN THE SNOW HE winter of 1877-8 was unusually bitter.

Every room in the Consulate had double windows, in the Bohemian fashion ; the ground was covered with snow for weeks at a time, and on a windy day it was hard to keep warm in the room, even with a big coal fire burning. Yet this was the year of the great Shan Si famine, and millions of peasants perished monthly from sheer want of food. The neighbouring provinces were invaded by endless troops of starving people. More especially so was the neighbourhood of Chink iang ; I suppose because all roads from the north lead thither. I used to meet refugee families daily, as I took my walks. If the father had any shoes left, he would be shuffling along with a wisp of straw in them, or

I with old swathes tied about his leg, and round the fragments of the shapeless shoes. Sometimes he would have a couple of babies in one basket, and a favourite little dog or a bird-cage or some clothes in the other ; and if he had strength, would carry them all slung to a pole over his shoulders : otherwise they walked a bit, or a neighbour lent a hand. The mother, with lank cheeks, stumpy feet, and bedraggled hair, w'ould limp wearily in the rear ; perhaps the grandparents too. Occasionally they would have an old wheelbarrow, or a few sticks of furniture ; but they were all alike gaunt and hungry. Yet never a word of anger or a movement of violence : they all wore the patient, obstinate look of camels or sheep. Of course they begged, and often whined ; but they were as ready to chaff if they got nothing as they were to grovel with gratitude for food or money. Silver coins were of little use, scarcely known to most of them, and in any case unchangeable for the moment, and much too valuable : one-fiftieth of a penny was enough to buy a coarse meal. The authorities had provided thousands of mat hovels, on the walls, outside the walls — anywhere, so long as private rights were not invaded, and shelter from the wind was obtainable. Skilly was served out gratis twice a day. Every morning I saw dead bodies lying about ; but this one can see any day on the Beggars’ Bridge of Peking, and in China it strikes no horror into the

A FAMINE-STRICKEN MOTHER imagination. I suppose there were from fifty thousand to one hundred thousand refugees congregated about Chinkiang, over and above the fifty thousand regular inhabitants inside. At that time the city was still half in ruins, and had barely got on its imperialist legs again since the recapture of 1857 from the Taipings. On January 9, I remember, the thermometer went down to 11“ Fahrenheit, and, I presume from general recollection, remained at pretty near that figure for the best part of a month after.

One afternoon, at about four, I was rapidly threading my way amongst the refugees, who were huddling together in the snow under any scrap of shelter they could find about the roads, when I saw a woman of about thirty sitting alone, bolt upright, on a hank of straw. She wore the usual blue cotton wadded coat ; her face was covered with tears and mud ; her nice black oily chignon had gone to smithereens long ago, and the clotted hair filled with sand was flying about in the wind over her shoulders. There is a Chinese poetical saying : “ Approach the tub and sit in the straw,” which means “ to be confined ” : it ran through my head at that moment. A good-natured, fat woman from a small eating-house just then stepped out with a big bowl of coarse soup, smoking hot. The woman in the straw was swaying herself to and fro and groaning ; but she took the bowl greedily, and at once devoured the contents. I went on with my walk rather sadly inclined ; but there was no necessity for scepticism or surprise, for the American consul had told me but a day or two ago of a similar occurrence which had taken place whilst he passed along with his wife, just outside the British consulate. In about an hour I came back the same way, and the woman was still there, doing the best she could to wrap up a small object in her bosom with rags, wisps of straw, sticks, and bits of old clothes. She was now quite cheerful, and had a relieved appearance. I gave her a ten-cent piece, and asked after her condition. She was quite sprightly enough to answer questions, and, to judge by her comparatively unconcerned manner, it was probably not the first time she had found herself in a fix of the kind. Probably she slept there, and walked on next morning briskly.

Archdeacon Gray of Canton, when told this story some months later, capped it with another anecdote, the details of which, however, are more suitable to The Lancet than to a character sketch-book. No “ medical men ” are ever needed in China ; but a class of women known as “ life-receivers ” make things as comfortable as possible for the patient who can afford to hire their assistance.

THE CAPTIVE GIRL

In times of war, pestilence, and famine, the kidnapping and sale of children becomes very prevalent ; but at all times and in all places it is more or less in vogue

THE TALE OF ONE OUT OF MANY 5 throughout the Empire. It is not easy in any part of China to question any but the boat-women closely : even poor peasant girls and shrivelled-up old women think it good form to run away from any strange man who may cross their field ; not to say from any foreigner. Sometimes, however, by accident one comes across a woman of natural frankness and common sense, just as in England one occasionally meets a “ lady,” free from affectation, who can talk in a friendly and natural way to a pauper or rough seaman. In the wilds of Hu Peh, for instance, I once talked with a single woman who was sole and absolute mistress of a large inn. Even wives of the first, or confarreatio^ class are sometimes bought with money before the coinpotatio (as the Chinese have it) takes place. One of the coemption or second order wives once told me the following story. (I may explain that I was trying to find out by questioning her how many generations an ignorant woman could go back).

“ My ancestors were Hakkas [descendants of coloni from the north] of the Sin-ning hien city area, on the south coast, not far from St. John’s Island, where the ‘ Potuki joss-man ’ [St. Francis Xavier] died. During the Red-cap [ = Taiping] Rebellion of about the sixth Ham-fung reign [1856], the whole place was being overrun by plundering band.s, and the people were continually crying, ‘The rebels are here.’ One day my mother suddenly began collecting a few bangles and valuables, grabbed me by the arm, and ran with me as hard as she could up the mountain. My aunt took another direction. Being Hakkas, of course we all had big feet, and could get over the ground pretty quickly. We soon felt very hungry, and had a difficulty in finding enough to satisfy our cravings that night. In the distance we could see through the darkness all the farms in our neighbourhood being burned. I don’t know whether my mother sold me for food, or whether she merely placed me for safety in charge of two men of our acquaintance ; but, any way, she separated from me after a little more wandering, and the two men sold me for a couple of dollars to another man : then I was given a good meal and taken down a stream in a small boat towards the east, where at a market-town a man offered twenty dollars for me. He took me to Macao, where I have since lived with his sister. There were other girls like myself there, and we were brought up to call her ‘ mother.’ She was always very kind to us, taught us sewing, how to keep clean, how to preserve the hair, teeth, health, etc., to cook, keep house, and so on. There are plenty of such places in Macao. I have never heard of any single member of my own family since, and should not have remembered the above had you not plied me with suggestive questions. My ‘ mother ’ owned a junk which used to trade regularly with Pakhoi and Annam. The custom is for such girls to be bred up at Macao, and either sold for two hundred to five hundred dollars apiece to natives or foreigners

THE CAPTIVE GIRL AND HER FRIEND. [To face p. 6.

TENDER MEMORIES on the mainland as wives of the second class, or to be let out as such on the hire system — i.e. the master or husband pays so much a month until the price, plus interest, is made up by instalments. Thus he is not committed if he is disappointed. If we can coax enough money out of him, we can buy out ourselves, and then either resell ourselves to him, or keep the instalments going to our own profit. In any case, the ‘mother’ never plays us false ; and, as you see, I am now here in Macao on a visit to my ‘ mother ’ and her brother, although I have now paid her the whole of my original price, three hundred dollars, and am free."

I went on to question her in her old Hakka dialect, which she had nearly forgotten, and tried to find out exactly from whence she came, so that I might make enquiry if the village still existed. By cudgelling her memory, she began to recall incidents of how she used to help her father to plant the rice ; how the crops were alternated ; how her brothers went to school in the ancestral temple ; and so on. But when, pressed by questions, she came to talk of her old grandfather with his long white beard, smoking his pipe in the porch, and dandling her on his knee as the sun disappeared, she grew dazed, broke down utterly, and could never be induced to speak of her old home again. Nothing moves a Chinaman more than to talk of his native village after he has left it and lost it.