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tent with the motive of maximizing the market, ranging, as it does from the local Chinese literati to domestic servants of European residents, and even to "country youths", presumably from the recently acquired "New Territories".
The principal contents of English Made Easy comprise Mok Man Cheung's “unique system” for enabling non-English speakers to pronounce the English alphabet, numbers, words, phrases, and sentences, plus an anthology of "model letters". Fascinating insights into the quality of the social life of upwardly mobile Chinese at the turn of the century are provided by the selection of materials for these sections of the book.
Several of the categories of objects and phenomena, invented by Mok Man Cheung to organize his work, offer evidence about the ambivalence of this sort of person at this time in the face of influences from both East and West. In his list of words referring to "Objects of Nature", for example, the earliest words on the list (“Sky”, “Earth”, “Sun”, “Moon”, “Wind”, “Clouds”, “Rain”, etc.) may have been chosen for their compatibility with such traditional Chinese concepts as "Feng Shui”1 and with other widespread beliefs. "Spirits”, “Gods”, “Ghost”, and “Devil” are all included. The later entries seem to concentrate more on practical and modern realities, such as “reclamation ground”, “rough sea”, “typhoon”, “drizzle” [sic], “low-tide”, “flood”, and, to conclude happily, "calm-sea". In his suggested vocabulary for "Time and Seasons", he includes "Intercalary moon”, “Full moon Festival”, "Dragon Boat Festival" and "Winter Solstice" as well as “Christmas day", the days of the week and months of the year by Western reckoning, and a battery of non-culture-specific temporal terms. Mok Man Cheung's list of "Persons and their Occupations" begins, perhaps because it was politic to do so in 1905, with "Emperor", "Empress", "Crown Prince", and proceeds to deal with “Mandarin” and “General”, leading on to such occupations as “Maidservant” and “Captain”, before referring to "Governor", "Policemen" (juxtaposed with “Thief”) and "Student". It would not be uncharacteristic of Chinese style if the precise order in which these “Persons and Occupations” are presented is meant to be significant. Even if this is not the case,
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tent with the motive of maximizing the market, ranging, as it does from the local Chinese literati to domestic servants of European residents, and even to "country youths", presumably from the recently acquired "New Territories”.
The principal contents of English Made Easy comprise Mok Man Cheung's “unique system” for enabling non-English speak- ers to pronounce the English alphabet, numbers, words, phrases, and sentences, plus an anthology of "model letters". Fascinating insights into the quality of the social life of upwardly mobile Chi- nese at the turn of the century are provided by the selection of materials for these sections of the book.
Several of the categories of objects and phenomena, invented by Mok Man Cheung to organize his work, offer evidence about the ambivalence of this sort of person at this time in the face of influences from both East and West. In his list of words referring to "Objects of Nature", for example, the earliest words on the list (“Sky”, “Earth”, “Sun”, “Moon”, “Wind”, “"Clouds”, “Rain”, etc.) may have been chosen for their compatibility with such tradi- tional Chinese concepts as "Feng Shui”1 and with other wide- spread beliefs. "Spirits”, “Gods”, “Ghost”, and “Devil” are all included. The later entries seem to concentrate more on practical and modern realities, such as “reclamation ground”, “rough sea' "typhoon”, “drizzel” [sic], “low-tide”, “flood”, and, to conclude happily, "calm-sea". In his suggested vocabulary for "Time and Seasons", he includes "Intercalary moon”, “Full moon Festival”, "Dragon Boat Festival" and "Winter Solstice" as well as “Christmasday", the days of the week and months of the year by Western reckoning, and a battery of non-culture-specific temporal terms. Mok Man Cheung's list of "Persons and their Occupations" begins, perhaps because it was politic to do so in 1905, with "Emperor", "Empress", "Crown Prince", and pro- ceeds to deal with “Mandarin” and “General”, leading on to such occupations as “Maidservant” and “Captain”, before referring to "Governor", "Policemen" (juxtaposed with “Thief”) and "Student". It would not be uncharacteristic of Chinese style if the precise order in which these “Persons and Occupations” are pre- sented is meant to be significant. Even if this is not the case,
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