223
In Canton were two small machine shops where foot engines and automatic tools were used to make such articles as screws and cylinder wheels. Nearby was a printery with a machine press and movable type.
Tailors and seamstresses were using American sewing machines, probably Singers, in spite of the opposition of the tailors guild.
Canton was also showing progress architecturally. Glass was replacing oyster shells in windows, venetian blinds took the place of shutters.
A few shops even had plate glass windows. Their interiors were adorned with elaborate kerosene lighted chandeliers and ornamental clocks ticked away the hours.
Foreign-style furniture was invading the living quarters of the prosperous merchant,
In shops, even in areas where foreigners were seldom seen, one could buy such familiar European products as Huntley and Palmer's biscuits, Bass' beer, Eau de Cologne and Florida Water, Keatings cough lozenges and worm tablets.
As the report put it, shop shelves had home brands and familiar labels of “foreign eatables, drinkables, smellables, and seeables.”
Waxing poetic but with an air of superiority, the article concluded: "These are the first buddings of that graft of our Western civilisation which after many failures is beginning slowly and unostentatiously to transform a dry and withered stock into a new life and verdure ere long to bear blossom and fruit.”
Ho A-mei was one of the pioneers of the process.
OUTSPOKEN HO A-MEI
Ho A-mei left his position with the Kwangtung customs administration about 1877 and returned to Hongkong where he became
Page 240
Page 241
223
In Canton were two small machine shops where foot engines and automatic tools were used to make such articles as screws and cylinder wheels. Nearby was a printery with a machine press and movable type.
Tailors and seamstresses were using American sewing ma- chines, probably Singers, in spite of the opposition of the tailors guild.
Canton was also showing progress architecturally. Glass was replacing oyster shells in windows, venetian blinds took the place of shutters.
A few shops even had plate glass windows. Their interiors were adorned with elaborate kerosene lighted chandeliers and orna- mental clocks ticked away the hours.
Foreign-style furniture was invading the living quarters of the prosperous merchant,
In shops, even in areas where foreigners were seldom seen, one could buy such familiar European products as Huntley and Palmer's biscuits, Bass' beer, Eau de Cologne and Florida Water, Keatings cough lozenges and worm tablets.
As the report put it, shop shelves had home brands and familiar labels of “foreign eatables, drinkables, smellables, and seeables.”
Waxing poetic but with an air of superiority, the article con- cluded: "These are the first buddings of that graft of our Western civilisation which after many failures is beginning slowly and unostentatiously to transform a dry and withered stock into a new life and verdure ere long to bear blossom and fruit.”
Ho A-mei was one of the pioneers of the process.
OUTSPOKEN HO A-MEI
Ho A-mei left his position with the Kwangtung customs admin- istration about 1877 and returned to Hongkong where he became
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Page 240Page 241
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