:
219
The charitable view of the whole question
is of importance, and should not be forgotten. The actual payment of money in the transaction of the
deed of gift does not shock the conscience of Chinese,
as the reasons that have led to the sale of a child
are always borne in mind: abuses of the whole system,
and ill treatment of muui-tsai are as much abominated
by the better Chinese as by the better Europeans,
but the payment of a sum of money for the deed of
gift has at least a flavour of charity for its ultimate reason, and in itself and apart from its abuses, is not viewed as in any way immoral or wrong. The custom covers all the best Chinese The most
Europeanised and the most thoughtful in Hong Kong
-
-
as elsewhere: and the system, generally speaking,
is viewed as working for the good of the mui-tsai
themselves. Their total numbers would reach a very large figure: much too big for any Charitable
Institutions or even for the Government to handle
direct: and this reason alone would make it difficult- suddenly) or impossible to interfere in any radical manner
with the solution the natives have found for such
a difficult question. I becomes a matter of raining the standard
a whole nation.
qa
The attitude of the Chinese people may be
illustrated by the fate of Chan King Wa's attempt to alter the system in Canton shortly after the Revolution
of 1911 which ended the Empire. Chan, nominally
Chief of Police in Canton, exercised vary wide powers E throughout the Province, and no one quarrelled with his position (which included the power of life and death, very freely used) till his successful
administration
: