From 1727 to 1860 nearly all the trade between Russia and China was
transacted at Kiachta and Maimaichin. The Russians built the one and
the Chinese the other, exclusively for commercial purposes. To this
day no Chinese women are allowed at Maimaichin. The merchants consider
themselves only sojourners, though the majority spend the best part of
their lives there. Contact with Russians has evidently improved the
Celestials, as this little frontier city is the best arranged and
cleanest in all China.
After passing the gateway, the street we entered was narrow compared
to our own, and had but a single carriage track. On the sidewalks were
many Chinese, who stopped to look at us, or rather at me. We drove
about two hundred yards and turned into an enclosure, where we
alighted. Near at hand were two masts like flag-staffs, gaily
ornamented at the top but bearing no banners. Our halting place was
near the Temple of Justice, where instruments of punishment were piled
up. There were rattans and bamboos for flogging purposes by the side
of yokes, collars, and fetters, carefully designed for subduing the
refractory. There was a double set of stocks like those now obsolete
in America, and their appearance indicated frequent use. To be
cornered in these would be as unpleasant as in Harlem or Erie.
From this temple we passed through a covered colonnade and entered an
ante-room, where several officers and servants were in attendance.
Here we left our overcoats and were shown to another apartment where
we met the sargootchay. His Excellency shook hands with me after the
European manner. His son, a youth of sixteen, was then presented, and
made the acquaintance of Major Boroslofski. The sargootchay had a
pleasing and interesting face of the true Chinese type, with no beard
beyond a slight mustache, and a complexion rather paler than most of
his countrymen. He wore the dress of a Mandarin, with the universal
long robe and a silk jacket with wide sleeves.
[Illustration: A CHINESE MANDARIN.]
After the ceremony of introduction was ended the sargootchay signed
for us to be seated. He took his own place on a divan, and gave the
‘illustrious stranger’ the post of honor near him. Tea and cigars were
brought, and we had a few moments of smoky silence. The room was
rather bare of furniture, and the decorations on the walls were
Russian and Chinese in about equal proportion. I noticed a Russian
stove in one corner and a samovar in the adjoining room. The
sargootchay had been newly appointed, and arrived only a week before.
I presume his housekeeping was not well under way.
The interview was as interesting as one could expect where neither
party had anything important to say to the other. We attempted
conversation which expressed our delight at meeting and the good-will
of our respective countries toward each other. The talk was rather
slow, as it went through many translations in passing between me and
my host. Tea and smoke were of immense service in filling up the
chinks.
When I wished to say anything to the sargootchay I spoke in French to
Major Boroslofski, who sat near me.
The major then addressed his Bouriat interpreter in Russian.
This interpreter turned to a Mongol-Chinese official at his side and
spoke to him in Mongol.
The latter translated into Chinese for the understanding of his chief.
The replies of the sargootchay returned by the same route. I have a
suspicion that very little of what we really said ever reached its
destination. His reply to one remark of mine had no reference to what
I said, and the whole conversation was a curious medley of
compliments. Our words were doubtless polarized more than once in
transmission.
We had tea and sweetmeats, the latter in great variety. The manner of
preparing tea did not please me as well as the Russian one. The
Chinese boil their tea and give it a bitter flavor that the Russians
are careful to avoid. They drink it quite strong and hot, using no
milk or sugar. Out of deference to foreign tastes they brought sugar
for us to use at our liking. After the tea and sweetmeats the
sargootchay ordered champagne, in which we drank each other’s health.
At the close of the interview I received invitation to dine with His
Excellency two days later and witness a theatrical performance.
Our adieus were made in the European manner, and after leaving the
sargootchay we visited a temple in the northern part of the town. We
passed through a large yard and wound among so many courts and
colonnades that I should have been sorely puzzled to find my way out
alone. The public buildings of Maimaichin are not far from each other,
but the routes between them are difficult for one whose ideas of
streets were formed in American cities. On passing the theatre we were
shown two groups larger than life in rooms on opposite sides of a
covered colonnade. They were cut in sand-stone, one representing a
rearing horse which two grooms were struggling to hold. The other was
the same horse walking quietly under control of one man.
The figures evidently came from Greek history, and I had little doubt
that they were intended to tell of Alexander and Bucephalus. I learned
that the words ‘Philip of Macedon’ were the literal translation of the
Chinese title of the groups. How or when the Celestials heard the
story of Alexander, and why they should represent it in stone, I
cannot imagine. No one could tell the age and origin of these works of
art.
On the walls of buildings near the temple there were paintings from
Chinese artists, some of them showing a creditable knowledge of
perspective. ‘John’ can paint very well when he chooses, and any one
conversant with his skill will testify that he understands
perspective. Why he does not make more use of it is a mystery that
demands explanation.
When we entered the temple it was sunset, and the gathering shadows
rendered objects indistinct. From the character of the windows and the
colonnades outside I suppose a ‘dim religious light’ prevails there at
all times. The temple contains several idols or representations of
Chinese deities in figures larger than life, dressed with great skill
and literally gotten up regardless of expense. Their garments were of
the finest silk, and profusely ornamented with gold, silver, and
precious stones. There were the gods of justice, peace, war,
agriculture, mechanics, love, and prosperity. The god of love had a
most hideous countenance, quite in contrast to that of the gentle
Cupid with whom the majority of my readers are doubtless familiar. The
god of war brandished a huge sword, and reminded me of the leading
tragedian of the Bowery Theatre ten years ago. The temple was crowded
with idols, vases, censers, pillars, and other objects, and it was not
easy for our party to move about. In the middle of the apartment there
were tables supporting offerings of cooked fowls and other edibles.
These articles are eaten by the attendants at the temple, but whether
the worshippers, know this fact or believe their gods descend to
satisfy their appetites, I cannot say.
To judge from what I saw the Chinese are accustomed to decorate their
houses of worship at great cost. There were rich curtains and a
thousand and one articles of more or less value filling the greater
part of the temple. Lanterns and chandeliers displayed the skill and
patience of the Chinese in manipulating metals. There were imitations
of butterflies and other insects, and of delicate leaves and flowers
in metal, painted or burnished in the color of the objects
represented. The aggregate time consumed in the manufacture of these
decorations must be thousands of years. In a suspended vase I saw one
boquet which was a clever imitation of nature, with the single
exception of odor. The Chinese make artificial roses containing little
cups which they fill with rose-water.
On our return we found the gate closed, and were obliged to wait until
the ponderous key was brought to open it. The officer controlling the
gate made no haste, and we were delayed in a crowd of Chinese men and
dogs for nearly fifteen minutes. It was a peculiar sensation to be
shut in a Chinese town and fairly locked in. It is the custom to close
the gates of Kiachta and Maimaichin and shut off all communication
between sunset and sunrise. The rule is less rigidly enforced than
formerly.
[Illustration: INTERIOR OF CHINESE TEMPLE]
After this introduction I visited Maimaichin almost every day until
leaving for Irkutsk. Maimaichin means ‘place of trade,’ and the name
was given by the officer who selected the site. The town is occupied
by merchants, laborers, and government employees, all dwelling without
families. The sargootchay is changed every three years, and it was
hinted that his short term of office sufficed to give him a fortune.
The houses were only one story high and plastered with black mud or
cement. The streets cross at right angles, but are not very long, as
the town does not measure more than half a mile in any direction. At
the intersection of the principal streets there are towers two or
three stories high, overlooking the town, and probably intended for
use of the police. Few houses are entered directly from the street,
most of them having court yards with gateways just wide enough for a
single cart or carriage. The dwelling rooms and magazines open upon
the court yards, which are provided with folding gates heavily barred
at night.
Apart from the public buildings the houses were pretty much alike.
Every court yard was liberally garnished with dogs of the short-nosed
and wide-faced breed peculiar to China. They were generally chained
and invariably made an unpleasant tumult. The dwelling rooms,
kitchens, and magazines had their windows and doors upon the yards,
the former being long and low with small panes of glass, talc, or
oiled paper. In the magazines there were generally two apartments, one
containing most of the goods, while the other was more private and
only entered by strangers upon invitation. At the end of each room
there was a divan, where the inmates slept at night or sat by day.
Near the edge of the divan, was a small furnace, where a charcoal fire
burned constantly. The rooms were warmed by furnaces with pipes
passing beneath the divans or by Russian stoves.
In every place I visited there were many employees, and I did not
understand how all could be kept busy. Everything was neat and well
arranged, and the Chinese appeared very particular on the subject of
dust. I attempted to buy a few souvenirs of my visit, but very little
was to be purchased. Few strangers come to Maimaichin, and the
merchants have no inducement to keep articles rarely called for.
I found they were determined to make me pay liberally. “How much?” I
asked on picking up an article in one of their shops. “_Chetira
ruble_” (four roubles) was the reply. My Russian companion whispered
me not to buy, and after a few moments chaffering we departed. In a
neighboring shop I purchased something precisely similar for one
rouble, and went away rejoicing. On exhibiting my prize at Kiachta I
learned that I paid twice its real value.
The Chinese merchants are frequently called scoundrels from their
habit of overreaching when opportunity occurs. In some respects they
are worse and in others better than the same class of men in Western
nations. The practice of asking much more than they expect to receive
prevails throughout their empire, and official peculation confined in
certain limits is considered entirely consistent with honesty. Their
cheating, if it can be called by that name, is conducted on certain
established principles. A Chinese will ‘beat about the bush,’ and try
every plan to circumvent the man with whom he deals, but when he once
makes a bargain he adheres to it unflinchingly. Among the merchants I
was told that a word is as good as a bond. Their slipperiness is
confined to preliminaries.
China contains good and bad like other countries, but in some things
its merchants rank higher than outside barbarians. When the English
were at war with the Viceroy of Canton, the foreigners were driven out
and compelled to leave much property with Chinese merchants. These
Chinese never thought of repudiation, but on the contrary made their
way to Hong Kong during the blockade of the Canton river for the
purpose of settling with the foreigners.
Old John Bell of Antermony, who traveled to Pekin in the reign of
Peter the Great, in the suite of a Russian Ambassador, makes the
following observations on the Chinese:
“They are honest, and observe the strictest honor and justice in
their dealings. It must, however, be acknowledged that not a few of
them are much addicted to knavery and well skilled in the art of
cheating. They have, indeed, found many Europeans as great proficients
in that art as themselves.”
In the shops at Maimaichin there is no display of goods, articles
being kept in closets, drawers, show-cases, and on shelves, whence
they are taken when called for. This arrangement suggests the
propriety of the New York notice: “If you don’t see what you want, ask
for it.” Many things are kept in warerooms in other parts of the
building, and brought when demanded or the merchant thinks he can
effect a sale. In this way they showed me Thibet sheep skins, intended
for lining dressing-gowns, and of the most luxurious softness. There
were silks and other goods in the piece, but the asking prices were
very high. I bought a few small articles, but was disappointed when I
sought a respectable assortment of knick-knacks.
One of the merchants admired my watch and asked through my Russian
friend how much it cost. I was about to say in Russian, ‘two hundred
roubles,’ when my friend checked me.
“_Dites un enorme prix; deux mille roubles au moins_”
Accordingly I fixed the price at two thousand roubles. Probably the
Chinaman learned the real value of the watch from this exaggerated
figure better than if I had spoken as I first intended.
The merchants were courteous and appeared to have plenty of time at
command. They brought sweetmeats, confectionery, and tea, in fact the
latter article was always ready. They gave us crystalized sugar,
resembling rock candy, for sweetening purposes, but themselves drank
tea without sugar or milk. They offered us pipes for smoking, and in a
few instances Russian cigarettes. I found the Chinese tobacco very
feeble and the pipes of limited capacity. It is doubtless owing to the
weakness of their tobacco that they can smoke so continuously. The
pipe is in almost constant requisition, the operator swallowing the
smoke and emitting it in a double stream through his nostrils. They
rarely offered us Chinese wine, as that article is repugnant to any
but Celestials. Sometimes they brought sherry and occasionally
champagne.
[Illustration: THROUGH ORDINARY EYES.]
I was interested in studying the decorations on window screens and
fans, and the various devices on the walls. The Chinese mind runs to
the hideous in nearly everything fanciful, and most of its works of
art abound in griffins and dragons. Even the portrait of a tiger or
other wild beast is made to look worse than the most savage of his
tribe. If there ever was a dog with a mouth such as the Chinese
artists represent on their canines, he could walk down his own throat
with very little difficulty.
[Illustration: THROUGH CHINESE EYES]
The language spoken in the intercourse of Russians and Chinese at
Kiachta is a mongrel tongue in which Russian predominates. It is a
‘pigeon-Russian’ exactly analagous to the ‘pigeon English’ of
Shanghai, Hong Kong, and San Francisco. The Chinese at Maimaichin can
reckon in Russian and understand the rudiments of that language very
well. I observed at Maimaichin, as at San Francisco, the tendency to
add an ‘o’ sound to monosyllabic consonant words. A Chinese merchant
grew familiar during one of my visits, and we exchanged lingual
lessons and cards. He held up a tea-spoon and asked me its name. I
tried him repeatedly with ‘spoon,’ but he would pronounce it ‘spoonee’
in spite of my instructions. When I gave him a card and called it
such, he pronounced it ‘cardee.’ His name was Chy-Ping-Tong, or
something of the kind, but I was no more able to speak it correctly
than was he to say ‘spoon.’ He wrote his name in my note-book and I
wrote mine in his. Beyond the knowledge of possessing chirographic
specimens of another language, neither party is wiser.
Whoever has visited St. Petersburg or Moscow has doubtless seen the
_abacus_, or calculating machine used in Russian shops. It is found
throughout the empire from the German frontier to Bering’s Straits,
not only in the hands of merchants but in many private houses. It
consists of a wooden frame ordinarily a foot long and six inches wide.
There are ten metal wires strung across this frame, and ten balls of
wood on each wire. The Russian currency is a decimal one, and by means
of this machine computations are carried on with wonderful rapidity. I
have seen numbers added by a boy and a machine faster than a New York
bank teller could make the same reckoning. It requires long practice
to become expert in its use, but when once learned it is preferred by
all merchants, whether native or foreign.
I saw the same machine at Maimaichin, and learned that it was invented
by the Chinese. The Celestials of San Francisco employ it in precisely
the same manner as their countrymen in Mongolia.
Beside the Chinese dwellers in Maimaichin there are many Mongol
natives of the surrounding region, most of them engaged in
transporting merchandise to and from the city. I saw several trains of
their little two-wheeled carts bringing tea from the southward or
departing with Russian merchandise, and in one visit I encountered a
drove of camels on the neutral ground.