CHINESE STREET-CRIES IN HONG KONG
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tickets are signed by the Registrar General and have a notice stamped on their back which states that crying out is prohibited in Chung-wan,* on the great road,† and on the sea side. For the first quarter of this year 1082 tickets for hawkers were issued and for the second quarter 1146.§
Assuming that every hawker cries once in a minute (many do it oftener) and that, on an average, his business keeps him out of doors for seven hours a day, this will make about half a million street cries every day. Besides these licensed hawkers, however, there are about as many other persons, old and young, who cry out with the object of attracting attention to their trade. This would give about one million street cries a-day on this Island. That may seem an extravagant calculation on my part; but if some one will stand for ten minutes on any spot in the busy parts of the Chinese quarter and count the street-criers who pass by, he will doubtless become inclined to agree with the above estimate.
After these preliminary remarks I will try to answer in a measure my friend's former question, "What does that fellow call out?"
I do not intend to give the Chinese Street cries as one hears them, and affix a translation, though that were the easiest plan; I would rather regard them as one of the many outward signs by which we learn the life of the Chinese around us, their moral and their domestic habits.
We will listen to the cries used for selling articles of food, fruit, and various articles for daily use; to the cries of those who buy refuse, and those who offer their services for repairing; of coolies, and to those in connection with idolatry.
The Chinese generally are early risers. Most of them will get up with the sun; then they dress, after which, rich as well as poor, look out for their warm water to wash in and have some tea. But the Congee hawker has been up an hour or two before sunrise; now he sallies forth, two boxes hanging from the pole over his shoulder, each containing a large cooking pot and a small wood-fire underneath. Every hawker cooks his own particular kind of
* the middle ring, i.e., the middle (European) part of the town.
† i.e., Queen's Road.
‡ i.e., Praya.
§ These particulars have been kindly furnished by the Actg. Registrar General.
[Save where stated all footnotes are by Mr. Nacken. Ed.]