PEDDLER LIFE IN CHINA
The Chinese thrifty--Nothing wasted--Besides regular shopkeepers,
there are itinerant dealers--The "candy man"--His various kinds of
sweets--The "sweets and sours man"--The cloth peddler--Describe him
minutely--The pork peddler--The jewellery peddler--The fortune-teller.
The Chinese are a thrifty race. Stern necessity and a widespread poverty
that has placed vast masses of them on the very borderland of starvation,
have compelled the nation to exercise economies such as are absolutely
unknown in the richer lands of the West. We get some idea of the narrow
line that divides countless numbers of people from absolute want, by the
fact that with regard to food there is nothing of that ever wasted in
China. "Wilful waste brings woeful want" is a proverb that Chinese in
common life would have great difficulty in understanding, or indeed in any
rank of society. The famines that have in all ages desolated great regions
in China, and the desperate struggle that is constantly going on for
simply enough to eat, have surrounded food as it were with a halo, that
would make it seem like sacrilege to misuse what we should throw away as
useless or positively hurtful.
[Illustration: A PEDDLER.]
[Illustration: A SHOEMAKER AT WORK ON THE STREET.
_To face p. 296._]
On one occasion, I was travelling in the interior, when I was disturbed by
a violent explosion of wrath on the part of the captain of the boat. He
was evidently incensed beyond measure with one of the members of the crew,
and he used the strongest language in condemnation of him. They were all
gathered round the great rice pan having their evening meal, and with
every mouthful that was taken out of the bowl that contained the condiment
to go with their rice, the anger of the captain blazed out in a fresh
burst of indignation. "What is the matter," I at last asked, "and why are
you making such a row over your meal?" "Matter!" he replied, "there is a
great deal of matter, that is quite enough to make one as angry as I am.
Do you see this man?" he said, pointing with his chopsticks to the
delinquent upon whom his wrath was being expended. "I sent him this
afternoon to the market to buy some oysters to eat with our rice this
evening, and he had not the sense or the nose to buy good ones. He allowed
the dealer to cheat him most egregiously, for the oysters are not simply
tainted--which would not have seriously mattered--they are positively
stinking, and the taste is so offensive that we can hardly get them down
without being sick." "But are you really going to eat them?" I asked, with
a look of consternation on my face. "Eat them! of course we are; you would
not have us waste the food, would you? We have paid for it, and we
certainly could not afford to lose our money," and the whole crew went on
popping the unsavoury, unhealthy morsels into their mouths, grumbling all
the time at the man who was the cause of their discomfort, but who in
order to cover his mistake pretended to be perfectly satisfied with the
almost putrid oysters that one could smell from a distance.
The preciousness of food and the jealous care that is taken not only of
what is wholesome and appetizing, but also of what would be rejected by
our poor in England as positively uneatable, show unmistakably how near
the greater part of the nation is to the ragged edge of destitution and
want. The result is that the desire to maintain life in the fierce
struggle that the masses have for mere existence has made the Chinese
amongst the most industrious people in the world. Mere poverty alone would
not have developed this feature in the national character, had there not
been a deep instinct of industry in the race which has tended to develop
industrial habits that permeate every class of society.
The whole population of China has been roughly divided by one of its great
thinkers into four classes, the scholars, the farmers, the workmen, and
the tradesmen. As the last-named produce nothing, but simply deal in
articles that other hands have manufactured, they stand the lowest in the
estimation of the public, and are deemed of less service to the community
than any of the other three. The scholar is the thinker without whom no
State can ever rise in intelligence or in civilization. The farmer is the
man that tills the soil and produces the food of the nation. Without him
the people would perish, or revert to their primitive state when they were
compelled to hunt the wild beasts in the forests and live a wretched,
precarious life. The workman supplies society with everything that is
needed for the necessities or the luxuries of everyday life, and
transforms by his skill the raw material into the thousand and one forms
that are needed for the comfort of the persons or the homes of the entire
nation.
The tradesman is neither an originator nor an inventor, and his
contribution, therefore, to the assets of the country is not to be
compared to those that the three other classes are continually making for
the benefit of the community. In spite, however, of the inferior position
that is assigned to him, the tradesman occupies a very prominent position
in the public eye, for the Chinaman, in addition to all his other
qualifications, is a man who is imbued with a passion for trade.
The towns and cities of the Empire are full of shops, and men with as keen
wits as can be found in any country in the world are constantly on the
alert as to how they shall make their business boom. The fairs and
markets, too, that are regularly held all over the kingdom, are popular
gatherings where the farmers can indulge in the national love for driving
a bargain.
Outside of the regular traders, however, who have capital and business
places where they can carry on their trade, there is a vast army of
peddlers who are everywhere to be met with, and are a recognized
institution, supplying a distinct want that the regular shopkeepers are
not always prepared to do.
The first of these that I shall describe is the "candy man." This
itinerant dealer in sweets is one of the most popular of all the men that
are to be found appealing to the public for a living. His outfit consists
of two baskets on which boards are placed, where he daintily arranges the
delicacies that are to prove so attractive to old and young, that the
stock that he has laid in may soon be turned into hard cash. He will then
be able to return home with his heart full of gladness because of the
speed with which he has been able to dispose of his fascinating goods.
From past experience he knows exactly where to place his baskets with
their tempting wares, so that he may be within easy call of those that are
likely to become customers of his. It is usually under the spreading
branches of a great banyan, where loungers congregate to catch the breezes
that are ever wandering about beneath the huge boughs that stretch out
almost horizontally as though to shield those that seek their shelter from
the great, hot, blazing sun. Or he takes his stand at the junction of two
or more roads where people are constantly passing, and near which he may
know there are a good many children living.
No sooner has he settled upon the spot where he hopes to commence business
than he ostentatiously makes a clanking sound with a huge pair of shears,
that are very much like those that the tailors use for cutting in England,
but which he employs to cut off lengths of toffy for those who would buy
from him. The sound of these jangling shears acts like magic upon all the
youngsters within hearing distance, and with mouths watering they gather
round his baskets to gaze in rapture upon the array of good things, so
temptingly laid out, that he has for sale.
Most of the lads have a few cash with them, but they delay buying because
they have not yet quite made up their minds what they are going to invest
in, and besides, it gives them an air of importance to keep the man
waiting; which he does with the greatest good nature, knowing that any
sign of impatience would drive his customers away, whilst with patience
and tact he is sure of drawing from their pockets every cash that they
possess.
His stock-in-trade consists of great slabs of what the Americans call
peanut candy. This is made, as the name indicates, from a combination of
the best white sugar and peanuts. These are boiled together in a great
cauldron, and stirred and stirred, till they are thoroughly mixed and the
now consistent mixture has been cooked, so that it can be emptied on a
board. It is then allowed to cool somewhat, when it is rolled by a wooden
roller to a certain thickness, after which it is ready to be eaten.
The combination of the sugar and the peanuts makes a very pleasant and
succulent compound. The latter gives a nutty flavour to the former, whilst
the sugar imparts some of its own essence to the nuts, and a mixture of
flavours is produced that is popular amongst all classes.
In addition to the candy, the peddler has also a very delicate sweet that
is less substantial, but none the less popular because a larger amount can
be bought for the same money. The material out of which it is made is
moist sugar, as white as the manufacturers can produce it. This is put
into a large pan and boiled over a slow fire. After a certain time it is
turned by the heat into a very consistent and a very sticky substance. At
the proper moment this is taken out of the pan and transferred to a board,
where it is moulded with deft and knowing fingers into a length of two or
three yards.
Then begins a most peculiar process that is to change the whole character
of the material before us. It is first of all stretched with a cunning
hand just as far as it will go without actually snapping. It is then
doubled back on itself and pulled again to the breaking-point, and so on
time after time until the work is done.
During this peculiar manipulation, the sweet has undergone a remarkable
change. From a dark, almost black colour, it has been turned into a golden
hue, and from being dense and heavy it is light and flaky, so that when it
is cut into lengths for sale, each one looks like a stalactite that might
have been taken out of Fingal's Cave. A bite from one of these crumbles at
once in the mouth and a crackling sound is heard and a beautiful aroma is
perceived, and before one has hardly had time to realize it, the sweet has
dissolved.
Another thing that the eager eyes of the little fellows catch amongst the
dainties is molasses candy, made in the orthodox home fashion, but cut
into little squares and sold for just one cash apiece, which is about the
thousandth part of two shillings. This is cheap and therefore popular, for
it will stand a good deal of sucking before it disappears, which is a
consideration with the generality of the buyers, for their finances are
not usually in a very flourishing condition.
Besides the above there is real sugar candy, not in sticks, but in lumps
as they have come from the sugar refinery. There are also a great variety
of sugar-coated combinations that all have their patrons, and as the
little knots of purchasers come in from different directions at the
well-known call of the peddler, one marks how varied are the tastes of the
lads by the way in which they select the articles they like from those
laid out so temptingly on the boards that contain his stock.
Another very popular peripatetic merchant is the man who is popularly
known as the seller of "sweets and sours." Like the man already described,
the people that patronize him the most are the children, though a goodly
proportion of his sales is made to persons of all ages. His goods consist
entirely of fruits prepared in such tempting and fascinating ways that the
general public is ready to put their hands in their pockets at the sound
of the little bell that announces the presence of this popular caterer to
the public taste.
He has quite an assortment of all the most popular fruits that are known
in Chinese life. He has the arbutus, which at a rough glance appears very
much like a strawberry, though it is really essentially different, for it
has a large stone, and even when it is fully ripe it has a decidedly tart
taste about it. He has these in several distinct forms, so as to meet the
wishes of those who vary in their views as to how the fruit should be
eaten. Some have been prepared with the slightest dash of sugar, so that
the sour and sweet are so nicely adjusted that both can be distinctly
perceived as it is slowly eaten by the purchaser. Some, again, have been
so deluged with sugar, that the naturally acid flavour has almost
vanished, and there remains but a remnant of the old nature left to modify
the ultra-sweetness of the sugar. Others, again, have been dried in the
sun until nearly all the juice has vanished. They have then been steeped
in brine, and the combination of salt and tart that is the result has a
fascination for some that one can hardly understand.
All these are strung on thin slips of bamboo in fives, and the buyer
holding these in his fingers can slip them off one by one into his mouth
without soiling his fingers. Three or four cash is the usual price for
this delicacy.
In addition to these, there are plums from the country districts, and
luscious-looking peaches and large fat mangoes all drenched in sugar,
which has not only preserved them from decaying, but has also added a
new flavour to each of them, which is specially attractive to those that
favour any particular kind. Again, amongst the collection there is one
fruit that always finds a ready market--the dwarf apples that are brought
by the steamers and the huge merchant junks from Tientsin and Newchang in
the far North of China.
[Illustration: A PEDDLER.
_To face p. 303._]
When they are thoroughly ripe they are rosy cheeked, and resemble the
Baldwins that come from America and are sold by the barrowmen in London
and in different parts of England, only they are diminutive, for they are
only about the fourth of the size of the ordinary English apple. These are
crushed flat, and the whole are allowed to lie in sugar until they are
entirely permeated with it. They are then strung on the bamboo sticks and
are always the chief attractions that the "sweets and sours" man has to
offer to the public. As they come from a great distance, and have been
rendered more perishable by the long journey they have had to travel, they
are a great deal dearer than the other local productions, and so it is
only those who have a larger command of money that can afford to purchase
them.
This peddler has attractions that never fail to draw around him a group
both of old and young, who usually enjoy their purchases on the spot. Some
stand and chat with each other as they slowly crush the sweet and
toothsome morsel between their teeth. Others, again, of a more meditative
turn of mind, take the favourite posture of sitting on their heels, and
give the whole force of their minds to the enjoying of the flavours
contained in their favourite fruits. The buzz of conversation and the
ready wit of the peddler, and the passing crowds that would like to join
in but have not the time, and the great sun flashing down his rays upon
the scene, all combine to make such gatherings as these very picturesque
and very attractive to look upon.
Another well-known peddler who is very popular with the housewives is the
cloth-seller. His is a form that is easily recognized, as he daily goes
his round up and down the district that use and wont has made him consider
to be especially his own. It is very possible, indeed, that he may have
bought the right from the man that preceded him, just as with us a doctor
purchases a practice and becomes the rightful successor to the man who is
retiring.
He is distinguished by the fact that he carries all his stock on one of
his shoulders. To carry it anywhere else would seem in the conservative
eyes of the Chinese to disqualify him for his profession. As the burden he
has to bear is usually over one hundred pounds in weight, it would seem an
impossibility for any man unless he were a Sandow to continue day after
day and for many hours in each to support such an enormous weight as this.
But the fact is that they do so, and without apparently any very great
effort. The men as a rule are small and wiry, and as they move along at a
steady trot, without any panting or perspiring, one is apt to imagine that
the goods they are carrying are not nearly so heavy as they really are.
In order to cater for the wants of the women of the houses of his
district, he has to have with him specimens of every kind of dress goods
that they are likely to require, and in addition a liberal supply of the
more common stuffs that are worn by the poorer classes. These stocks he
must have on hand, for he must take advantage of the immediate wants of
his clients, and the impression that his eloquence makes upon them at the
time, to dispose of his wares. Were he to depend upon their taking
to-morrow what he has not ready for them now, he might find that their
mood had changed or they were short of cash when he returned with the
goods, and so his sales would be lost.
This cloth peddler is really a most advanced man, and a true pioneer in
promoting liberal ideas with regard to dress. The Chinese one
_beau-ideal_ with regard to that is the blue cotton cloth. Just as bread
in England is the staple article of the food of the masses, so that in
China is the one eternal type of what is considered the proper kind of
material with which to clothe the nation. The common people everywhere
make that the basis of their dress. The farmers all dress in this
distressingly dull-coloured material. The common coolies and workmen of
every grade in life, following the national instinct, seldom wear anything
else. It is only the well-to-do or the very rich that emerge out of this
universal worship of the blue cotton, and adopt silks or satins as their
common wear.
The women, it is true, have a few bright colours in addition to the blue
in which they appear when they are fully dressed and on holiday occasions,
but for ordinary and common everyday life the blue cotton asserts its
mastery, and holds its own against everything else.
Now this peddler is slowly causing a revolution in the ideals of the women
at least. In order to advance his business he brings the newest patterns
and the most attractive goods that enterprising merchants, both native and
foreign, are introducing from the West. He has no large stocks in hand
that he must dispose of before he can bring in new and fashionable
materials. All that he possesses, or nearly so, he carries with him on his
shoulder, and when they are disposed of, he simply goes to the merchant
and selects other goods that he has found by experience will catch the eye
of the younger women and girls that he meets on his round, and induce them
to buy from him.
The great aid that this man gets in his introduction of new ideas amongst
the women no doubt is Christianity. This has worked a perfect revolution
in family life wherever it has been received. Not only is the condition of
the women ameliorated, but their position is distinctly elevated. They
are not left to the tender mercies of heathen society to be treated with
the indignities to which they are constantly liable. The Church is always
behind them to stand out in their defence when any wrong is going to be
inflicted on them. A new power has come into the land that demands rights
for them that no legislation in the past and no tradition has ever dreamed
of asking.
In addition to all this, there are the new methods that a faith in the
gospel has developed. The custom that amounts almost to a law in China is
that young women shall not be seen on the streets. They must remain
indoors till they are married, and afterwards till they are getting on in
years. One of the most remarkable features about the streets and roads is
the few women that are seen upon them. Elderly women, with perhaps girls
under ten, and slave women, are to be met with, but maidens and young
married wives are a rare sight either on the public thoroughfares or on
the by-ways in the country places.
The morals of China, in spite of the high ideals that have been
transmitted by the sages, and that have permeated into every section of
the people, are not sufficiently elevated to permit women the freedom that
they have in Christian lands. Now Christianity has already begun to work a
remarkable change in delivering the women of China from the bondage that
an idolatrous system had imposed upon them. Whether young or old they are
required to attend church on Sundays. No distinctions are allowed. The
young girl of eighteen, that would never be seen out of the doors for
years, the newly-married wife, the maiden that has just been betrothed, in
common with elderly ladies whose sons and daughters are grown up, and the
old grandmothers that travel as they like, all are expected to attend at
the regular services, and no dispensation excepting absolute necessity
will be given to allow them not to be present.
Sunday at present is the happiest day in the week for the Christian women.
They get out of their narrow, confined houses into the sunlight. They meet
large numbers of their own sex in the church. They see new faces and get
fresh ideas, and broader views of life. They look at the various styles of
dresses, and the result is that on the morrow, when the peddler comes
round, he will get orders for new kinds of materials that they would never
have dreamed of had they not seen how pretty and becoming they looked on
the women they had met in the church.
But listen! there is the blast of a conch shell, blown by a man whose
lungs are sound, and who knows how to manipulate it so that he shall
produce the greatest volume of noise, and send it echoing along the
street. No need to ask who the man is, for every one is perfectly aware
that it is the pork peddler who is drawing near, and now every housewife
who is preparing dinner begins to count her cash to see if she can afford
the luxury of pork to-day.
Pork to a Chinaman is what beef is to an Englishman. Excepting in the
ports and in those centres where Europeans congregate, beef is but very
rarely seen. In the interior of China, pork shops abound in every city in
the Empire, but one would have to look long before he could find a beef
shop. By a thoroughly conservative and orthodox Chinese the killing of
cattle in order to sell their flesh for food is considered highly immoral.
He would tell you that these animals help in the tilling of the soil, that
therefore they are the producers of the food of the nation, and as a
matter of gratitude for their services they should be saved from the
indignity of being slaughtered for food. That is the way in which an
orthodox Confucianist would talk when the question of eating beef might be
the subject of conversation.
There are no such metaphysical discussions with regard to the pig, or
indeed any other animal that is used for food. Swine have precisely the
same animal properties that they have in any other country, and those
brought up in this extreme Eastern land might be transported to the cabins
of the Irish and they would never discover that a "furriner" had invaded
their homes.
As a domestic animal the pig has the same unpleasant habits that he has in
the British Isles. He likes to wallow in the mud, and feed on garbage and
other insanitary matter that a horse or a cow would absolutely refuse to
touch. He is on the whole a quiet and inoffensive animal, and in his
restless peregrinations after food he does not care to interfere with the
comfort or liberty of his neighbours. But let his usual meal time come
round, and if his mistress has neglected to fill his trough with something
strengthening, he will squeal and grunt and make such a fuss and a
disturbance that for the peace of the household speedy steps will have to
be taken to satisfy his hunger.
Were it not for his low and ungentlemanly habits, the pig would doubtless
have been the national emblem of the Chinese, instead of the mysterious
and inscrutable dragon, and poets would have sung his praises, and artists
would have immortalized him in their paintings. There was too little
romance, however, about him to allow of such an honour being put upon him,
but there is no question that he is the most popular animal in the whole
of the eighteen provinces. The only word in the language for flesh meat is
one that means pork, and throughout the four hundred millions of people,
the one popular dish that makes all eyes glisten about meal times is the
one that is composed of some preparation of the succulent flesh of this
animal.
The pork peddler, as already intimated, is known by the powerful blasts
that he blows from a sea shell. His outfit is of the simplest. It consists
of two baskets, on one of which a board is spread, and the pork is laid
out in a dainty fashion so as to tempt the intending purchasers to buy
what they want. In the other are thrown odds and ends, for the peddler has
really no need for it, as its main idea is to form a kind of balance so
that he may be able to carry his load with comfort from the bamboo pole
that rests on one of his shoulders.
Lying beside the pork is a large chopper, with which he cuts off the
pieces that his customers may desire, and a steelyard for weighing his
sales. As he rests his apparatus in front of some houses, he is soon
surrounded by a little knot of people, some of them with private
steelyards of their own, in order to test whether the peddler's has not
been doctored, so as to cheat them of their due weight.
Sometimes when the peddler has had his pork watered there is great
dissatisfaction, and no one will buy from him unless he sells at a
considerably reduced price. This watering is a vicious custom that
prevails largely amongst all butchers, and is intended to make it possible
to sell the meat at a lower rate to the very poor. The way it is managed
is to pump a quantity of water down the main arteries of the animal
immediately after it is killed until the whole animal is saturated with
it. As this injection of water drives out the blood, the flesh has a pale,
anaemic look that tells the secret, and the aim of the peddler is to
conceal this from the public by plastering the flesh over with the blood
that flowed from the body when the animal was killed. This is the
universal practice of the trade, though it does not deceive a single
person, nor can it give the healthy look to the pork that the unwatered
meat has.
No doubt this wretched system exists because the peddler can sell cheaper,
and as cash are few and precious amongst the poor, the national delicacy
would certainly be less attainable by large numbers of them were they to
have to pay the higher price that is demanded for the unwatered article.
It is very amusing to watch the group that has gathered round the peddler,
and to note how keen the Chinese are in everything where bargaining is
concerned. The instinct of trade is deep seated within them, and they seem
to have a positive enjoyment in the mere chaffering and bargaining, and in
the final victory of a few cash that would seem to us such a trifling gain
that we would not condescend to spend any time over the transaction. Here
is a man that is evidently an important one, for he comes up with a
dignified air and with his steelyard in his hand, as though he were going
to buy the whole of the peddler's stock-in-trade. After many
uncomplimentary remarks about the pork, and declaring that it is of very
poor quality and would be found tough in the eating, he selects a piece
that seems to have caught his eye, and he requests the man to cut that off
for him.
He does so, weighs it with his steelyard, and in doing this he allows
himself the liberal margin of the sixteenth of an ounce, so as to add to
his profits and to save himself from any loss in the weight. The purchaser
has an eagle eye, and watches this weighing with a very suspicious glance.
The Chinese are adepts in manipulating the steelyard, so as to make it
weigh heavier or lighter according as they desire. Besides, as there is no
standard to which the dealers must conform, and no inspectors of weights
and measures to help to keep them honest, there is constant friction
between buyers and sellers as to the true weight of the article that is
being disposed of.
The man says, "Let me weigh the pork," and fixing it on the hook that is
attached to his steelyard, he declares after a very careful manipulation
of the instrument that it is lighter by two-sixteenths than the peddler
was going to charge him for. This results in a wordy contest between the
two men, and a weighing and reweighing by each, and an appeal to the
crowd, and even to Heaven itself, as to the justice of each man's
statement. Finally the dispute is settled by splitting the difference,
which probably gives the true weight of the pork, and the people who sided
with the purchaser, because of the prospective contests they are going to
have with the peddler when they have their purchases weighed, declare that
the principles of Heaven have been vindicated, and now every one ought to
be satisfied. As the whole amount in dispute amounted to about one-sixth
of a penny, and the time spent in adjusting the matter occupied fully ten
minutes, whilst numerous appeals to heaven and earth and to the
consciences of the peddler and the purchaser were pointedly made to them
by the onlookers, it did really seem ludicrous and hardly worth the candle
to go through such an amount of fuss for so small a sum as was involved
either way.
After the question is settled amicably, and both parties have saved their
face, the peddler ties the pork with a rush, gathered from the banks of
some mountain stream, deftly makes a loop to act as a handle, and hands it
to the man. Immediately an elderly woman from a neighbouring house selects
a piece which weighs exactly two ounces, and for this she hands him cash
to the value of about three halfpence. There is no paper needed to wrap it
in, for the rush again comes into requisition, and with the loop in her
forefingers she bears it away without any danger of violating the
proprieties, or of soiling the meat by the dust that might have gathered
on her hands.
Another very popular peddler is the middle-aged woman who goes round with
a very unpretending-looking basket that contains all kinds of jewellery,
such as women in the middle and upper classes are accustomed to wear. All
these may be purchased at any of the goldsmiths' shops in the city, but as
the younger women are not allowed to go out and visit these for
themselves, they gladly welcome the travelling jeweller, from whose store
they can pick and choose the precise ornaments they wish to buy.
Articles of jewellery hold an important place in the dress of the Chinese
women. As they do not wear hats or bonnets in the coldest weather, or when
the sun in all his strength is pouring forth his fiery rays in the height
of summer, a woman is never supposed to be completely dressed unless she
has a certain number of golden or silver hairpins stuck in her hair, and
bracelets on her wrists. In addition to these she must have some sprays of
flowers, either natural or artificial, before she is dressed well enough
to receive visitors or go outside of her own door. The laws of etiquette
are very severe on this point, and even amongst the lowest classes, a
woman who is old enough to go out on business of any kind must wear her
earrings and have flowers in her hair, unless she wishes to be looked upon
with a great deal of suspicion.
The articles of jewellery are of a very miscellaneous character. Those
used on the head are long, dagger-looking pins, made of gold and inlaid
with kingfisher's feathers. They are meant really to add to the beauty of
the coiffure, and not to keep their hair from falling down, for that is
tied with red silk and plastered with unguents, so that it needs no
further aid to keep it in position.
Next in importance to these are the bracelets that figure very largely in
the toilette of the women of all classes. They are chiefly made of gold
and silver and jadestone, and vary in prices from a few shillings up to as
many pounds.
The rich indulge in very expensive ones and wear several on each arm. The
poorer women are pleased if they can afford to get one silver one, whilst
those in the lowest ranks never dream of aspiring to any such luxury.
The earrings are things that every woman wears no matter what her position
in life may be. When a girl is five or six years old her ears are bored.
This is done if possible on the tenth day of the tenth moon, as that is
the one lucky day in the year when it is believed that no inflammation of
the ears will follow from the process. In order to fully insure that,
however, the needle that has been used for the operation must be thrown
down the nearest well.
The fashion of the earrings varies in different localities, and if one is
very observant, he will be able to tell the district to which a woman
belongs by looking at the shape and size of her earrings. In one
particular county with which the writer is familiar, the earring assumes
enormous dimensions, being several inches in diameter; so large are they
indeed that a child that is being nursed can easily pass its arm through
one of them without any inconvenience to the mother or danger to itself.
Now the peddler has a large field in the countless homes in a considerable
district in which to carry on her operations. She is usually a woman with
a very fluent and persuasive tongue, who knows the foibles of women and
their love for finery. She has a large stock of jewellery which she
exhibits with such consummate art that women are inveigled into buying
what they do not really need, and which they had no intention of
purchasing.
The sight, however, of so many attractive works of art proves so
irresistible that this clever dealer manages to dispose to those who can
afford it many of the articles she has in her basket. The result is that
some of these peddlers make in the course of years quite little fortunes,
which enable them to spend their declining years in comfort and in
comparative affluence.
One of these women, with whom I was acquainted, was the wife of a
silversmith who had a shop in one of the principal streets of a very
populous city. The business was a prosperous one, for the shop had a good
reputation and the master of it was a man who knew his trade well and
could produce goods that could not be surpassed by any other shop in the
town. The true secret of the prosperity, however, lay not with the sales
that were made over the counter, but with those that were effected by the
wife. She was very plain and far from prepossessing in appearance, and
utterly uneducated, for the family had risen from very humble
circumstances. She was a woman, however, of great natural abilities, with
shrewd common-sense, and she had the power of presenting anything she had
to say in a forceful, eloquent manner that was very convincing.
She decided to take up the _role_ of peddler, so as to increase their
trade by disposing of a larger number of goods than could be done in the
shop. That she was willing to do this showed her strong and independent
character, for a woman that pursues this calling must be prepared for a
great many rebuffs, as it is not held in the highest honour by the
community at large. She persevered in her intention, and the result was
that she kept the business of the shop at high pressure in order to be
able to supply her with the requisite amount of goods that she was able
constantly to dispose of, and in the course of years from a Chinese point
of view they became quite rich.
Another peddler with less ambitious aims than the one just described is
the man that gets his living by coming round to the various houses where
he has got to be known, and buying the tinfoil that remains as an ash
after the paper money has been burned to wooden images. The Chinese
believe that the idols in order to be induced to do any service for the
worshippers must be bribed by presents of money. A moderate amount of the
current coin of the realm they are willing to expend in this way, but it
must be limited, and so in order to make the gods believe that they are
giving them vast sums, they have invented a system of paper notes,
representing ingots and gold coins and common cash all done up in
hundreds. Tinfoil beaten as thin almost as it will bear, is used to
represent the more precious metals. In its natural colour it is supposed
to be silver, and a yellow tinge is given to it when the worshipper wishes
to propitiate the idol with gold. These different coloured pieces of
tinfoil are pasted on coarse paper of a settled size and are then burned
in the presence of the idol, who is credited with not having sense enough
to know that it is being cheated. If a hundred pieces representing a
hundred dollars are presented, then the god is believed to be so much the
richer by that amount, and that it has stored them away in its unseen
treasury where countless sums of money are being accumulated. If a hundred
pieces of gold are burned, the idol is then supposed to be all the more
pleased and to be ready to send down blessings on the worshipper.
After the paper has been burned the tinfoil falls down amongst the ashes
and is carefully collected by the priest of the temple, who in time sells
the collection to the tin-beater, who can utilize the material for future
service with the idols. In some of the more popular shrines, where the
gods have the reputation of being able to bestow large favours on those
who worship them, the income derived from this burned and shrivelled
tinfoil is very considerable. There is one famous temple that at times is
visited by hundreds of thousands of pilgrims, who all burn more or less of
this paper money, and where the sale of the scorched and apparently
useless tinfoil brings in thousands of dollars a year.
The peddler I am describing has nothing to do with the buying of the
refuse tinfoil in the temples. That is kept in the hands of the
authorities in each, who dispose of it to meet their current expenses.
Where his business lies is amongst the families that are situated within
his round. These are accustomed all more or less to offer bribes of money
to their household gods whenever they wish to obtain any favour from them.
With the thrift of the Chinese they always carefully pick out from the
ashes what the gods were cheated into believing were precious pieces of
gold and silver. The next day when the peddler makes his rounds they are
sold for a few cash to him, and thus they perform the double service of
bribing the gods and of putting money into their own pockets.
Of late this man has added to the original idea of being a collector of
burnt tinfoil, the name by which he is popularly known amongst the
Chinese, by also acting as a rag and bone merchant. As was remarked at the
beginning of this chapter, nothing is wasted in China, and what would be
thrown into the dust heap in England and carried away next day by the dust
cart, is here carefully set aside and kept to be sold to this peddler. A
sardine tin, for example, has been opened, and it seems now to be only an
incumbrance and of absolutely no value. The Chinaman thinks differently,
for he puts it away on a shelf in his kitchen, and when the cry of the
collector of burnt tinfoil is heard heralding his approach, it is taken
down and in consideration of a few cash is added to his collection of what
seems useless rubbish.
A chicken is killed and all the feathers are sedulously preserved, and
even the very bones that are left after it has been eaten are collected
and put aside to be sold on the morrow. All kerosene tins and empty
bottles, unless carefully watched by the mistress, will disappear
mysteriously and no one appears to know where they have vanished to; but
the peddler, if he would consent to reveal all he knows about them, could
tell exactly where they are and how much he has gained by their sale.
[Illustration: A WAYSIDE KITCHEN.
_To face p. 317._]
It is a very singular thing that the characters of the various kinds of
peddler seem to be influenced by the particular business in which each of
them is concerned. The pork peddler has a bluff and breezy air about him,
and he sends forth his blasts from his shell as though he were the
advance guard of an invading army. The seller of "sweets and sours" is
distinguished by a pleasing countenance on which a winning smile seems
perpetually to rest. His association with children and his constant effort
to win their confidence have no doubt been largely instrumental in giving
this pleasant character to his face. The cloth peddler, on the other hand,
has a severe and dignified countenance, as though he were conscious of the
responsibility that belonged to him in being the interpreter as it were of
the fashions, and the introducer of foreign goods into a land that was
accustomed to look upon any one as a traitor to his country that had any
traffic with anything associated with the "Outer Barbarian."
The profession of the collector of burnt tinfoil has unquestionably had a
demoralizing effect upon him. He is usually pale and thin, with the air of
a man of broken-down fortunes. He walks along with a timid, shrinking air,
as though he scented a policeman at every turn in the road, and when he
looks at you it is with a kind of side glance, apparently fearful lest if
he looked you straight in the face you would discover the depravity that
is deep down in his heart.
Beside the above that I have attempted to describe there are many other
kinds of peddlers who are equally interesting in their way. There are, for
example, the vegetable seller, and the fruiterer, and the peddler that
deals exclusively in needles and threads and tapes. There are also the
peddlers with the travelling kitchen, and the one that may be found on the
streets at all hours of the night with pork rissoles for the special
benefit of opium smokers, who have a weakness for delicacies of this sort.
There are, again, the peddlers who are only to be found from about nine
o'clock in the evening up almost to the time when the dawn threatens to
disperse the shadows of the night. These men are to be found at street
corners with portable stoves and a plentiful supply of hot rice. Some of
them attempt to cater not simply to the hunger of the late wanderers on
the streets, but also to their fastidious appetites, for they have
prepared good stocks of vermicelli, and a very pleasant combination of
soft-boiled rice and oysters, so as to tempt those who would otherwise be
inclined to hurry on their way homewards.
There is one man who though he does not strictly belong to the class I
have been discussing, yet as his life is spent on the street in his
endeavour to make a living, I shall attempt to describe, and that is the
fortune-teller. He is to be found in a niche on some great thoroughfare,
where the crowds are passing incessantly the livelong day, and where he is
just out of the crush of the living tide that surges just outside of him.
His stock-in-trade is about a dozen bamboo slips with enigmatic sentences
carved on each of them, that to the mind of the man who can read into the
mysteries of the unknown land contain the clues to the story of each one
that applies to him to have their future revealed to him or her. He has
also a Java sparrow enclosed within a diminutive cage, that is believed to
be the interpreter of the spirits in helping to unfold in some slight
measure the secrets they hold about the men on earth.
Here is a man, for example, who comes out of the crowd with an
anxious-looking face and a deep shadow resting upon it that has driven all
the sunlight and joy out of it. The fortune-teller is at once all
attention, whilst the sparrow from interested motives of its own cocks up
its head and takes a kind of knowing glance at the customer. The man,
evidently distressed at the subject that is occupying his mind, pours
forth in voluble and vivid language the story of his woes. It seems that
he and a neighbour are having a lawsuit about the house in which he is now
living. This man he declares to be a thoroughly unprincipled one, who has
no conscience and does not know what the fear of Heaven means. He has
claimed the house as his own, though he has not the slightest particle of
right to it; but as he belongs to a powerful clan and has plenty of money
at his command, he is afraid that might will prevail and he will lose his
property, and thus be deprived of his home. He explains that the case has
gone before the local mandarin, but as he has not the means to bribe him
and the smaller officials under him, whilst his opponent is making lavish
presents to them all, he is fearful that when the matter comes to be tried
the decision of the judge will be in favour of his enemy. What he would
like to know now is, is there any likelihood of his gaining his case. If
the fortune-teller could only give him any light on that subject that
would relieve his mind he would be infinitely obliged to him.
These fortune-tellers are keen judges of human nature, and they know that
men like to have pleasant answers to their requests, and so they
manipulate them so that, like the Delphic Oracles, they can be interpreted
either favourably or the reverse according as they eventually turn out.
This man listens with the utmost attention, with a keen look on his face,
and as the story becomes more intense, he sways his head from side to side
as though he were deeply moved at its recital.
When it is finished he throws down the twelve divining slips of bamboo on
to a little board on his knee, and asks the inquirer whether he wishes to
have the assistance of the bird in his case, for this will involve him in
a slight extra expense. Having expressed his willingness, the door of the
little cage is opened, and the bird, that has been looking with a wistful
eye on the whole of the proceedings, hops out and touches one of the slips
with its beak, as though the spirits had commissioned it to select that
particular one as containing their answer to the man's request to be
allowed to peer into the future.
The bird waits for a moment whilst the fortune-teller drops a grain of
rice in front of it, which it instantly picks up, and disappearing again
into its cage, it begins to preen its feathers whilst it keeps a watchful
look on the passers-by, in hopes evidently that it may again soon be
called upon to earn another grain of rice.
The fortune-teller now takes up the slip, and reading aloud the
inscription on it, he declares that there is no doubt but that he will be
successful in his lawsuit, that Heaven will intervene to frustrate the
malice of his enemy, and that he may go home with his mind at ease. To a
Westerner the statement on the bamboo is exceedingly vague. It declares
that the river which has been flowing amongst the hills and has been lost
to view, is again appearing round the curve of a mountain cape, and will
soon flow up to the very feet of the eager onlooker. The river is supposed
to be the case that has been giving the man perplexity, and its vanishing
out of sight the anxiety he has had as to its ultimate issue. Its sudden
turn into sight when it seemed to be lost is an indication that the affair
will turn out prosperously.
Should, however, judgment be given against him, the fortune-teller will
free himself from blame by declaring that he had misread the sign given by
the returning stream, as it really was a good omen that the spirits had
given in favour of his enemy, who was finally to remain victor in the
contest for the house.
No sooner has this man gone, than a young fellow of about twenty steps up
and says that he would like to get some indication from the spirits about
a question that is giving him some anxiety. He had obtained a situation in
the town with an employer of labour, who had a reputation for ill-treating
the people that were in his service. He was very anxious, he said, for
some employment, but he would prefer to be without any for some time
longer, rather than suffer harsh treatment and be compelled to leave. Was
it safe, therefore, for him under these circumstances to accept the offer
that had been made him, or should he reject it?
Again the slips were thrown carelessly on to the board, and the sparrow,
that had been watching the young fellow whilst he was telling his story,
being let out of its cage, touched one of the bamboo slips with its beak,
and then waited for the grain of rice that was dropped in front of it.
Looking carefully at the inscription, he once more proceeded in a
mysterious and enigmatic way to say what the spirits advised to be done in
the matter. This was so vague and unsatisfactory, that the young man
declared that he would not risk the trouble that he might have if he
decided to accept the billet that had been offered to him, that he would
just make up his mind now to reject it; and with a smile on his face and a
few pleasant words of thanks, he disappeared in the crowd that was passing
and repassing in front of them.
With this man I will close my chapter, though there are many others who
get their living in the streets whose stories are just as interesting as
his, illustrating the peculiar modes of thought of an idolatrous people,
and the strenuous nature of their life in trying to satisfy their
spiritual and physical necessities.