A PROFESSOR IN A CHINESE COLLEGE
CHINA proved to be a land of surprise. As we began our travels in
this vast empire we little realised that we were on the eve of an
interesting chain of experiences. I intended to press on and, as a
simple tourist, see the country. I had no idea of searching for a job.
My tentative plans were to be upset and I didn't have the remotest
notion what the next few months had in store for me.
We landed at Taku, a small seacoast town and port of Tientsin. We were
soon passed through the customs officials and started for the railroad
station a half-mile distant.
Several Chinese coolies solicited the job of carrying our two
suitcases. We turned them over to an old fellow who tied them together
with a rope and swung them over his shoulder and walked along a
few paces behind us. When we reached the station we purchased two
third-class tickets to Tientsin. This expenditure took all our loose
money except a small Korean coin, an American ten-dollar gold piece
and our bankers' checks. The coolie turned over our bags with his hand
extended for his compensation. We did the best we could and offered
him the Korean coin, worth about two American cents. He refused it.
The only other coin we had, the American ten-dollar gold piece, was
too much for two tramps to separate themselves from for such a small
service. However, we offered the coolie this money. The coin was
strange to him and he refused it also. We then made an effort to
exchange the gold piece for Chinese currency but there were no money
changers about. Our coolie friend could not understand our failure to
pay our debts. We had done everything we could think of in the line of
money, so we opened our bags and offered him pieces of wearing apparel,
articles from our limited toilet sets and steamship time-tables. He
refused them all. There was nothing for us to do now but to stand by
and wait for our train which was due in about an hour. The patience
of the coolie became exhausted and he exploded in an unintelligible
wrangle of Chinese. We could not understand him nor could we explain
matters to the poor fellow. He finally called a policeman. This
gentleman arrived and began quietly and deliberately pouring out the
musical chatter of his native tongue, and seeing no response from us
in the way of coin he, too, blossomed into an excited oration. The
station master came out and joined the chorus and in a short time we
were surrounded by a score or more celestials whose denunciations
became more and more frantic. We were helpless. The climax was rapidly
approaching when our train pulled into the station. We hurried aboard
our car and started off for Tientsin, leaving the poor coolie unpaid
with his madly shouting compatriots who collectively made such a
disturbance as the little village of Taku has probably never witnessed
before or since.
At Tientsin we went directly to the Y.M.C.A. where Richardson reported
for his school teaching position. We met the man in charge who informed
Richardson of his duties, which were to begin in a few days and which
consisted of teaching physics at seventy dollars a month in a middle or
high school.
While at lunch we met a clean-cut, jovial Chinese by the name of Samuel
Sung Young. He spoke excellent English and I soon learned from him that
he was a graduate of the University of California with the class of
1904, I having graduated in 1907. This placed us on an intimate footing
at once. Young was curious to know what we were doing so far away from
home. I explained that we were out seeing the earth and in a joking
way asked him if he knew of any loose jobs. He replied in the negative
but asked for my address in Peking where I expected to be the next two
weeks. I little thought that my question was the beginning of one of
the most interesting experiences of the trip.
Young was in Tientsin on business from Tangshan, a small town about
two hundred miles to the north, where he was president of the Tangshan
Engineering College, one of the Chinese Imperial Government's Schools.
[Illustration: _Upper_: A GROUP OF OUR KOREAN FRIENDS]
[Illustration: _Lower_: EVERY DAY IS WASH-DAY IN KOREA]
The Tientsin Middle School, in which Richardson was to teach, proved
to be a large modern brick building, its class rooms and laboratories
fairly well equipped with the latest western appliances. One of the
requirements for entrance into this school was a speaking knowledge of
the English language. Otherwise Richardson would have been more useless
than he was. Physics was an almost unknown science to him, but he
concluded that if he could not bluff it out that he was an authority on
the subject he was willing to take the consequences.
During the time that Richardson was connected with this institution the
first annual track meet of the schools of North China was held on its
athletic grounds. The contest was planned and supervised largely by
Americans and the Chinese took a great interest in it. Many schools in
the northern part of the Empire sent teams, and several thousand people
attended the meet. Among the distinguished spectators, who occupied
a box, was the Viceroy of Chili Province with a score of attendants.
Richardson worried the old fellow almost to death by taking several
pictures of him and his cortége. Richardson was ordered to stop. The
Viceroy was more worried, however, by the report of the starter's
pistol and when the first shot was fired all his attendants gathered
closely about him. Even after it had been explained to him that the
cartridges were blank he issued instructions forbidding the use of the
weapon altogether. The poor old gentleman was afraid that some one was
going to take a shot at him. The following week he sent an order to
all the schools in his province prohibiting track meets in the future.
Imagine the Governor of New York issuing such an order. He would be
hooted out of the state.
Richardson's duties started on a Monday and I took my leave, intending
to spend a couple of months travelling through China and meet my
side-partner in Manila. I went to Peking where I put up at the Y.M.C.A.
for one dollar a day. I spent two weeks in this very fascinating city
doing the rounds in a most tourist-like fashion. While sitting one
afternoon on the great altar of the Temple of Heaven, reflecting on
the fact that I was a lonely tramp wandering aimlessly through a land
of strange people, I was approached by a slight male figure with a
missionary caste of countenance. The man sat down and began to talk to
me. He had one of those piping voices which always excite in me the
desire to fight. This person, with the unfortunate and aggravating
voice, was a Baptist preacher of the hardest shell variety. We spent
the rest of the day together sight-seeing and at evening we agreed
to meet the following day. For two weeks the Baptist and I trudged
about the interesting city of Peking, visiting the Temple of Heaven,
the Temple of Confucius, the Legation quarters and all the places of
importance in the Tartar, Imperial and Chinese cities. The old fellow
proved to be an interesting character in spite of his voice and
my inclination to swing on him changed to a feeling of respect and
admiration.
From Peking to Hankow but one fast train runs a week. This train makes
the trip in a day and a half, running both day and night. The other
trains travel only in the daytime, stopping on a siding at night, and
require three days for the journey. I was at the station ready to leave
in a few minutes on the fast train when I heard what I thought was my
name being shouted about the depot. This startled me for, outside of
the Baptist preacher and a few men I met at the Y.M.C.A., I knew no
one. The name was shouted again and, seeing that a Chinese boy was the
source from which it was emerging, I went to the lad to ascertain what
it was all about. The boy handed me a telegram which read, "Chance
for teaching till summer can you stay over wire reply." This message
was from Samuel Sung Young, the President of the Tangshan Engineering
College, whom I had met in Tientsin. The telegram didn't mean very much
and I had only five minutes in which to make up my mind before the
train departed. "Chance for teaching"--teaching what? I came to the
conclusion that if I could not teach Chinese youths Hebrew or anatomy
or anything else, I was no good. "Till summer"--what did that mean?
Summer in China might not begin for six months. I decided to take a
chance on that. The most serious difficulty, however, was that there
was no mention in the telegram about pay. While I was reflecting on
these matters the train whistle blew and it was time to act. I decided
to wait over and investigate the position. I wired Young, "Teach what
and how much?" The next day I received a reply which read, "Taels two
hundred reply." I was as much at sea as ever. How much was two hundred
taels? I soon learned on inquiring that it was the equivalent to one
hundred and twenty-five dollars gold. But was that amount to be paid
monthly or for the period lasting "till summer"? No mention was made
of the subject I was to teach and the whole affair was an uncertain
proposition. I rather liked this uncertain feature, so wired my
acceptance and took the next train for Tangshan.
Shortly after night-fall I swung off my car at Tangshan and was greeted
by President Young and Professor Shen Yen Jee, one of the instructors
in the college. Jee, a Cantonese, was a graduate of the University of
California in my class and we had been good friends. To meet him was a
great surprise. It was nearly like coming home.
The welcome I received was as enthusiastic and cordial as any one ever
had and the hospitality extended has never been surpassed and seldom
equalled on this earth. We hopped into rickshaws and were off to the
college grounds. President Young's mansion was a fine two-story brick
building. I was introduced to Mrs. Young, a charming little Chinese
woman, who spoke good English which she had learned at a Church
of England school in Hongkong. I was also introduced to Miss May Wu,
Mrs. Young's sister and a bright young girl of fifteen. Miss Young,
the president's sister, and a very fine woman, was also present. But
probably the finest of all were Mrs. Young's two dear little boys--one
two years old and the other a three-months' old baby.
[Illustration: PROVINCIAL OFFICIALS ATTENDING CHINA'S FIRST TRACK MEET]
The situation was a great novelty to me and such enjoyable and
interesting things came in such rapid succession that it all seemed
like a beautiful dream. We soon sat down to dinner and the many good
but odd dishes which were served nearly baffled me. The chop-sticks,
the sole appliances for conveying the food to one's mouth, unless one
employed one's hands--which would be a greater breach of etiquette
in China than in America--were handled by me with a certain degree
of facility, for I had acquired considerable dexterity with these
implements in Japan. Jee and I talked of old acquaintances at college
and we all had an enjoyable evening before retiring.
The Tangshan Engineering College is the leading Imperial Government
scientific school in China. Its ten or more buildings are of red
brick and are thoroughly equipped with the latest classroom fixtures
and laboratory supplies. There was an undergraduate enrolment of two
hundred and fifty boys and a cleaner or finer set of young fellows
cannot be found anywhere. The faculty number thirty, one-half of whom
were Chinese and the other English or Scotch. President Young's house,
which was part of the college plan, was enclosed in a compound of its
own. In front were a pretty garden and a first-class tennis court.
The interior was furnished in Chinese fashion with a strong American
tinge to it, for Young had been educated in America. There were a half
dozen servants and the household was conducted in a manner in keeping
with the dignity of the president of a college. My bedroom was a large
well-ventilated apartment containing a Chinese bed, upon which had been
thoughtfully placed a pillow and bed clothes common to the West.
All the members of the household were dressed in Chinese costume.
This Oriental apparel is very picturesque and demands the utmost care
and taste on the part of those who wear it, both men and women, to
be in style. The intricacies of Chinese dress are more complicated
and require more attention, time and skill to be in accordance with
the dictates of fashion than do those of the American woman with her
manifold garments and her ornate headgear.
The meals were purely Chinese and I soon became accustomed to rice as
the main food-stuff and almost forgot that such articles as bread or
butter ever existed. The most monotonous meal of the day was breakfast.
This repast consisted of rice and meat--a sort of stew, one day, and
the next we would sit down to bowls containing endless strings of a
substance somewhat similar to macaroni. This alternating diet was a
poor substitute for the usual fresh eggs, coffee and pancakes of the
day's initial meal in the West. The noon and evening meals furnished
a much larger variety and there was a more favourable chance for an
American to hook nourishing food out of the assortment. Such delicacies
as fish eyes, shark fins, bird's nest soup, lime-cured eggs, finely
chopped and highly-seasoned chicken, vegetables and rice--in numerous
forms--comprised the bulk of the menu. Novel and interesting as all
this was to me, I was quite ready, after a month's stay in Tangshan,
for a porterhouse steak, some bread and butter and a piece of pie.
I learned my duties the day after my arrival. I was to be substitute
professor in English, History and Economics, have charge of the college
gymnasium and assist in the library, in place of one of the regular
teachers who was absent on leave for a month. No new light was thrown
on the subject of salary and this matter remained obscure until the
time came for my departure. The classroom work was interesting and
Chinese pupils are about the same as the general run of such creatures
in any American city. One of the requirements for admission to the
college was that each student should have a speaking knowledge of
English. This knowledge on their part was not very profound, however,
and I would talk along at times with such rapidity that the poor chaps
could not understand a word.
When off duty I spent many an interesting hour talking to Mrs. Young
about (to me) the peculiar ways of the Chinese--their marriage customs,
their family life and social ideas. I frequently made visits to the
village of Tangshan where I wandered in and out of the quaint markets,
ate in Chinese restaurants or attended a religious ceremony at one
of the many temples. I occasionally dropped into a theatre where the
custom prevailed of entering without paying admission, the cost of the
show being collected after one had been present a few minutes making up
his mind whether the performance was worth seeing or not.
A Chinese play sometimes lasts for weeks and its claim to a continuous
performance beats that of the American picture show. Some of the
audience sit on the stage. The orchestra is also on the stage
and produces the most unearthly collection of discordant sounds
conceivable. The actors, dressed in the most hideous combination of
colours, shriek and yelp in tones ranging in variety from the mellow
voice of a female Quaker to the gruesome calls of a coyote. Most
interesting among the features of the theatres were the conveniences
furnished by the proprietors for their patrons. There was a continual
shower of wet towels hurled through the air over the heads of the
people--by a man on the stage--to boys stationed in various parts of
the theatre. One of these moistened rags was passed along each row of
seats and the perspiring occupants swabbed off their faces and naked
bodies. The facility and skill with which these towels were thrown and
caught and the utter disregard of all rules of hygiene on the part of
the crowd in the common use of the fabric were marvellous.
[Illustration: THE AUTHOR IN CHINESE GARB]
Many of the Chinese instructors connected with the college had had
their queues amputated. Mo--one of the proctors, however, took pride
in his greasy pig-tail and refused to part with it. I suggested to
him one time that if he did not cut it off I would do so myself. One
evening when Mo was playing Chinese dominoes at President Young's house
I determined to tie a tin can to his queue. It required some patience
and a little time to carry this out so as not to give Mo any idea as
to what was taking place. The rest of the Chinese were in on the joke
and gave me what assistance they could, while continuing to play their
game. After an hour's work the feat was accomplished and on the end of
a heavy cord attached to the proctor's queue was a rusty old Standard
Oil can. The Chinese usually play at their games until very late and as
I wished to go to bed early I had to hasten the climax. I did this by
having a servant announce a hurry call for Mo. The proctor, thinking
there was trouble in the boys' dormitory, made a dash towards the door
with the oil can dangling behind him. The instant he discovered the can
he realised that the servant's call was a sham and in a rage turned on
me whom he at once suspected of the mischief. I thought my last day
had come and that I was to be mauled to pieces by the frantic handling
of an enraged Oriental. He plunged towards me like a huge tiger.
Fortunately for me the rest of the company appreciated the joke and
came to my rescue. The angry man was calmed and a tragedy was prevented.
It was about this time that I received the following letter from
Richardson in Peking: "The job in Tientsin has gone up in a balloon.
Particulars later. Let it suffice to say that my Honolulu discipline
got the boys on their ear and in the absence of the principal they
struck. To avoid complications I beat it. No tears." This is the only
information that I received concerning Richardson's sudden flight
from Tientsin until I reached Manila some time later. I then forced
him into the admission that he was virtually fired. Chinese students
have the habit, when their teachers do not suit them, of going on
a strike. It seems that Richardson tried to inaugurate a civilised
system of discipline which proved to be such a sudden and revolutionary
change to the laxity that had prevailed in the class room, up to the
time of his advent, that the students rose up in a body and rebelled.
They all went on a strike and proceeded to the acting principal of
the institution and issued an ultimatum that either Richardson had to
leave or they themselves would quit the school. Their decision was
final and the acting head of the school informed Richardson that under
the circumstances he would have to go. Richardson said that such an
arrangement suited him, and that afternoon he resumed his journey.
One of the most delightful Chinese that I met during my stay in
Tangshan was Mr. Sze Ping Tze, who was a graduate of Cornell University
and at this time Locomotive Superintendent of the Imperial Railways of
North China. He was also an high official of the Kaiping Coal Mines.
Several years ago he was private secretary to Yuan Shi-Kai, later
President of the Chinese Republic. I spent many pleasant evenings with
Mr. Sze and became well acquainted with him. On one occasion I said to
him,
"Give me a job as conductor on one of your trains running from Peking
to Hankow."
"Why do you want it?" he asked.
"When I get to Hankow I will quit and I shall then be several hundred
miles farther along on my trip--at your expense," I replied with a
smile.
Sze thought this was a great joke and, laughing, said, "Why, I can do
better than that for you; I will give you a pass."
"All right," I said, "I won't forget that and when the time comes for
me to leave Tangshan I will remind you of it."
"What's more," continued Sze, "I will give you a letter of introduction
to my brother in Hankow. He is vice-president of the Chinese Steamship
and Navigation Company and I am sure he will give you a pass on the
Yangtsze River from Hankow to Shanghai."
"Fine business; and maybe I will be able to get a lift there from some
one that will shoot me through to Manila," I concluded, feeling that
the conversation had been a very profitable one.
When the time came for my departure from Tangshan Sze was true to his
word. President Young gave me a railroad pass from Tangshan to Peking,
distance of two hundred miles; Sze's pass from Peking to Hankow was
over nine hundred miles and the letter to his brother brought the third
pass down the Yangtsze River to Shanghai, a distance of nine hundred
miles more. As a result I obtained free passage for two thousand miles
in China--and all first-class. If all the circumstances were reversed,
what chance would a young Chinese, working his way in America, have of
teaching in the University of California, living with the president
of the college, getting a pass from an high official of the Southern
Pacific from San Francisco to St. Louis and thence down the Mississippi
to New Orleans?
For my services as substitute professor in the college I received one
hundred and twenty-five dollars (gold) plus my room and board and this,
together with the railway and steamship passes I obtained, made the
month I spent in Tangshan a very profitable one. I prized more highly,
however, the unique experience of living with a high-class Chinese
family and the insight I had of Chinese home life. But above all I
value the good and loyal Chinese friends I made.