CHINESE CONTACTS

Evening Star, Issue 19327, 13 August 1926, Page 3

CHINESE CONTACTS

SIDELIGHTS OH PEOPLE'S CHARACTER

Wandering through the streets of Shanghai- at night, passing _ from Europe into Asia and back again, and then from a bit of England over into France, and from tho atmosphere of Oxford street into that of the lino do Rivoli, one grows to fool that this is all a great spectablc, a sort of international exposition, arranged for the bewilderment and delight of the iarcomo stranger (writes “M.T.G.,” in tho ‘Christian Science Monitor’). It seems altogether impossible that this place, overilowing with surprises, rich in exotic color, always different in its fascination, offering its pictures of the life of every race and nation, can be a part of tho matter-of-fact, everyday world, the growth of threequarters of a century of constantly developing and expanding commerce and barter engaged in by tho representatives of all peoples. Yes, that is the abiding impression. Shanghai, the so-called International Settlement and tho Chinese city of uncounted hordes together, holds its place in one’s thought as a vast stage upon which are played more parts than over an Occidental mind can comprehend, whero thcrQ is revealed everchanging series of fantastic pictures as no Western eye has hitherto beheld, where life seems too picturesque to be real, and where every succeeding night stroll offers something new. For it is at night that one must wander about Shanghai in order to train those contacts which afford a real insight into Chinese life and ite blending with the lives of every Western people. Strolling along the superlatively active Scheuaen road on© night, where, in an Oriental atmosphere, the traders of a dozen European countries are commencing to find a foothold, came at length to a turning; and, behold, in a dozen strides 1 was out ot Asia and into America! x I had come, - altogether without knowing it, into the American residential quarter, into such a section of broad boulevards, fine homes, broad lawns, and well-metalled surfaces as suggested the suburbs ol Detroit or St. Louis. A ’riksha was passing—’riksh'as are always at hand in Shanghai and in it I rodo smoothly and silently along fine, shaded streets until hv and by, to my astonishment, I was in tie open country, hearing from the

fields tho call of tho frogs in their shallow pools, that unmistakable reminder of New England on just such a fair April evening as was this. It was too bewildering to bo real! Out of China and into New England, and the atmosphere of each as unmistakable as the North Star yonder, tho star of both hemispheres! We came then to a gateway, a high, heavily wired fence on either side, a sentry box and a tall Sikh guard. It was tho boundary of the International Settlement; for all this, tho Chinese and tho European, the American homos, the fields and tho New England frogs in their pools, wan inside the foreign concession! Such is the immense size of tho extraterritorial section, more than eight miles square, peopled by well upward of 1,000,000, yet having still its broad, open spaces, and its ample room for more Westerners, who come with every steamer, in many cases to stay. Another street, and a tramcar running strangely without rails and upon well-padded tyres, was at hand. After many turnings through streets of alternate light and darkness, it came into Bubbling Well road, tho English residential part, as suggestive of tho environs of Birmingham as the avenue of Marshal-.Toff re, in the French city farther to the south, is of tho Bois de Boulogne. Down cityward the 'same euphoniously named wavs merge with Nanking road, where the host of tho Oriental shops—Chinese, Japanese, Indian—vie with tho tempting displays of England and France and the "United States for tho patronage of the forty-five different peoples of Shanghai. Here are ivory art objects from Clanton, there are jars of preserved pineapples from Honolulu: on the other side are hats from the best-known house in England, a step or two beyond is a well-known toilet article manufactured in an eastern city of the United States! All that the world produces and trades in is found in a remarkable -store, which bears the curious but suggestive name of the Sincere Co., Ltd. Across Nanking road, equally alight, thronged by the Chinese and Europeans of Shanghai, is another almost as largo, the Sun Company, and just beyond another. Wing Oil, Ltd. “ Shopping ” in such places is a revelation, a delight—and a temptation. For, with the advantages of location in a free port, one finds such prices here as are not encountered elsewhere, with

the goods of all countries as cheap as, or cheaper than, at homo after one has mastered the complexities of money-small money” system in Shanghai to-day. But there is another “ shopping ’ district, a large one, and, though not likely to lead tho Westerner to much expenditure, equally fascinating. Mounting another 'riksha and turning into any of tho vivid narrow streets which lead from Nanking road vfo arc at once inextricably lost in its mazes. Hero are astonishing sights, more astonishing places ot barter, and extremely compelling methods of setting forth the merits of the goods. Before a shop which seems to deal in Chinese apparel a lusty-voiced youth is demanding attention. He. offers one strange garment after another, tossing them about with incredible rapidity, tho while chanting a discourse upon their desirability. It is a sort of singsong, not unlike tho South Seas manner of expatiating upon tho redoubtable qualities of warlike ancestors. Wo of tho West find it effective, but it arouses no enthusiasm among the crowds of Orientals. _ All the way along tho street the sing-song continues. It blends with tho little tinkling bells on the movable “ shops ” of tho itinerant locksmith and with the warning cries of tho ’riksba man; with the plaintive calls of the kerbside cobbler, and of the vendor of strange viands who brings his “ restaurant” to his customer; with the dreadful clamor from somewhere above which signifies a Chinese theatre in full operation, with its shouts, groans, ami falsetto shrieks from the “actors,” accompanied by an awful din from drums, bells, tin pans, and trumpets. All is the fantastic, exotic, for ever unforgettable symphony peculiar to and inseparable from a Chinese street at night. And I wonder sometimes as I stroll here and there through miles of such streets in China, noting now and then the delicate tinkle of some little temple bell clear and high above the harsher melody, whether it all would not furnish a worthy theme to the musician who could understand and interpret it. But now I an \t. a manner of speaking, far afield s enong these interminable streets, anX I" find, a little to my dismay, that not only does my ’riksha man know not a word of English, but ho is not even proficient in “ pidgin,” that universal dialect cast of Suez. I desire to return to the Bund, or to some locality with which my short stay in Shanghai has brought me somo familiarity. A throng quickly gathers, interested in the plight of the white man here among only Chinese, interested but altogether unequal to the situation. Tho

shops empty, hordes of children crowd about, there is keen interest, albeit entirely friendly. But the occasion is not ono to be overlooked. Perhaps f am tho first European who has come that way for weeks. Finally a “ student ” appears, longgowned, bespectacled, inordinately dignified. Ho is able to assist, and docs so with much ceremony and with a flawless courtesy which I, ip my less finished Western fashion, strive in vain 1.0 emulate. Wo are, then, off for tho Bund Presently I descry a familiar street, and indie,ate a desire to turn that way. But the coolie will have none of it. He has been told to go to the Bund, and, despite my urgings and expostulations, to tho Bund ho trots with no slackening of pace until, more or less breathless, he draws up ,by tho ferry pontoon before the very imposing structure of the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank, there to stand and regard mo witli the manner of one who has done his full duty as directed and expects appreciation thereof. Concentration! That is it. 'When tho Chinese starts to do one thing it is that to which he gives his attention, and nothing at all can divert him Along that line he achieves, and the power of absolute concentration on the matter in hand is characteristic in the master as in tho coolie. In it lies, perhaps, tho real strength of Chinese character. Supplemented, supported, by a very high degree of intelligence, an extraordinary patience, a broad tolerance, and a very warm, intensely human heart, it demands for tho Chinese who is really typical of his race a high dogroo of consideration and regard.