Directory_and_Chronicle_1850 — Page 130

1850.

Men and Things in Shanghái.

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suppositions, I fancy, are correct. Here again, as in the case above of the census, delinquencies are pointed out and punishments threatened. How far these delinquencies extend, I am unable to determine.

This city is increasing, both in the extent of its business and number of its inhabitants. A more heterogeneous mass, however, it would be difficult to find. All the extremes of character in the empire are here brought together, so that it is difficult sometimes to tell which is, and which is not the indigenous part.

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Among the worst, as most believe, are the Canton men-not those from the provincial city, but rather those from the more eastern and southern districts. Next in badness, and next, if not first in enter- prise are the Fuhkien men. There are different clans of these men, and they have their respective public halls. In this thing, they are about to be imitated by the Cantonese, who have purchased land in the city, and are preparing to build for themselves a Kung-so. These "Southrons" are a terror to the quiet people of the north, and the officers dread coming into collision with them, since when this hap- pens the authorities are usually resisted, and often set at naught and maltreated. The chief magistrate, the chihien, has recently issued a pro- clamation requiring that all these people, the Canton and the Fuhkien, be registered by the managers of their respective public halls. numerous, and far more tractable, are the Ningpo men. The "Green tea-men" are of a similar caste, more sober-minded, and perhaps less cunning. A full account of all the varieties of Chinese to be met with here would form a very interesting chapter in your journal.

The last year, the 29th of Táukwáng, it is said will be written down in Chinese history a year of famine. The number of distressed peo- ple has been, and is still very great. The long and heavy rains in spring and summer covered with a deluge of water almost the whole of the immense plains of Kiángnán. The consequences have been, a failure of the crops, especially that of cotton, and great mortality among the people. Few, very few families, have escaped the scourge of disease in some shape. New cases of fever and ague, dysentery, and such like are now infrequent. But in the city and suburbs, mul- titudes are still famishing.

Distribution of food among the poor people of Shanghái, is being carried on to a limited extent by order of the local officers. The plan is this: contributions are solicited and obtained from the rich and benevolent; and these, at a given rate and by order of the magistrate, are portioned out to those families and individuals, who have been registered as pin min, “poor people." It would seem that a