292
4
Hong Kong Annual Administration Reports, 1841-1941
COLONIAL REPORTS—ANNUAL.
4. It will be easily understood that with the paralysis of trade in the North on the outbreak of active hostilities the entire trade of China was affected, and the godowns in Hongkong and Shanghai were filled to overflowing with imported merchandise of which the Chinese merchants were slow to take delivery. In the month of September a rebellious movement was started in the district of Weichou, north of the New Territory and Mirs Bay. The movement was not anti-foreign, and the insurgents refrained from interference with the villages in Tung Kun District in which the Basel Missions were established, nor, so far as I could learn, were any atrocities committed by them. It was a movement of a section of reformers that was not joined by the followers of Kang-Yu-Wei. The disturbance lasted for about a fortnight, and collapsed after several engagements with the Viceroy's troops under Admiral Ho, in one or two of which the rebels had some success. About four thousand lives were lost in the fighting, and the movement died out from the want of arms and ammunition, to prevent the smuggling of which the Police of Hongkong left nothing undone. The movement created considerable uneasiness in the district around Canton, one result of which was the transfer of a large amount of Chinese money to Hongkong for investment under the protection of the British flag. This may to some extent account for the increased sale of Crown land at enhanced prices during the year.
5. This small rebellion was, no doubt, attempted in consequence of the pre-occupation of the Imperial Government in the North, possibly with a view of inducing the allied Powers to secure peace in the South by a promise to consider the question of internal reform when the time arrived for the imposition of terms of peace upon the Imperial Government. I have heard from fairly well-informed sources this explanation of the rising. Had the Canton district responded, or had the Viceroy acted with less promptitude, the situation might have become very critical. The movement was distinctly anti-dynastic, as there was in the South among the Cantonese a strong feeling against, not alone the reigning dynasty, but against the people of the Northern provinces—a feeling of hostility apparently reciprocated by the Northern Chinese, who were quite as ready to murder a Cantonese as an American or European, and who look upon them as foreigners, if not "foreign devils." I had an illustration of this when the Boxer movement developed in Tientsin. A number of Cantonese young men were engaged in business in Tientsin, and some had gone there to attend the Chinese Medical School. These young men were regarded as foreigners, and found themselves in a position of great danger, and with no apparent means of escape. Some Chinese gentlemen here waited upon me, and, explaining the position, requested my good offices in assisting their return to Canton and Hongkong, saying that they were prepared to pay ten thousand dollars for the necessary expenses, as the lives of Cantonese would be
292
4
Hong Kong Annual Administration Reports, 1841-1941
COLONIAL REPORTS—ANNUAL.
4. It will be easily understood that with the paralysis of trade in the North on the outbreak of active hostilities the entire trade of China was affected, and the godowns in Hongkong and Shanghai were filled to overflowing with imported merchan- dise of which the Chinese merchants were slow to take delivery. In the month of September a rebellious movement was started in the district of Weichou, north of the New Territory and Mirs Bay. The movement was not anti-foreign, and the insurgents refrained from interference with the villages in Tung Kun District in which the Basel Missions were established, nor, so far as I could learn, were any atrocities committed by them. It was a movement of a section of reformers that was not joined by the followers of Kang-Yu-Wei. The disturbance lasted for about a fortnight, and collapsed after several engage- ments with the Viceroy's troops under Admiral Ho, in one or two of which the rebels had some success. About four thousand lives were lost in the fighting, and the movement died out from the want of arms and ammunition, to prevent the smuggling of which the Police of Hongkong left nothing undone. The move- ment created considerable uneasiness in the district around Canton, one result of which was the transfer of a large amount of Chinese money to Hongkong for investment under the pro- tection of the British flag. This may to some extent account for the increased sale of Crown land at enhanced prices during the year.
5. This small rebellion was, no doubt, attempted in conse- quence of the pre-occupation of the Imperial Government in the North, possibly with a view of inducing the allied Powers to secure peace in the South by a promise to consider the question of internal reform when the time arrived for the imposition of terms of peace upon the Imperial Government. I have heard from fairly well-informed sources this explanation of the rising. Had the Canton district responded, or had the Viceroy actedl with less prompitude, the situation might have become very critical. The movement was distinctly anti-dynastic, as there was in the South among the Cantonese a strong feeling against, not alone the reigning dynasty, but against the people of the Northern provinces--a feeling of hostility apparently recipro- cated by the Northern Chinese, who were quite as ready to murder a Cantonese as an American or European, and who look upon them as foreigners, if not "foreign devils." I had an illustration of this when the Boxer movement developed in Tientsin. A number of Cantonese young men were engaged in business in Tientsin, and some had gone there to attend the Chinese Medical School. These young men were regarded as foreigners, and found themselves in a position of great danger, and with no apparent means of escape. Some Chinese gentlemen here waited upon me, and, explaining the position, requested my good offices in assisting their return to Canton and Hong- kong, saying that they were prepared to pay ten thousand dollars for the necessary expenses, as the lives of Cantonese would be
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