(ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.) RUSSIA, JAPAN & CHINA

Auckland Star, Volume XXXV, Issue 94, 20 April 1904, Page 4

(ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.) RUSSIA, JAPAN & CHINA

■ ■ HI ■ «— "-■ ■ ■■' - ynx *THE CHINAMAN AS A MAN OF BUSINESS." <By H. Fulford Bush.) The Chinaman is a complex problem, and it is not within the scope of the European to do justice to any one side of his character, but we axe, perhaps— those of us who live in the East —better able to appreciate his business capabilities for the reason that it is 'in this capacity that we most nearly come into touch with him. Successful training is the aim and ambition of the middle-class Chinaman, and he devotes himself to this end with an energy of which few Europeans,, with their'many other interests in fife, are capable. The greater part of my life having been spent in the North of China, it musi be understood that my remarks bear upon the Northern native merchant, who is a more phlegmatic and cautious man than his southern brother, and the more typically Chinese in that he is less familiar with foreigners and their ways. V H ' *£& A GAMBLER AND A MAN .OF BUSINESS. - The strong gambling instinct inherent in every Chinaman prompts him to a boldness in trade speculations which! foreigners do not care to emulate, v and which —rarcombined with that intimate ; knowledge of past transactions and apparent intuitive forecast of conditions governing prices, exchange, Northern ■ and Southern demand, and supply poa-; • sessed by every native trader —would mv . evitably lead to disaster. The Chinese merchant, however, going on the broad, principle, which the experience of years 'i has justified, that continuous intefligerrtj; trading in the staple exports and im- U ports will yield a return of five years' \ i profit as against two years' loss, enters |. into forward contracts, purchases in L large quantities, and stakes the greater 0 part cf his capital and credit on the cor- <L rectness of his estimate of the present, j ■, vis-a-vis the future, market, winning j \ five times out of seven, and waxing pros- ] pevous on the fruits of his bold reli- \ ancc- upon his business perspicacity. The foreigner cannot hope to compete < with the Chinaman in his own lines with- , out adopting methods which to the . western mind appear unpractical arid op- j posed to all business precedent. The , native does not trouble "about bank guarantees, delivery of goods against j documents and accepted drafts, elaborate book-keeping, and fixed hour 3. Dealing largely on the barter system, he de- - ■livers imports against exports, each firmmaking a memo, of the transaction in a rough day-book, without any bank intervention, and every merchant is pre- ! pared to do business at any time in the 24 hours, at his home, his hong (busi- ' ness residence), the tea-shop, opium ' house, theatre, or public bath. There is no sign of "rush" —why rush when you have the whole day, and if neces- '' sary the whole night, for deliberation and conclave before detenmning your ; line "of action? and yet -when an opportunity offers, such as a sudden fall in the price of produce, or exchange, or freight rates, the nttive merchant can make, up his mind, and act as promptly and withal as calmly as the smartest jwestem could wish. >~•< f. | CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTIONS TO • & ~ PROGRESS. f ( Though extremely conservative and Apposed to any innovation, the Northern jChinaman is beginning to adopt such ..western improvements as recommend ithemselves to his business sense by reason of their money saving qualifications —and the last few years have witnessed igreat changes in the Beancake factory , machinery, which is now constructed in Hongkong on a semi-foreign plan—im- - proving the output of oil and allowing jßf a reduction in the labour, human and =ianimal, employed, as compared with the old process. There is still vast room for Improvement in this direction, but, though fearless to a degree when embarking upon enterprises purely Chinese 4n their nature and working, the Celestial is timorously cautious in the matter «f striking out a new line in "which the assistance of foreign methods is a necessity. It is precisely this seemingly contradictory trait in his character which baffles the majority of westerners, who endeavour by their rhetorical efforts to persuade the possible \ pur chaser, whose hesitancy is due as much to their only too apparent eagernes as to the dictates of his conservative and superstitious mind, which looks upon all things foreign as partaking of the nature of the £vil one. The "Traveller" lies under a heavy Handicap in North China where the English speaking Chinaman is a rara avis, and the employment of an interpreter is merely an additional handicap in that the Chinaman has a hearty, if unreasonable contempt for those unacquainted with his language: good and trustworthy interpreters are almost impossible to get, the average interpreter's rendering of the loquacious foreigner's dissertation showing up the weak points of his argument, and entirely omitting his eloquence. r_ .:..■- -.:.. £. CONTEMPT FOR FOREIGNERS. ■ ' Apropos of interpreters and their unreliability, -while present at a big official reception in the north of China given by a native Ticeroy, I overheard the interpreter appointed to the principal foreign guest convey to the Viceroy the said guest's complimentary remarks upon the excellence of the entertainment provided by the host, prefacing his interpretation by the words "T'a Shuo") he Bays). He would'thus have quoted the remark of a coolie, a man of no class distinction. The use of the pronoun was absolutely inexcusable, but the foreigner *rd not understand Chinese, and the viceroy who should have resented the insult to his guest passed it over as being, doubtless, good enough for a nonChinese speaking foreigner. In no country in the world is etiquette more rigidly observed and held in honour than in China, but the foreigner is a waikuojen (a man from without, in slang parlance, an outsider), and as Each not entitled, unless acquainted with the language and etiquette, to any great consideration. may be a somewhat extreme in- ? S - erVeS to demonstrate a fact which foreigners desirous of doing business m the country cannot afford to ignore, viz. that the average Chinaman whether official or merchant, considers himself superior to the European, and that the latter must, therefore, be'careful to acquaint himself with the lan/ guage and manners of the people. With such knowledge he will find that he can cause an entire change of sentiment in fas individual case, and put through matters of moment with an ease which js conspicuously kveking when an interpreter is necessary. But it must not , : - be inferred that any overt-discourtesy

will be shown to the European who is ignorant in these essential matters— on the contrary, the.impression he will L receive will be that the Chinese merchants he has visited have been kindness , and courtesy personified—they . will doubtless .plied him with tea, cigars, and cigarettes, the while they have listened with an air of charmed interest to his imperfectly interpreted utterances, and he will take his departure convinced of their willingness, did circumstances permit, to do business with him and his firm exclusively. He can- , riot, of course, be expected to realise the » fact thpft the conversation between the . merchant and interpreter, 'when the . mutual exchange of compliments has been exhausted, has been confined principally to matters of local business interest, the exchange rates, the resolu- , tion of promissory notes into bard sycee (silver), the probable cause of the detention of the Beancraft upriver, and its effect upon produce prices and io on. > ...» FROM DIFFERENT,, STANDPOINTS. The Chinese and European points of view are irreconcilable for the reason that whereas the former gauges a nation's civilisation by the etiquette and manners observed by its citizens, the tatter's test is applied to the country's code of law. -L The Chinaman is therefore of the opinion that we are in the main barbarians, and we, naturally, consider him as vastly inferior, from the truly civilised standpoint, to ourselves. These vital elements of issue must be taken into account if the Westerner wishes to gain the confidence and goodwill of the native merchant, without which bonne entente satisfactory business .relations cannot be established. One of the most striking characteristics of the Chinese merchant is his business integrity. has been written and said on this theme, and it is impossible to extpl too highly the absolute relliance that can be placed upon the na- ; tive merchant's bond. \ The writer's father, Mr. Henry E. £Bush, for over thirty years in constant If-duch with the merchants of North j China, never experienced a bad debt in jhall his many business transactions with I'-the various native Hongs. ■ Sir Ewan Cameron, of the Hongkong Shanghai Banking Corporation, When speaking of his tenure of office in China, extending over many years, said he had never lost a cash through his native? constituents. When it is considered that the said bank is the leading bank in China, and the one with which native as well #s foreign merchants are the most anxiovs to do business, it will be admitted that no finer tribute could well be paid to- the integrity of the native trader. A CHINAMAN'S WORD AS GOOD AS HIS BOND. At the time of the Boxer outbreak the Russo-ChSnese Bank at Newchang had oyer five million taels invested in the native city, and despite the business stagnation resulting from the disruption of the usual commerce conditions since that date, that money has all been accounted for. Innumerable like incidents could be brought forward were not the former sufficient to justify tbe pronouncement that the merchant classes in China are second to .none in the matter of commercial integrity. The main cause cf this admirable state of affairs is, in my opinion, the- Guild organisation. Every merchant is the member of a guild, every tradesman has his guild, and"what the' guild ordains is" faithfully carried out by each of its members. No Chinese merchant can afford to lose caste, or "face," as he would express it. His."face" is literally his fortune; were he to be engaged in any discreditable transaction, and be reported to his guild, he would lose face," and with it credit, business standing, and his entire clientele. Foreigners have before now experienced the weight of the guild's taboo. An instance which occurred many years ago is a notable example of this. The master of a steamer of one of the coasting companies observing what he took to be a disrpeutable old coolie standing on a part of the deck reserved for the foreign complement, ordered the man off sharply, only to receive an unpleasant reply; he accordnigly removed the objector. On arrival at the port of destination a complaint was made to the steamship company's office, when it transpired that the disreputable coolie aforesaid was the stevedore, and one of the principal partners in the firm of the native charterers. The office was given to understand that failing the master's dismissal the steamer would remain without employment, the result being that the company had to request his resignation. ~-;. A KEEN SENSE OF JUSTICE. £-" Another and quite recent instance occurred through thejhasty action of an agent of one of the steamer companies, who roused the indignation of a Southern Guild; 'the steamers of the said company remained unchartered until matters had been straightened out to the satisfaction of the Guild, when the taboo was instantly raised, and the former good feeling and understanding fully re-established. I have never yet heard of the enormous influence possessed by these Guilds having been used in an x unju3tifiable manner. The Chinese merchant has a keen sense of justice, in spite of the fact that the Chinese ofucial class is" singularly deficient in that respect, and if the foreigner can but show that he has li (right) on his side be will find it an unfailing argument, one to compel a body of Chinamen, for the sake of their "face," to decide in his favour, their sympathy with their feU'ow-merchants notwithstanding. I do not pretend in this short article to have even touched upon all the many important characteristics of the Chinese business man; to attempt to do justice to such a theme calls for larger opportunities for observatioh.-..than even many years' direct communication affords, and would necessitate the compilation of a volume; I have, however, shown that our celestial confrere, superior to us in his own estimation, possesses qualification which we cannot but admit entitle him to be ranked high iv the commercial scale, and which I consider justify mc in my opinion that he is the shrewdest business man in the world.