DISCUSSED POINTS
[Sidenote: PEOPLE.]
"How do you like the Chinese?" is the most common of all queries, yet
each time it is made I have to reflect as to what my answer shall be.
While unable to say that I like them, for, speaking collectively, they
are an untaking, unlikeable people, still they possess many qualities
and traits of character which _per se_ must recommend them to all
unprejudiced observers.
The chief hindrance to a better understanding with them is their
rooted antipathy to ourselves, generated by our pushing, masterful
ways. With but few and unimportant exceptions they do not want us, and
would be glad to see the last of all Europeans, together with their
civilisation, their missionaries and their trade. This is not very
flattering, accustomed as we are to regard ourselves somewhat in the
light of pearls before swine, but it is the truth. On the other hand,
we know that our footing in the country was gained and is maintained
by force, which knowledge, in addition to that pressure of silent
enmity of which we are at all times conscious, brings our minds into
a hostile attitude _vis-a-vis_ the Chinese. We are always in a state
of antagonism, be it defensive or offensive. This mutual dislike,
helped by the utterly different modes of life existing amongst
Europeans and Asiatics, renders all other than business intercourse
not only irksome but well-nigh impossible. Their ways not being our
ways we do not want to know them intimately, and they on their part do
not want to know us, wherefore, by tacit consent, we keep rigidly
apart in social matters.
Many people seem to imagine the Chinese as being romantic, artistic,
quaint, effeminate and uncanny.
Romantic they most certainly are not, but look at things with a brutal
realism, of which their pet quotation is truly emblematical: "A man's
greatest pleasure is found in reading his own essays and in making
love to his neighbours' wives."
Of their artistic qualities there are many favourable critics, though
personally I consider them to be extremely poor. Their music, both
vocal and instrumental, is worse than rubbish; in sketching and
painting they are without sense of perspective; their architecture is
clumsy and coarse; their much-vaunted pottery is full of flaws and
blemishes, for which reason a perfect specimen is almost priceless and
over which connoisseurs hypnotise themselves; dancing, except by
flower-girls, is unknown; while in literature they are safe from
adequate criticism, owing to the impossibilities of their language.
Embroidery, bronzes, carving, and dyeing in both pottery and silks
are, in my opinion, their best artistic productions, although it is
said that the famous colouring of chinaware is now a lost art, as
those clans which held the secrets were almost extirpated during the
Taiping rebellion. Many articles of vertu are undoubtedly valuable,
but is it not rather owing to their antiquity, to their rarity, or to
the fact that they are good specimens of a certain workmanship,
however bad, rather than to any inherent artistic merits?
Quaint they indeed are from a European standpoint, but on more
intimate knowledge this quaintness resolves itself into a slavish
adaptability to the smallest circumstances in their daily struggle for
existence. To a man who has been some years in the country, and who
has tried to understand local conditions, the Chinese live on a dead
level with matters of fact.
To say that they are effeminate would be incorrect. In some things,
from our point of view, they undoubtedly are; in others they are
extremely virile.
The captain of a British man-of-war told me that he considered them to
be the poorest fighters in existence. That they habitually make a
feeble show in battle cannot be gainsaid, but then they are a most
matter-of-fact people, without any craving for military glory, and
knowing beforehand that there is no possible chance of success, take
time by the forelock and run away to escape a useless death.
Select one of our very best regiments and stop their pay for several
months, deprive them of officers, take away all doctors and medical
comforts, half starve them, arm them with flags, pikes and
muzzle-loaders, and then march them against a crack European regiment.
You may be sure the Chinese example would be quickly followed. I do
not say the Chinese are brave, but I do believe that, given a good
training, just treatment and a fair chance of success, they would
prove no mean antagonists.
Possessing great natural aptitude, if it is made worth their while
they will quickly become good riders, good shots, good at billiards
and tennis, good sailors, etc., giving their whole attention to each
matter, though without enthusiasm. It is this dull concentration on
particular callings which has deprived their character of that vital
force, initiative, which, while the greatest of safeguards to rival
nations, has removed from the Chinese mind the power to comprehend and
carry out large and complicated undertakings involving the handling
and direction of modern systems and appliances. The Chinaman is at
present content to supply labour, but whether in time he will be
capable of also supplying the versatile, directing brain is a moot
question. Anyhow, it will not be for long years and until he has lived
under a modernised Government for several generations.
Extreme consideration for infancy and old age, the growing of long
finger-nails, the supposed debilitation arising from opium-smoking,
the universal usage of fans, the wearing of flowing garments and
braided hair, and the discharging of domestic duties which in other
countries fall to the lot of women, are probably largely accountable
for the charges of effeminacy.
As to their uncanniness there is no doubt. We do not, and never shall,
fathom the depth of a Chinaman's brain. After mutually looking at the
same object from widely-different points of view _we_ express our
ideas, talk them over and invite criticism, while _he_--is silent. He
listens to us and agrees, but keeps his own views to himself. We want
to explain everything; he does not, but takes things on faith.
In our inmost hearts we generally do not feel sure whether we believe
or do not believe in spiritualism, in good spirits, bad spirits,
ghosts, dreams, devils and manifestations. He believes in them all
without a suspicion of doubt, but, knowing our wonted thoughtless
scepticism, will frequently say he does not, as the easiest way of
avoiding a useless discussion and condemnation of established facts.
In dealing with educated Chinese many foreigners assume a forced,
artificial manner, as though addressing themselves to an autocrat or a
murderer, and are ever on the lookout for something to find fault
with. My own idea is to maintain a naturally polite bearing and treat
them precisely as you would your own countrymen of whatever rank in
life. They strike me as being extremely responsive, and oftentimes
even grateful for being taken simply as men and not as extraordinary
specimens of another humanity.
The dominating factor of their lives is "face." Whatever happens, so
long as a man can save his face he has always the chance of righting
himself. We continually hear of their commercial integrity, which is
undoubtedly very great, though not springing from any innate
principles of fair-dealing but from a desire to save face. I have very
little doubt but that a Chinese merchant would immediately "do" you if
he could be perfectly sure of not being found out, and so losing face,
and that too without in any way violating his own feelings. "Face," or
otherwise "appearances," is a Chinaman's passport to respectability,
and therefore of great commercial value, but has nothing whatever to
do with the hidden principles of honour and morality. That honesty
pays better than dishonesty is a fact well known and firmly adhered to
by merchants in a large way of business. To those in a small way of
business, honesty does not pay, and consequently does not exist, but
instead ability in squeezing is accepted as the gauge of capacity.
The first essential in dealing with Chinese is control of temper. I do
not mean that one should not possess a temper, on the contrary, it is
a distinct advantage to have one, only it must be kept well in hand. A
man of irritable, rasping temperament quickly loses respect and
weakens control, while he who can keep calm under any circumstances,
and only very rarely gives rein to a fierce outburst at the
psychological moment, invariably compels admiration and obedience,
for, it is reasoned, if a man who has command of his temper gets angry
it is because he has just cause, and the fault must necessarily lie
with those who call his anger forth.
Under no circumstances, except in actual self-defence, strike a
Chinaman. The pain or insult it may cause him is as nothing in
comparison with the lowering effect it will have on your own status in
native eyes. From being well-considered you will at once become an
object of contemptuous dislike.
The empire of China is considerably larger than the whole of Europe,
contains limitless natural resources, and is inhabited by a hardy race
of some four hundred million souls who are bound together by ties of
blood, language, tradition and religion. This race, which until quite
modern times existed as a world apart and was sufficient unto itself
in all things, is highly developed both mentally and physically,
though its government, as judged by Western ideas, is hopelessly
obsolete.
If left to themselves I see no reason why the Chinese should not
slumber on as they now are till the crack of doom, but, the world
having become so reduced in size through the agencies of steam and
electricity, they never will again be left undisturbed, but more and
more subjected to the pressure of other nationalities in the feverish
struggle for domination and wealth. To this pressure they will surely
yield in one way or another. Will they forestall the inevitable by
reforming themselves, or will they for a time fall beneath the foreign
yoke until they have learnt their lesson, and then reassert their
solidarity and independence?
In whatever light we may view these people or animadvert on their
numberless contradictory qualities and failings, it is as certain as
day and night that they are here to stay, if only by force of numbers,
and that no political convulsions will wipe them out. They may be
battered and even sundered for a time, but each successive shock will
only serve to resuscitate their vitality.
Already possessing an equipment of wealth, numbers, thrift, good
physique and high mental power, they only await good government to
start them along the rails of progress. Whatever nations may rise or
fall, the future is big with promise for the children of Han.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: LANGUAGE.]
The Chinese language is like China itself: colossal!
Roughly, the mandarin or official language is spoken by all officials
throughout the empire and by all classes in those provinces which lie
north of the Yangtse, while south of this line Cantonese is the
principal dialect, although the number of others is legion, and so
pronounced are the differences between them that countrymen dwelling
but a few miles apart are frequently at a loss to understand each
other.
On one occasion, when making "a little trip to Japan," I took my
Pekingese boy with me. Having missed the fortnightly mail-boat I made
the passage from Chefoo in a small German collier, and on arrival at
Nagasaki took rickshas to the hotel. In the streets were a goodly
number of Chinese, members of a considerable colony of small traders,
and the sight of compatriots in a foreign land greatly delighted the
boy, who, on my departure after tiffin to make a tour of the town,
asked if he meanwhile might go out to drink tea with his countrymen. I
gave permission, but on returning some hours later to the hotel found
him in a very disappointed frame of mind, which was accounted for by
his explanation that the Chinese residents in Nagasaki were all
Cantonese, and that not being able to understand a word of mandarin
they had perforce been obliged to converse with each other as best
they could in pidgin English. He said, "Looksee b'long all same
Chinaman, no savez talkee."
The Pekingese are very discriminative and frequently condescendingly
refer to all other Chinese as "outside men" or "foreigners."
Pidgin English is a queer jargon composed of a verbatim translation of
Chinese sentences together with a slight admixture of Portuguese and
French, the frequent wrongful substitution of similar sounding words
and a lavish use of the terminals _ee_ and _o_.
"S'pose you wantchee catchee olo chinaware, compradore savez talkee
my," represents, "If you want to get some old chinaware your Chinese
agent will let me know," while I have heard "two times twicee" for
"twice two," and "last day to-night" for "last evening."
The word _pidgin_ means _work_ of any kind, as in "plenty pidgin" or
"no got pidgin," and _pidgin English_ simply means a workable
knowledge of colloquial English as picked up by tradesmen, servants
and coolies, in contradistinction to English as taught in the
schools.
On the northern frontiers there is also pidgin Russian.
The written language is the same everywhere, each character, of which
the Chinese say there are between eighty and a hundred thousand,
representing a complete word, so that before being able to read, and
more especially write, a single sentence, each individual character in
it must be closely studied and committed to memory, as we commit to
memory the letters of the alphabet, but with the difference that
whereas the alphabet consists of but twenty-six simple letters,
Chinese caligraphy contains almost a hundred thousand characters of
extreme complexity.
From earliest boyhood to the grave Chinese students never cease, yet
never complete, committing these characters to memory and welding them
into those graceful verses and essays which are the pride of Chinese
literature.
Handwriting is accounted a fine art, and for many hours each day, year
in and year out, characters are laboriously copied by means of a
little brush filled with ink, which in the form of a cake or stick
similar to Indian ink is moistened and ground on to a stone slab or
"ink-stone," until the penmanship is frequently of a firmness and
beauty surpassing that of copper-plate. In such veneration is the
written character held that it is accounted wrong to debase in any
way paper on which writing may be inscribed, wherefore conscientious
_literati_ sometimes pass along the streets gathering into baskets
stray pieces of paper bearing written characters, to burn them
reverently in miniature pagodas or towers erected on public ground for
that especial purpose.
The career of a student is considered to be the most honourable of
all, but though chiefly restricted to handwriting, knowledge of
characters, composition and national history, the Chinese admit that
no man has ever yet thoroughly mastered his own language or even
learnt all the characters.
How then about foreigners' knowledge of the language? It is like the
nibblings of a mouse at a mountain.
In the course of two or three years a European by means of hard work,
good memory and facile ear, may succeed in speaking one of the
dialects so as generally to make himself understood, but to the end of
his days his speech, for more than a few sentences, would never be
mistaken in the dark by one Chinaman for that of another Chinaman.
As for the written character, I do not believe it possible for any
European to acquire more than a superficial general, or a mature
one-sided, knowledge of it. Some missionaries, notably Jesuits, have
given their lives to the work and have undoubtedly attained to
considerable erudition in the classics and in subjects pertaining to
religious doctrines, but in place give them some business papers or
other documents in current use and they would be at once hopelessly
nonplussed.
A man may have mastered eight or ten thousand characters and may be
able to read or dictate letters on any subject, but he probably would
not be able to read a single line from most of the classics.
I have heard, as a phenomenal thing, of a foreigner being able to
write a letter himself, but the fact of its being phenomenal shows how
unusual it was, and does not prove the absence of either crudities or
errors.
All Europeans, even the most competent, are _always_ assisted by
educated Chinamen when engaged on serious Chinese work. Unaided, they
might read much correctly, but they might altogether miss the sense,
and most probably would meet with characters they did not know.
As for writing, it is impossible. Even if unaided one did manage to
compose anything, it would be the work of a tyro and would never pass
muster with literary Chinese, while the penmanship would be laboured
and coarse, for the manner of holding the pen or brush is quite
different from our own, and if not acquired almost from infancy the
knack comes with difficulty when bones and sinews are more firmly
set.
With regard to mastering what is called the running character, which,
by way of illustration, may be said to correspond to our shorthand,
the thing is not to be thought of.
To apply a general test, no European would ever have the slightest
chance of passing even the lowest of the literary examinations.
One may well ask what is the reason of this inability to reach the
attainments of even a moderately well-educated Chinaman.
No European can give his whole time from earliest childhood to the
undivided study of Chinese, and even if he could, I very much question
if the unattractive nature of native literature would satisfy his more
versatile brain, while the absence of social intercourse between the
two races removes the greatest of all incentives to perseverance.
On the other hand, the Chinese are saturated with a hereditary
instinct for their own language and literature, which instinct,
besides assiduous cultivation for thousands of years, is fostered from
infancy by their surroundings, and is so exactly suited to their
patient, phlegmatic temperament that it comes to them as naturally as
the air they breathe, and even if unable to read but a few characters
in a phrase, they will arrive at the meaning as surely as a well-bred
hound will follow a trail.
And so it follows that although Europeans of most brilliant intellect
may devote long years and infinite labour to the study of Chinese,
lacking this native instinct, they can never attain to that ripened
and fluent knowledge which is a heritage of the Mongol race alone.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: MISSIONARIES.]
What to say anent missionaries?
In England alone the proselytising spirit is strong, and every parish
subscribes liberally to missionary funds in order that labourers in
the vineyard may not be wanting, and that the ends of the earth may
know the tidings of joy.
Most European residents in China are adverse to missionaries and
express their opinions with such vehemence as to generally obscure
criticisms of a more temperate nature. According to this majority the
missionaries do nothing but harm. Frequently of poor education, and
lacking altogether in tact and discretion, they thrust themselves in
where they are not wanted, they interfere in local matters, ignore
local customs, offend local susceptibilities, and by allowing young
unmarried ladies without experience and frequently without suitable
escort to wander about the country, to outrage all sense of decency,
thus generating ill-will which not infrequently leads to riots,
bloodshed and diplomatic trouble, while the good they do is
microscopic and the number of converts or "rice-Christians" coincides
with the amount of alms distributed, and who, when nothing further is
to be acquired, revert to the faith, or indifference, of their
forefathers. Building fine residences with the funds provided by
gullible folks at home, and constructing diminutive churches with the
few remaining bricks, drawing fat salaries which increase _pari passu_
with the number of their children, and taking long summer holidays in
Japan or in the mountains when business men must be hard at work,
nothing but condemnation is heard for the whole system which, they
say, should be forcibly suppressed by the various Governments
concerned.
While enough of this loud-voiced deprecation may be true to lend a
colouring to the whole, I have no hesitation in saying that the
opinions of most of the critics are absolutely worthless. In fact,
they know nothing whatever about either the missionaries or their
work, but simply repeat, with their own additions, things they have
heard from any and every source without ever troubling to verify them
personally. Never was there a clearer case of "giving a dog a bad
name," etc.
We civilians in China frequently lead far from model lives and are in
no position to throw stones, for which reason, probably, the mere
sight of a professional good man is worse than the proverbial red rag,
and the tendency is strong, I own, to disparage him and all his
works, while serenely forgetful of our own palpable shortcomings.
I have known one or two missionaries commit shady actions. I have
known several civilians commit crimes.
Missionaries, like ourselves, it must not be forgotten, are very
human, and contain in their ranks men widely differing in degrees of
fitness.
In various remote places I have met missionaries of many
denominations--Jesuits, Anglicans, Non-conformists, etc.--and on
closer acquaintance I have almost invariably found them at heart,
whatever their methods, attainments or achievements, to be men of
sterling worth, of lofty ideals, leading noble, self-denying lives,
and fighting the good fight for love of God and man, and for the faith
that is in them.
From the militant nature of their calling they cannot avoid
interesting themselves in the lives and customs of the natives, and
that their message to the heathen, inviting them to forsake the gods
of their fathers and embrace the only true faith, arouses hostility in
the most conservative people on earth, is in no sense to be wondered
at.
Of medical missionaries who found hospitals and heal the sick, as well
as of those who devote their lives to teaching the blind to read and
the dumb to speak, adverse comment by anyone speaking with
sincerity and briefest knowledge of the facts would be impossible.
These missions of mercy shine as great beacons of Christianity through
the gloom of heathen darkness.
[Illustration: BUDDHIST PRIEST AND ACOLYTE HOLDING BOOK.
_To face page 228._]
The greatest fault brought home to several missions is, in my opinion,
their interference in legal quarrels between native Christians and
their unconverted fellow-citizens. This interference has undoubtedly
frequently occurred and with marked success, thereby causing extreme
irritation to the Chinese officials, who dread possible complications
with foreign consuls, and arousing the bitter resentment of the
populace, not only against all Christians, but also against all
foreigners.
Indiscretion and want of tact are usually the fruit of enthusiastic
inexperience, for veteran missionaries have generally tempered zeal
with both suavity and cautiousness.
That young, unmarried women, brought up in the pure atmosphere of
Western homes and unaccustomed to the nauseous sights and insanitary
surroundings of Eastern cities, should be allowed to ruin their
healths, risk death by indescribable tortures, and in Chinese eyes to
forfeit their reputations, for the sake of doing a very problematical
amount of good is, I cannot help feeling, a great mistake and too
heavy a price to pay. If there must be missionaries, at least let them
be men, and it would be far better and much more in accordance with
the divine will if these girls settled in some one of our many
colonies, married, and gave sons to the world, who then in due time
might take up the cross of missionary endeavour.
On the whole, I should say that while missionaries are greatly
over-condemned by Europeans residing in China, the good they do is
over-estimated by people at home.
Putting aside all criticism of missionaries themselves, the vital
question is--"Will they succeed in converting China to Christianity?"
I am not sufficiently versed in the necessary statistics to offer a
very valuable opinion, but, such as it is, it tends to the conviction
that they will not.
It is a mistake to believe that persecution is an unfailing help to a
religious cause. It is so only when the persecution is sporadic and
fitful: storms succeeded by sunshine. When persecution partakes of a
stern, unrelenting nature, such as has recently been meted out to
Chinese converts, it certainly destroys, or at least stultifies,
growth.
Despite remonstrances from the great Powers and despite all treaties,
I greatly fear that these persecutions will be more bitter and more
general in the future than they have been in the past.
While the progress of conversion is thus delayed and Christianity by
drawing the fire of hate and intolerance absorbs all attention,
Mohammedanism is silently making considerable strides, favoured by a
period of bright sunshine, and unless storms of persecution soon burst
again to roll back the tide, as after the last Mohammedan rising,
when, it is said, loads of human ears were forwarded to Peking in
token of successful repression, followers of the Prophet bid fair to
establish a position in China which cannot be coerced and must be
recognised, and which would oppose to Christianity an even stronger
and keener influence than is exerted now.
I have often heard the question asked--"Would the Chinese be any the
better for becoming Christians?" and the reply has usually been that
they would not.
Personally, I believe that Christianity would supply the Chinaman's
character with an element which it now altogether lacks--chivalry, and
which, added to his many excellent qualities, would place him in the
very forefront of the peoples of this earth.
If China accepted Christianity her moral and material regeneration
would be assured, stagnation would yield to progress, darkness to
light and hostility to friendliness. Instead of the unwieldy mass now
lying sulking at the feet of other nations, China would become a
strong, self-reliant, prosperous state, fearing none, but held in
respect and friendship by all.
Heathen China may possibly fall under the yoke of foreign powers, but
the spirit of Christianity, bringing with it reformation and progress,
having once been breathed into her nostrils, it would be just as
possible to chain the waters of the ocean as to hold her in lasting
bondage, and Christian China would be free.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: CHANCES.]
Forty odd years ago, at the close of the second great war, China was a
veritable Eldorado for Europeans, where all turned to gold beneath the
lightest touch of alien hands. Fortunes were made with startling
rapidity, and money came in so freely that the standard of living
amongst foreign merchants and their _employes_ reached to such
preposterous heights of luxuriousness, that when the inevitable
reaction set in, want, and even ruin, supervened where plenty should
have been found.
From that date to this the descent from an inflated prosperity to a
mean working level has been gradual and sure.
What has been the cause of this descent?
Forty years ago the foreign trade was practically monopolised by
Englishmen, who had only to place their goods on the market of any
newly-opened port for them to be snapped up at almost any price by
Chinese merchants, who then possessed but little knowledge of foreign
wares and were exceedingly timid of their own officials. As time wore
on this ignorance and timidity grew less and less, until the Chinese
purchaser came to close quarters with the English importer,
eliminating middlemen at the small ports and transferring operations
chiefly to the great emporiums of Hongkong and Shanghai. Americans and
Continentals of all nationalities arrived in rapidly-increasing
numbers, bringing merchandise for the Chinese market, thus giving
native buyers a much larger variety of goods from which to choose, and
introducing a competition fatal to the former enormous profits.
Although the volume of both import and export trade shows a continuous
yearly increase, it tends more and more to centre in the hands of a
comparatively few large European firms with which Chinese merchants
from all parts of the Empire directly negotiate, to the exclusion of
foreigners in a small way of business.
Another reason for the decrease of profitable commercial openings is
the practical extinction of China's tea trade with England, Ceylon and
India now supplying the home-market, and although as great a quantity
of tea is still exported from China as formerly, it nearly all goes to
Russia, and this trade being in the hands of Russian monopolists,
there is but little employment for other nationalities, while even
here it probably will not be many years before the Russians largely
follow our example in abandoning Chinese tea in preference for that of
Ceylon and India.
Similarly the steam shipping, which originally was almost exclusively
British-owned, is gradually passing to the credit of Chinese
capitalists, if not in name yet in reality, and any new development in
this line is almost sure to be mainly financed from native sources.
The opinion is largely held that accordingly as China is opened up by
railways, by steam navigation on the inland waters, and by
simplification of inland duties, foreigners will reap such advantages
as may again enable them to quickly amass fortunes. Let there be no
delusion on this point.
Wherever openings for trade occur there will instantly be found shrewd
Chinese business men backed by a plentiful supply of native capital,
and the Westerner will get but little that is worth having.
When the West River was thrown open to steamer traffic a few years
since it was confidently predicted on all sides that it would cause a
considerable development in foreign shipping. Nothing of the kind. On
a recent trip to Wuchow I saw scores, and possibly hundreds, of small
steamers and launches crammed with cargo and passengers, or towing
strings of deep-laden junks, but they were all Chinese-owned, while
the only foreign-owned vessels to be seen were a few gun-boats and
less than half-a-dozen steamers, which it is generally believed barely
earn enough to cover expenses.
The descent thus accounted for has chiefly then been caused by the
competition amongst Westerners allowing Chinese merchants to get on
even terms with them, when, being extremely good business men, holding
absolute command of the native markets, and able to live much more
cheaply than Europeans, they have generally ousted small foreign
traders from the out-ports by carrying operations over their heads
direct to well-known houses at the great centres of trade.
Firms doing a large import and export business should prosper,
although harassed by continual fluctuations in the value of silver,
but their prosperity will redound to the direct advantage of a few
only, while the chances of a man who comes out from home with a small
capital being able to make for himself a successful commercial career
are woefully meagre. Even representatives of wealthy syndicates, after
investigating prospects on the spot, generally come to the conclusion
that capital can be more profitably invested elsewhere than in China.
On the other hand there are a considerable number of official
appointments to be obtained, carrying with them comfortable
remuneration, but these are mostly filled up in England and in the
several countries concerned.
Professional men, such as doctors, lawyers and dentists, working both
for Chinese clients and foreign residents, have capital opportunities,
while for captains, officers and engineers for steamers, engineers and
directors for docks and factories, professors for various colleges,
mining experts and railroad constructors, there is an increasing
demand at fair salaries, but, considering the trying climate, the
banishment from home and the persistent decline in the value of
silver, residence in the Far East, even on a large income, is a
doubtful advantage.
The collapse of silver has been so great that whereas twenty or thirty
years ago four silver dollars would purchase a sovereign, and a salary
of four hundred dollars a month represented twelve hundred pounds a
year, now it takes more than twelve dollars to purchase a sovereign,
so that a similar salary of four hundred dollars a month represents
less than four hundred pounds a year.
It is a common belief at home that fluctuations in the value of silver
are not felt when purchases are confined to a silver-using country.
This is quite a mistake. China is a silver-using country, yet the
standard of value maintained by her four hundred million souls is
neither silver nor gold but copper cash, and the ultimate cost of
_everything_ of native origin is regulated by its value in cash.
A coolie's wages a few years ago may have been six thousand cash a
month, and a dollar being then purchasable for say a thousand cash,
you gave him six dollars a month. To-day his wages may still be six
thousand cash but a dollar being now worth only five hundred cash, you
are obliged to give him twelve dollars a month. Precisely the same
rule applies to meat, coals, vegetables, etc.
For all imported foreign articles, such as clothes, stores, wines,
etc., you must give enough in silver dollars to make up the price as
reckoned at home, that is, in gold, and as you now have to give three
times as many dollars for a sovereign as formerly your imported goods
are three times dearer, or, in other words, the value of silver has
fallen and its purchasing power is very much less than it used to be
the whole world over.
For a man drawing his salary in dollars the cost of living in the Far
East is more than double what it was twenty-five years ago. For those
who direct big businesses the earnings of which are in silver and the
expenses largely in gold, as well as for those who had already
invested their fortunes in shares prior to the utter collapse of
silver, the past few years have been a period of crushing losses,
while the future must be fraught with grave anxiety.
In short, but few fortunes are to be made in China, while money is
very easily lost, and unless a man before leaving home secures a
definite position in a good business firm, in Government employ or in
some profession, it would be most unwise of him to go out on the
chance of finding employment after his arrival.
THE END
* * * * *
_Colston & Coy. Limited, Printers, Edinburgh._
* * * * *
+-----------------------------------------------------------+
| Typographical errors corrected in text: |
| |
| Page 47: per excellence replaced with par excellence |
| Page 76: averge replaced with average |
| Page 174: dogs-kin replaced with dog-skin |
| Page 193: bicyles replaced with bicycles |
| |
| Note to Readers: |
| 'Forrard' is a legitimate word, meaning "at or to or |
| toward the front". |
| On page 83, the word powed is a legitimate word, meaning |
| "polled". |
| |
+-----------------------------------------------------------+
* * * * *
End of Project Gutenberg's Life and sport in China, by Oliver G. Ready