The face of China

by E. G. Kemp

VILLAGE AND JUNK

When there is a strong wind blowing it is wonderful to see how the boats go up-stream, despite the current, while the men sit down with beaming faces for a few minutes’ rest, or seize the opportunity to do a little washing. One merry fellow—the wag of the party—explained in pantomime that he wanted to see the soap with which we wash our hands, and was delighted when we gave him a little bit with which to wash a piece of cotton that he wraps round his head. They use very hot water but no soap for washing, and it is astonishing to see how clean they succeed in making their things. The tracker’s next bit of work was philanthropic to a degree! He carefully washed out his mouth, then filled it again with water and applied it to a gathering on the sole of the foot of another man, and began to draw out the pus. I put a stop to it, however, and attended to the foot in a more Western manner. This was the beginning of my looking after the various sores of our party, and from this time on I rarely lacked patients. It soon became rather ludicrous, for any one who got a scratched finger seemed to think it required my attention, and I much regretted not having supplied myself with a dresser’s case and a few simple requisites. Directly the man had had his foot attended to, he had to go on shore to track, with nothing but a straw sandal to protect the foot from stones and dirt. The endurance of the men is extraordinary, but happily they are insensitive to pain. A few days later a man came to me with a dreadful foot, swelled to almost double its proper size, and it was with great difficulty that I got the captain to allow him to stay on the boat instead of tracking (for one day), as he would have forfeited his wages for the whole trip if he were unable to fulfil his duty on a single occasion.

At intervals we passed small hamlets, and boats came alongside with various eatables, or charcoal, for sale. Half a pig was eyed most longingly by the men, and eventually they secured the head for a ridiculously small number of cash—exactly how many farthings they paid I could not see. Five pomeloes were to be had for one farthing apiece, and the cook was glad to get a fresh supply of charcoal. He spends the livelong day in his well—I do not know how else to describe it—with only his head and shoulders above the level of the deck. Close at hand is the drum on which it is his duty to beat instructions to the trackers when they are ashore. He is a most attractive subject for sketching, but is never still a moment except when he takes a nap, and then his head also disappears into the well, and he curls up, so that only his toes are visible. In my little sketch of him enjoying the fruits of his labour his long nails look like talons, and this is invariably the case when the nails are allowed to grow long: they are singularly repulsive, and the long silver nail-sheaths used by the gentry to conceal them are to be commended.

The days on the river slipped by very quickly, as there is always something fresh to watch, and if not rapids to go up every day, at all events there are difficult bits of navigation, and a certain anxiety attends the rounding of corners, when the current twists round with a threatening snarl. The picturesque villages make one long to stop and sketch, but one has to be content instead to try and jot down notes while passing alongside them. The accompanying sketch shows a typical one: the red flag was in honour of a royal birthday. A similar village is Kweichow (Hupeh), quite near the big town of Kweichow Fu (Szechwan). It lies along the high bank, and the lofty city wall extends in a sort of wide semi-circle up the bank above it, enclosing quite a large space of cultivated ground on the upper side of the town. The gates are closed at night, and no one can go in or out after the keys have been carried to the magistrate’s yamen.

THE LOOK-OUT ON THE YANGTZE

On the ninth day after leaving Ichang we came to a village which in the distance we took to be on fire, owing to the dense clouds of smoke rising from it. It proved, however, to be one of the famous salt-springs, and had only emerged from the river-bed about a week earlier, owing to the fall of the water. The people had at once set to work erecting huts alongside it, and preparing the salt for use; and they live there till the spring, when the rise of the river drives them up the bank again. These salt-springs are one of the most valuable products of the province, but the principal ones are nearer the centre of Szechwan, and they are all a Government monopoly. Dr. Macgowan states—as an illustration of the extraordinary patient perseverance of the Chinaman—that it takes forty years in some cases to bore a salt-well.

Close to this village is the picturesque city of Kweichow Fu, extending some distance along the river-bank, with temples and palaces, and a Union Jack flying over a mission-house, which rises high above the city wall. The steep slope below it, from which the river had so recently subsided, was already ploughed ready for a crop of corn. The Chinese seem always on the watch to use every inch of ground available for cultivation: they never seem to lose an opportunity, or to grudge any amount of trouble. We climbed up the bank and a flight of steps, leading through a lofty gateway into the town. The streets were narrow and dirty, and thronged with people; but we turned aside to the attractive Union Jack, where we met with a warm welcome, even before we announced that we were bringing up belated stores from down the river. We set out almost immediately to visit an interesting palace, belonging to an Earl who had become famous during the Taiping war—a case of “la carrière ouverte aux talents.” The façade and walls of the palace were curiously decorated with mosaic, formed from broken bits of pottery. There are shops for the purchase and sale of broken china and earthenware for this express purpose.

On entering the courtyard we saw handsome square gilt tablets—the gift of the Emperor to the late Earl—which were set up corner-wise over the entrance to an inner courtyard. At the farther end of this second court was a sort of reception-room, entirely open in front, containing chairs and tables and other beautiful furniture from Canton, a series of family portraits, and an ancestral tablet, with incense sticks burning in front of it. On either side of this room were doors leading into the living-rooms of the family. We wandered through side courts into the spacious garden, laid out in true Chinese style, with little stucco fountains and pools and streams, and many summer-houses, all furnished with couches for the guests attending opium-smoking parties. There were many kinds of shrubs and trees, some brought from long distances; also pomelo and orange trees laden with fruit. A beautiful oblong tank was full of lotos plants, and had a tiny boat on it; but over everything brooded the sadness of decay and the memory of a departed glory.