CHAPTER VII.
DESCRIPTION Of CANTON—SACKING OF THE CITY—PLACE OF HONOUR—MOURNING—COMPASS—MATERIALS FOR BUILDINGS—HOUSES—PRINCIPAL OFFICES—DUTIES AND PENALTIES OF GOVERNOR—FIRES—GOVERNOR’S SALARY—DIVISION OF POWER.
DESCRIPTION OF CANTON.
The name of Canton on Chinese maps, is written Kwang-tung-sang-ching, that is, the capital of the province of Kwang-tung, but when speaking of the city, the natives call it san-ching, the “provincial city,” or the “capital of the province.” It is built on the north bank of Choo-keang or Pearl river, stands inland and is in a direct line, about sixty miles from “the great sea.” The scenery around the city, in the adjacent country, is rich and diversified, but deficient in boldness or grandeur.
On the north and northeast of the city, the country is hilly and mountainous. In every other direction a wide prospect opens to the view of the beholder. The rivers and canals, which are very numerous, abound with fish, and are covered with a great variety of boats, which are continually passing to and from the neighbouring towns and villages. Southward from the city, as far as the eye can see, the waters cover a considerable portion, perhaps a third of the whole surface. Rice-fields, and gardens, occupy the lowlands, which are diversified with a few hills, rising here and there, to relieve the otherwise unbroken aspect. The extent of the city, including all within and without the walls, is not very great; though very populous, it derives its chief importance from its extensive domestic and foreign trade. Canton is one of the oldest cities in this part of the empire; since the foundations were first laid, it has undergone numerous changes.
It is not easy, perhaps impossible, to determine its original site and name, or to ascertain the time in which it was first built. Although either of the questions is unimportant to the reader, a brief account of what the Chinese themselves narrate, respecting one of their largest and most populous cities, may interest him. Their classics speak of Canton being in existence four thousand years since; that it was then called Nan-keaon, and Ming-too, “the splendid capital.” It first began to pay tribute to the emperors of China in the year B. C. 1123. The historians of the empire are only able to trace the origin of Canton to the last emperors of the Chow dynasty, two thousand years since; it was then surrounded by a stockade, composed of bamboo and mud. We find it was but little visited by foreign vessels till the year one thousand before Christ, when they held intercourse with eight “barbarous” nations, from Teeu-chuh (India.)
In the time of the western or Han dynasty, two hundred years previously to the Christian era, persons came from Canton, Loo-whang-che and other nations in the south. The nearest nation was about ten days’ journey and the most remote, five months’; their territories were large and populous and they possessed rare commodities. In the year one hundred and seventy-six of Christ, vessels from India and Egypt, or Arabia, “came with tribute;” from this time trade was carried on with foreigners, at Canton. In the year seven hundred, an imperial commissioner was first appointed to receive “fixed duties;” ninety-five years subsequently, all foreign vessels (owing to gross extortion) resorted to Cochin-China. After the fall of the Tang dynasty, A. D. 906, five dynasties arose, reigned and fell, within a period of fifty-three years. A tribute in gold, silver, ivory and other valuable commodities, was sent to the successor of Tang, to the amount of five millions of taels. In consequence of this acknowledgment, the emperor created Lewyen, “King of Canton” or “King of the Southern sea.” At this period, the court of Canton was cruel in the extreme—criminals were flayed, boiled and roasted, thrown on spikes, and forced to fight with tigers and elephants. The city was freed from the monster, (Lewyen,) by the founder of the Shang dynasty, in the year of the Christian era, nine hundred and sixty-four; it subsequently became more prosperous and beautiful; witches and wizards were prohibited; sorcery was interdicted; the temples which had been built for the practice of superstitious rites, were thrown down; the people were forbidden to offer the sacrifice of human life, to demons; they were enjoined to relieve the sufferers from noxious diseases which are prevalent; dispensaries of medicine were established; useless and extravagant articles of apparel were discountenanced, and pearls and ornaments for head-dresses were disallowed. In the year one thousand and sixty seven, a wall, about two English miles in circumference, enclosed the city to protect it against the Cochin-Chinese. In the year twelve hundred, “foreigners resident” received metals, silks, &c., and in return, they gave rhinoceros’s horns, elephant’s teeth, coral, pearls, gems, crystals, foreign cloth, pepper, red-wood, and drugs. In the year fourteen hundred, one hundred and twenty houses were built for the accommodation of foreigners.—In sixteen hundred and forty seven, the present Tartar family came into power; Canton was summoned to submit to its new master; on refusing, its walls were beaten down with great cannon, and on the twenty-fourth of November, sixteen hundred and fifty, it was taken:—for six days the inhabitants “were given to the sword,” the city was plundered—and upward of seven hundred thousand persons were slain, during the siege, and six days’ slaughter: “every house was left desolate!” only one house remains standing which was built before the sacking of the old city. That part of the city which is walled in is nearly square, and divided by a partition-wall, running from east to west; the northern, much the largest part, is called the “old city;” the southern portion, more recently built, the “new city.”
The circuit of the wall does not exceed six miles: its southern part, running east and west, is parallel with the river, from which it is removed about fifteen or twenty rods: on this side are the “Foreign Factories;” on the north, the city rests on the brow of the hill, and is at its highest point about two hundred and fifty feet above the surface of the river. The foundation and lower part of the wall, the arches and the gates, are formed of coarse sandstone; its remaining portion is built with soft brick. The walls are from twenty-five to forty feet high, and from twenty to twenty-five feet thick; the north side being the most substantial; on the east side the elements have made great havoc: a line of battlements with embrasures surmounts the walls, in the rear of which is a broad pathway. Two short walls, designed to block up the narrow space between the main wall and the ditches of the city, extend from its southeast and southwest corners; through each of these there is a gate.
The city has sixteen gates, of which twelve are outer, and four open through the wall which separates the old from the new city; they are all guarded by soldiers, closed at an early hour in the evening, and opened at dawn of day. The streets and buildings in the suburbs are similar to those in the city, the houses of which occupy the whole space between the wall and the river on its southern side; on its eastern quarter they are much less extensive; and in its northern division there are only a few solitary huts. The houses on the south are generally built against the wall which they overlook.