Moreover, when the model letter is addressed to someone in authority, at that time, almost by definition a European, the formality and respectfulness approaches servility.
The actual content of many of the expressions used in the book also reveals much about social attitudes and practices. Under "Words in Common Use", for example, one finds "Cumshaw", "We thrashed the thief", and "The teacher flogged this boy”. In "Short Sentences", one sees "Take bribes", "Learn by heart", "Good memory", "Worship at the tombs", "Study hard”, “Give presents", "He Got the Plague”, and “smoke Opium”. The “Long Sentences" include "Humbugging about", "He is fond of drinks”, "I beg you to recommend me”, “Give me a cumshaw”, and “I undersell him". Amongst the model letters, one discovers two applications to hospitals to make their charges moderate (pp. 436-437), as well as formal letters of application, resignation, requests for sick-leave and special leave, etc. (pp. 406-410), which were clearly intended as templates. In the same section, in addition to the routine business correspondence about bills of lading, the sale of property, etc., and the applications to Government departments for licences and permits, one finds letters politely complaining about drains and the failure of the water supply (pp. 439-440), a letter about a scheme to provide aid to a district in China after the onset of a natural disaster there (p. 442), and another about emigration to the United States. But the classic letter must be the one addressed to the Officer in Charge of No. 2 Police Station, bringing to his notice the fact that there is a dead body lying in the road, outside the letter-writer's house, and apologizing for the trouble given. (p. 438).
Only part of the significance of English Made Easy derives from the formal, external poses it presents which appear to accept and condone the excesses of a colonial regime and a discriminatory society. In the very early twentieth century, there was no feasible alternative, other than departure from Hong Kong. Also significant is the fact that a man like Mok Man Cheung took the trouble to write the book. With all its idiosyncrasies and its errors
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