CANTON AND ITS RIVER

Evening Star, Issue 19776, 28 January 1928, Page 21

CANTON AND ITS RIVER

A TRAVELLER'S IMPRESSIONS JOSTLE OF VARIED LIFE [Written by J. S. Martin, for the ‘ Evening Star.’] China is a riddle that CEdipus himself could not unriddle. It is, of course, only part of the world riddle, but for that reason the more baffling. The vast extent of Chinese territories, their varied inhabitants and differing interests, and the ingrained fatalism of its staple religions, together with the savagery that lurks like a venomous snake behind the ignorance and in the iveakness of human nature, are but a few of the factors to be taken into account. That there have been, and are, many 'Chinese who are at heart patriots is indisputable. Dr Sun Yatsen, the late Dictator of Canton, may be cited. But the disillusionment that inevitably comes to the man who builds upon the possible immediate perfectibility of human nature, and the clashing of the multitudinous interests involved have weakened or soured them. The common opinion among the British population along the South China littoral is that the vast majority of the Chinese leaders are fighting for their own hand, and it is common talk that the bulk of the “ squeeze,” blackmail, or illegal taxation under which the country writhes is deposited to the credit of the chief brigand in some bank without Chinese territory or control.

The stay-at-home politician and the joy-ride investigator can, of course, solve the Chinese and the _ world’s puzzle with the utmost anticipatory satisfaction to themselves by the mere waving of the wizard wands of their ignorance and imaginary emancipatory mandates; but, alas, the most soundly puzzled of all the spectators of the game is the man on the spot or the man who has been there. That there should be so much movement among the phlegmatic and quiescent Chinese is not the least part of the puzzle. Much, of course, is due to cupidity and “ squeeze.” Other movements are toward self-preservation. “Squeeze” is a part of the Chinese nature, and when the Chinaman rises against it in masses it may be taken that he has been pushed to the verge of despair by oppression and extortion. As an instance of the of “squeeze,” I was informed by a ship’s officer that when a ship’s boy is engaged it is believed that the agent, or crimy, gets all his wages. Asked how tho boy (for which read “man”) existed in these circumstances, the answer was a negative sha.ke of the head. The same officer told me of a Chinese ho’sun, who, at tho beginning .of a voyage offered the ship’s master 25 Hongkong dollars, and on being brushed aside kept increasing the sum until it reached 50 dollars. At this point the master lost patience and forbade the subject to be mentioned in his presence. My informant had himself similar experiences. On one occasion he asked his boy to' get for him a piece of silk and a canary that a friend at home had commissioned him to procure. The boy, of course, could obtain them at a price impossible to himself. The boy carried out the officer’s_ instructions and then persistently tried to refuse payment, which had to be forced upon him. When, at the end of September last, I announced in Hongkong that I was going to Canton , there were some liftings of eyebrows and shruggings of shoulders. I found that a steamer was due to leave somewhere about midnight—l2.3o I think. Owing to the moist heat and other circumstances, T had not been able to get much sleep for, some time. In order to make this leeway up I went aboard the steamer about 10.30. I was rather proud of my booking, which indicated state room No. 1. But my satisfaction did not endure. The room was all right, and the environment would doubtless have given satisfaction to many; but I counted among the exceptions. The trouble lay in the bar, the door of which faced mine at a distance of a few feet across the alleyway. Doubtless this was for the convenience of No. 1 man. irony lurked in the misfit. ■ Before I retired to bed I opened the railway carriage window-like port in order to let in the fresh air. Looking out I discovered that a number of coolies had laid themselves down to sleep on the jetty,, and one immediately under ray window had roused himself, i or been aroused, and was diligently exploring the folds of his scanty shirt for some objects or creatures unseen. Hastily closing the window, I determined to rely upon the internal ventilator until I felt movement beneath me. My attention was now taken by the bar. When at sea in hot latitudes my ears bad become slightly deafened by the heat melting the wax. I now wished that they had been wholly stopped. In the bar glasses clinked and tongues chattered, and then a dispute arose, and a foreign voice kept insisting that its owner knew the rules of the ship. Every declaration of knowledge (which one gathered was also of independence) was supported by a resounding thump on some hollow wooden object, presumably a table. The outcry increased, and I found myself speculating as to the possibility of a bullet thudding into the partition above my bead. At last the usual sounds of a steamer getting under way overwhelmed or perhaps stopped the sounds. When the movements of the vessel indicated that we had left the jetty I got up' timl lowered the window. It was 1.30 o’clock.

From a brief, uneasy slumber. I awoke in the grey of the morning, and stuck my head out of the port. We were passing bare, grey-green rocky islands strongly reminiscent of the Scottish Hebrides. I shaved, washed, and went on deck. It will be observed that I omit the detail of dressing. The steamer was making its way with steady plugging motion between flat green ricefields. The patient industry of the Chinese may be estimated from the circumstance that every green stalk in those widespread fields had been hand-set or planted from close-grown seed beds. In the fields at_ intervals trees appeared. I mention this because trees are the reverse of plentiful in the Celestial Empire, which, in the opinion of a tree-lover, rather takes from the virtue of the title. Numerous waterways could be seen threading the delta. A man grubbed in the silt at the river’s edge; two others pulled a sampan into a creek. Sampan means three planks. Figures of workmen strung themselves out across the fields like ducks going to water.

On distant elevations there appeared pagodas that reminded me of tall corrugated chimney stacks. Hills now loomed out of the morning mists—range upon range, some serrated, some humped. Some of the nearer ridges were colored in sand-green and umber. At places little clumps of trees allowed glimpses of homesteads. The water had a muddy, sickly look. We were now passing small fishing boats, each occupied by two women, one fishing and the other rowing. The boats had twin little gipsy tent covers. I now observed that the fore, or working, part of the ship was cut off from the main deck by loop-holed sheet-iron partitions, and the after-part, where the Chinese passengers travelled, by iron grills. I did not at first pay much im ihoca Ltainzao. out I was

startled out of my apathy by seeing a uniformed Indian soldier, or policeman, armed with rifle and revolver, apparently peering at mo past one of the deckhouses. He was in reality watching the after part of the ship. A much too common practice is for Chinese pirates to ship as passengers, and attempt to take the crew and the other passengers by surprise. We now' began to meet junks in pairs and threes, convoyed by armed launches as a precaution against the pirates who lurk in the fens and hinterland of the river delta and issue in boats to attack the,weaker or unsuspecting craft. At no time within the history of the white man’s association with China has the intricately channelled delta been without nests of ■ pirates, and the confusion and oppression of recent years has added to the number that was already legion. Entire communities are said to practise what, like the wild Kurds of Asia Minor, is in their eyes a perfectly legitimate calling. To ordinary outward appearance, of course, these communities are peaceful units of the Celestial Empire. Where the ground sloped up from the river it was terraced, so that the water pumped up by the ancient shadoof system might be distributed“down the terraces for irrigation purposes. Other prominent features were the übiquitous horseshoe tombstones that dotted the slopes. These stones represent, as a rule, not the first burial, but the bones remaining after a period usually of some ten years, and in an urn. The urns are deposited in some spot convenient for worship. By and by the country became more diversified. Up pleasant tributaries we could glimpse groves of trees and picturesque villages with pagodas and temples. Sometimes villages abutted on the river, which was fringed by bamboos, willows, or wading mangroves. The river traffic multiplied rapidly. Besides junks and sampans, double-bowed slipper boats became plentiful. Before we reached Canton we met a quaint steamer propelled by a stern paddle wheel. But perhaps the strangest of all the river craft were the four-decked passenger boats. Clumsier _ than a Dutch smack, and painted in strong gaudy colors, these vessels might have been uncouth junks of the line of battleships in the old days of our own wooden walls, ante-dating the day of the razzle-dazzle camouflage, as the Chinese have done other modern European inventions. The multitude of moving craft was added to by an innumerable flotilla of houseboats, deepsea steamers, and some gunboats of various nationalities. Even with its vast territories, for various reasons the rivers of China are largely used’as home sites. It is computed—although all Chinese estimates are open to question and criticism—that some 600,000 persons have their permanent homes on the Canton River. Whole communities are born, married, exist, and die on these boats. How the multitudes of water dwellers obtain means to sustain life is a problem the outsider finds insoluble. But he cannot fail to notice that the occupants are mostly women and children, and so presumes that the majority of the men are ashore in the scrambling multitudes, who show a most remarkable vigor when the apparent poverty of their tood is taken into account.

Like most British names for Chinese places, Canton is a corruption, in this instance of the name of the province, which is Kwangtung. While in Canton I passed through many miles of thickly populated, narrow, odoriferous streets that were mere lanes. How sanitation is achieved in these areas, and how the inhabitants survive the smells is another part of the many-sided puzzle. I have seen open, irridescent sewers take the place of gutters. And yet with it all there is a very great virility. Cheeky small boys will shout “Fang gwai-lo ” (foreign devil) and “ Moneo,” and hold out dingy palms, while sallow-faced, pig-tailed, soft-eyed little lasses stand placidly at gaze. In remarkable contrast to tho ebullition of the boys is the corpse-like quiescence of the babies strapped to their mothers’ backs that one sees even in Hongkong. As a set-off to their general disregard of cleanliness, the Chinese place greatemphasis upon the use of the tooth brush, and that mysterious contrivance and rather painful weapon of offence against uncleanliess, the tongue-scraper, both of which are objects of manufacture and prominent sale. In his peregrinations through the multitudinous narrow streets, with their open-fronted shops and stalls, the stranger never quite frees his mind from the impression that it is all some gigantic exhibition ol craftsmanship, and, if his ‘ expeditions are extensive, he will think it a very comprehensive exhibition. The exhibition feeling will be especially strong where the fine craft of carving or working in jewellery or gold embroidery is carried on. But all the common crafts may be seen in operation, from the blacksmith with his forgo to the maker of wooden sandals that go clip-clop, olip-clop in the silence of the night, or the old woman at her spinning wheel. Not the least prominent objects of these narrow streets are the food stalls and those who partake of food. At first I thought that tho _ Chinaman spent his forenoons in eating, but I came to learn that the morning meal extends from 10 o’clock to 12 o’clock, and that the next meal is in the evening. Your genuine Chinaman does not litter himself up with any elaborate ritual of eating. A small nee bowl and chop-sticks represent his outfit. Sometimes ho will sit at a table, but ns often as not a company will crouch on their calves around several bowls filled ■with fish, meat, or salad, and a main bowl of rice. Having copped a base of rice into his bowl by means of bis chop-sticks, he carefully selects a supply of vegetable and fish or meat, still using those implements. When these ingredients have been placed in his rice bowl he hurriedly scoops a quantity of the mixture into his mouMi, and then acquires a further supply of what the Scots call “kitchen,” to season and strengthen the rice base. In contrast to tho familiar corrugated pagoda towers and the dragon temple roofs, plain square or oblong sky-scraping buildings are not uncommon. These are pawnshops and strong rooms, in which not only are valuables stored, but the poor pawn their summer or winter suits according to. the seasonal changes. A centre of interest in the eyes of the outside world and not less so in the eyes of the Chinese is tho Shameen, which lies between the Shameen Canal and the river. This canal skirts the native quarters, and like all the other waterways has many houseboats, which, however, may only lie on the native side. The Shameen side is sacred to the British, french, and Japanese entourage. With its broad ways, fine trees, and tennis and football grounds, and unobstructed water fronts, not to forget the one European hotel in the city, the Shameen is an object lesson. One must not, of course, omit the gaudy turbans of the Sikh soldiers or the Oriental French sentries on the bridge at the French section. The barbed wire, too, may not be forgotten. 'The Shameen is an island that formerly did not exist. The pseudo-politician and _ other veiled or open enemies of Britain v:ho cry out for the evacuation of China by British and other nationals can have no conception of the nature of any land* leased by, bought by, or conceded to, Britain, or tne security of tenure enjoyed by the natives there. For productive purposes all such land was in the beginning utterly valueless. The Shameen is an A small island close to th ebund or river front was once offered to the Dutch in the belief that it, was useless. Also in this belief, the Dutch declined the gift. It is now known as Dutch Folly. In the same spirit th© Manchu Dynasty (since deposed), at the request of the British and French, for some place from which do control the protection of their nationals, offered at a nominal rent a sandbank that, was covered

at high water, known as Sandy Face. Besides suffering this immersion the sandbank was a cowp, or dunghill, for the unspeakable garbage of the Chinese city. The canning Manchus thought that they 'were playing with the foreign devils, and their amazement will be understood when the present oasis began to take form. Any attempt at definite prophecy regarding the immediate future of China would be foolish. Acute observers are, however, agreed on the ultimate issue of one external and contingent phase. If the trade,_ industry, and power among the teeming multi-

tudes that. populate the long littoral from Penang to Pekin is not to fall into-the hands of the Chinese, the attitude of the whites must undergo a radical change. One thing is sure: at home or abroad the Chinese question is one that no patriotic Briton dare neglect except at his Empire’s peril.