165
encountered was resisted and resented.
It was an accepted maxim that the prosperity of Hongkong was dependent on its status as a free port. Any interference with the trade of Hongkong was a threat.
The fact that China was within its legal rights to levy duties on goods carried in Chinese junks and to collect these duties within its own waters carried little weight with Hongkong merchants who felt that China was slowly stifling the business life of the port.
The frustrations created fed upon a deeper insecurity. The foreigner in China has been slow in cultivating a spirit of sympathy and understanding towards the Chinese.
Many came to China with a feeling of superiority which imposed a wall between them and the mass of the people among whom they resided.
One expression of this insecurity was the desire to maintain a certain image of the foreigner. The image was of a person whose standard of living was above the common lot, who did not engage in manual labour, and who embodied the best features of a superior civilisation. Aspects of this image still linger in Hongkong.
The presence of fellow-foreigners who did not live up to these standards was an embarrassment.
China employed foreigners in its customs service and on its revenue cruisers. Those in high position generally conformed to the image the foreigner wished to uphold among the Chinese, but a different type of person filled more lowly positions.
Some Westerners in the employ of the Chinese were from a group of ne'er-do-wells that drifted through the tropics. They were the nineteenth century prototype of the modern roaming hippie.
The Chinese had first begun employing such people at the time of the Tai Ping rebellion in the 1850s.
165
encountered was resisted and resented.
It was an accepted maxim that the prosperity of Hongkong was dependent on its status as a free port. Any interference with the trade of Hongkong was a threat.
The fact that China was within its legal rights to levy duties on goods carried in Chinese junks and to collect these duties within its own waters carried little weight with Hongkong merchants who felt that China was slowly stifling the business life of the port.
The frustrations created fed upon a deeper insecurity. The for- eigner in China has been slow in cultivating a spirit of sympathy and understanding towards the Chinese.
Many came to China with a feeling of superiority which im- posed a wall between them and the mass of the people among whom they resided.
One expression of this insecurity was the desire to maintain a certain image of the foreigner. The image was of a person whose standard of living was above the common lot, who did not engage in manual labour, and who embodied the best features of a superi- or civilisation. Aspects of this image still linger in Hongkong.
The presence of fellow-foreigners who did not live up to these standards was an embarrassment.
China employed foreigners in its customs service and on its revenue cruisers. Those in high position generally conformed to the image the foreigner wished to uphold among the Chinese, but a different type of person filled more lowly positions.
Some Westerners in the employ of the Chinese were from a group of ne'er-do-wells that drifted through the tropics. They were the nineteenth century prototype of the modern roaming hippie.
The Chinese had first begun employing such people at the time of the Tai Ping rebellion in the 1850s.
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