KOWLOON, OLD CITY 2 (cont.)
612
it should have been made clear that This correspondent is correct the new pier is on a site well forward of the old one, and that the inscribed tablets have also been moved forward on to the reclamation.
In seven years' time, Hongkong will be celebrating the centenary of British rule, for it was in 1841 that Captain Elliott took possession of this island in the name of Great Britain.
It must not be thought however, that British associations with South China, go back only to that time, For centuries previous, the Honourable East India Company carried on an extensive trade with Canton. In fact, April 22 last month marked the 100th anniversary of the cessation of the East India Company's monopoly.
It is not within my province to tell the story of the greatest trading company in history. I am concerned with it only insofar as it was connected with South China, for its operations undoubtedly, if indirectly, led to Hongkong coming under British suzerainty.
It was during the days of the great "factories" at Canton that the term fan-kwae (Foreign Devil) originated. To-day the use of the term fan-kwae in Hongkong is an offence, punishable by law.
It came into use this way, The Chinese were confirmed in their low estimate of foreign character and culture by what seemed to them the singular fact that few of the foreigners were able to learn the Chinese language, or even conceive any appreciation of Chinese history, philosophy or literature, besides showing utter incapacity to comprehend the principles of Chinese policy, morality and etiquette. Nor did these barbarians exhibit any symptoms of religious life, so far as the Chinese could observe. They appeared to have no soul whatever above dollars and sensuous pleasures.
The more the Chinese saw of foreigners, the less they found themselves able to classify them with the other nations like the Koreans, Japanese, Loochooans, Annamese or Tibetans, all of whom readily appreciated and adopted Chinese culture and Chinese forms of religion and etiquette. Hence, they could only characterise the barbarians from Europe and America as foreign devils.
Right through the centuries since the European first came to China, the term fan-kwae has persisted. Among the better class Chinese it has completely died away, but it is still in common use among the coolie class.
Occasionally it slips out in the Courts, and on many an occasion, an excited witness has had to be reprimanded for referring to an Indian constable as "mo-lo kwae".
The term "Triad Society" is familiar to most residents of Hongkong.
From time to time they have read in the newspapers of members of this secret society being hauled before the Court, but their knowledge extends little further. Books could be written about the influence of Triad Societies on Hongkong, but the material is in the hands of those who would never divulge it.
Triad Societies flourished at a time when Mandarin misrule was taxing the pockets and the patience of China's millions. South China became honeycombed with secret societies, all with one object in view the overthrow of the Manchu dynasty. Principal among these Societies was the Triad Society.