126
H. J. LETHBRIDGE 24
the 1950s, when the British had acquired more sophisticated tastes in food and had travelled more. After 1950, the Hong Kong Chinese, in particular, exploited this new market. But, in the 1920s, although there were a few Chinese restaurants, especially in Soho, they tended to cater more for Asians than Europeans.
At an early date, these Chinese settlements acquired a reputation as places where the curious, or addicted, could smoke opium. Opium-smoking and gambling were traditional Chinese pastimes and, on the whole, did not create problems for British policemen. Such Chinese communities governed themselves and concealed their delinquencies from the outside world. Inevitably, secret societies (tongs) flourished.
Sir Montagu Williams Q.C. describes a visit to what he calls London's 'Chinese quarter' in the 1870s. It was situated in Limehouse, off the Ratcliff Highway. During the evening, he writes, 'we went to the Chinese quarter, where are to be found the opium dens.
As they emerged from an exploratory visit to one, Williams and his party heard cries of 'Amok! Amok!'. It appeared that some Chinese had been drinking with Englishwomen in a public house and a dispute had broken out with some foreigners (probably sailors). The Chinese had drawn knives, to defend themselves, and 'rushed upon all they met, stabbing, and cutting men, women, and children, indiscriminately'. The Police arrested the Chinese. Subsequently, Williams concludes, 'I had the satisfaction of seeing (as magistrate) the culprits tried and convicted'. On the whole, as Scotland Yard detectives were wont to affirm, the Chinese formed a peaceful community in the East End, unless of course they were driven to defend themselves, as, perhaps, in the incident given above. Since there were few nubile Chinese women in England, Chinese tended to marry Europeans or acquire common-law wives of the same stock (i.e., British women). Having inherited strong familial sentiments — a cornerstone of Chinese society as it once was — they made good husbands, a fact confirmed by the devotion of their wives (Mrs. Lock adored her husband, according to all accounts).
In most reports of the Chinese in England, from the 1850s to the 1930s, there is a considerable degree of stereotyping.
126