CO129-595-1 Anti-British feeling in China- memorandum by J V Braga 15-2-1946 - 15-8-1946 — Page 20

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lady, a Hrs. Lo, waiting patiently at a counter. We approached her

and exchanged greetings. Presently an Englishwoman came up to the

same counter. A British official of the bank promptly jumped up from

nis desk, attended to her, and then resumed his seat. A British

ilitary officer, a Dane and a Swiss friend of mine followed, and the

bank official attended courteously to each in turn. Before again

returning to his seat, he addressed Mrs. Lo in a very supercilious

Lanner, "The clerk is busy at the moment. On his return he vill

attend to you. She bowed and said, "Thank you." As we were about ·

to leave the Chinese headmaster expressed regret that she had been

standing so long. I heard her reply in Chinese, "Tai kwok chu i"

i.e., "Imperialism". (Literally: The Great Country's will.)

(I need

not go into details, but I have good reason to believe that the

British official was aware of Ere. Lo's standing with the bank and

that she spoke good English.) Later, Mr. Wong said to me, "We Chinese

quite appreciate that Britishers should give their own people priority,

but, tell me, why is Mrs. Lo treated in that way?" Without pausing

for a reply he went on, "If that bank official attended to her as he

had those uropeans he would be an exception, and we Chinese would

respect and esteem him. What do you think Mrs. Lo feels while stand-

ing there? Both from Chinese and European standards, she is a

cultured lady; her word is law in a large household; she has much influence in Chinese circles; and, as a client, she is doubtless many times more valuable to the bank than those four Europeans put together.

Nevertheless, Mrs. Lo has to stand and wait like an amah before being

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