370
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
held out of the importance of Hongkong as a | Notwithstanding these outspoken words of the central point whither the trade of the entire Home Minister, we find shortly afterwards on coast of China would of necessity converge, the mere statement by Kiying that the "feel. were apparently doomed to titter disappointings of the people of Canton were not yet} ment; and Hongkong itself began to ponder, reconciled to it." Sir J. Davis actually post as the time for restoring Chusan drew nigh, poning for two years the right of entering the whether it were not itself a bitter mistake, and City or visiting the authorities! whether it should not better have been at Chusan.
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Under Sir J. Davis, who united in his own person all the prejudices and weaknesses natural to a former member of the "Select Committee” under the East India Company, things did not improve either in Hongkong, nor at the neighbouring port of Canton, where up to this all foreign trade had been centred. We must, however, leave the South for a little while, and glance at the state of affire at the newly opend ports to the northward.
In 1847 we find the Times newspaper com menting on the state of trade in China giving utterance to the remark, that Amey, Fooohow, and Ningpo were good for nothing as places of trade, while Hongkong as a commercial colony was equally worthless. As a matter of fact notwithstanding that the Chinese are amongst the most commercial of nations, the whole apparatus of foreign trade, including demand on both sides, and machinery, had to be created from the foundation. The initial slow progress of trade was, even if unhampered, only a thing to be anticipated; but it was in every wy hampered by the prejudices of the ruling classes, and it was only through the unintermit. tant efforts of a few of the more energetic of the 1 British officials on the spot, often against the inertia of the home authorities, that the an. wi dy mass at last commenced to move.
(To be cmtinued).
CHINESE CARNIVAL.
A BRILLIANT SPECTACLE.
On Dec. 5 was the opening day of the Chinese festival, promoted by a number of leading Chinese citizens with the object of relieving financial depression which at present prevails in the Colony. The festival has been largely advertised in China and Macao, and for the past week the river steamers have been bringing orowds of pilgrims to Hongkong. It is years since such a procession took place in Hongkong, and since the last the streets have probably never beau so crowded as they were yesterday, At an early hour in the morning both pro- cessionists and spectators were astir, all making their way slowly to the starting point at Wan- chai. The journey to that part was a slow one, it being impossible to hasten through the dense crowd. At. No. 2 Police Station, at an early hour, the promoters were busily engaged in marshalling the procession, and were hard at work while those in the central district, who witnessed units of the procession going eastward at noon, were speculating as to the hour whea it would be possible for the procession to start. It was despatched to time, however, and was of such a length that while the head of it had arriv- The one exception to the general stagnationed at Garden Road the tail end was passing the was. Shanghai; and Shanghai had been fortunate
same place for the starting point. The scene was in the men to whon were entrusted the keeping one to be long remembered by European of British interests, Captain Balfour, and his spectators who have not before participated in a Chinese holiday. All the ingenious work of the Eastern artisan was to be seen in the sacred dragon and other monsters peculiar to Chinese mythology, but to descrive these would require a knowledge of legendary lore which has been acquired by fe Europeans. All along the route quaint Chinese usic was to be heard coupled with the banging of deep sounding gongs and the clashing of many cymbals. Those taking part were mostly clad in costly silks, the mandarin, the warrior and the litterateur being represented; while handsome banners bearing (to foreigners) strange devices were borne on high before the different guilds represented. The procession, as is always the case in China, was headed by the two bearers who carry large lanterns, the emblem of good luck. Then many grotesquely got up monsters and "glittering models symbolic of je ne sais quoi" were borne past the sightseer before the Kingfisher dragon came into view. This was borne by 165 men and had an approximate length of 330 feet. Following this was a handsomely constructed Phoenix which carried by ten Chinese girla.
SULOOGSL
with wi
Rese W
or Sir Rutherford Aloock, both men tom to a generons sympathy with Chi. aknesses and old time traditions, radded a quiet determination to see wan kupt their rights respected,
nfortunate that the same could not be recorde of Canton, with which the native population f Hongkong was at all times very
It was u
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✓
[December 9, 1907.
the different banda giving the finishing touch to the Oriental character of the procession. It cost the fowl guild 88,000 for their display of models and monsters, The fruit and vegetable guild went to an expense of $7000, $500) WBS the oost to the beef guild; $15,000 to the fish guild ; and $30,000 to the pork guild. Much of the paraphernalia used in the pageant was imported from Canton, as were many of the persons taking part. One hundred China ponies were brought from the Chinese city by jaak, the river steamers not being anxious for this kind of freight.
During the forenoon the sky had been overcast, and the threatening rain came about two o'clock, bresking up the proosssio 1, to the sorrow of many of the Chinese, who state that the disbanding of such a proe ssion is an augury of bad luck.
THE EVENING'S FETE,
tinued to fall there was another procession after Notwithstanding that a drizzling rain con- dark, which for picturesqueness seemed decid- edly to eclipse the daylight performance. The most striking feature of it was a shoal of fish, most beautifully modelled and painted, each animal lighted from the interior. The artistry of these things was excellent, many well-known species of fish being easily identifiable. There were also other illuminated figures borne in the procession, which was viewed by considerable crowds, especially where verandahs offered shelter to sightseers,
Principal of the promoters were_Mesurs. Ho Kom-tong, Chau Sui-ki, Lau Chu-pak. Fung Wa-chan and Wong Kam-fak, and they deserve the thanks of their countrymen for the excellent manner in which they arranged matters in connection with the procession which will long be remembered by the residents of Hongkong and others who witnessed it.
THE SECOND day,
Another cheerless day, with sky overcast, threatening rain, and muddy roads, still processionalists and the native population tarned out in full force, thus making a triumph of the second day's pageant. clouds which obscured the sky before noon The lowering threatened another adjournment of the proces sion, but as the rain did not come those taking part did, and at the appointed hour the bearers of picture que banners and other things Chinese started on the second day's route from Wanchai.
Besides the representations in the procession recorded in our last issue there were four others
worthy of mention, namely the evils attending on opium smoking, debauchery, drinking and gambling. One of the models displayed a home where all was peace and happiness until the father sought the visions which are said to follow on the smoking of opium. Later the
apathy. The Canton authorities much in syi had so often i a their previous contests with the East India Company called in the assistance of the mob to enforce their claims that the latter came to look up on itself as the real arbiter in all foreign matt. us, and neither Kising the new Commissioner, n
or the Viceroy cared to incur the odium of op wosing it, bocked up as it andoubtedly was
by the whole body of the inferior officials.
Sir Henry Pottinger, and after him Sir J. L avis, notwithstanding that they had adequate forces at their disposal as well as in the naval at Amoy and Chusan, and military garrison at Hongkong weakly permitted themselves to be talked over by the new Commissioner, who pleaded his inability to control the people, and the consequence was their yielding "under mob menace the right of freely entering the city, v hich was one of the main stipulations of the Treaty. Ca the other hand in the face of this open bre, sob of the stipulations of the Treaty, Sir J. Davis ceeded along the route in realistio serpentine remains as mourner over a man whose life had
when the time came concui red without protest of any kind in the withd rawal of the troops from Amoy and Chuson, an act which Sir J. Davis himself afterwards testifies produced a the tone of the change for the worse in Chinese authorities; even Kiying forgetting
with a his urbanity, and acting
"degree of brusquerie, not to say inso lence never before exhibited by him." The old days of the Com- pany were being re-enacted, and we find the Minister, instead of asking for troops to assist him in checking the outrag: & again becoming of constant occurrence, see king for greater power to coerce his own nation als.
W89
The feature of the procession was the im. mense silver sycee dragon provided by the fish guild. This was nearly four hundred feet long and was borne on high by 160 men, who pro-
course.
cellor for statesmen.
its way.
Men proceeded on either side sbaking the silken sides of the monster and shout- ing vociferously, the crowd cheering as the animal writhed and wriggled on Another scene is presented later which dis- playa eight Chinese beauties choosing a chan- the King from forty eminent Then follow eight genii with the inevitable fan and armed with spears and battleaxes. The fruit and vegetable guilds display was headed with the model of a lion which was borne by twenty girls playing seleo. tions of music as they wanded their way slong. Another representation displayed an eccentricity of the Emperor Chiu Yeung-kwong who, according to history, was dragged along the shore in a bost by a number of Chinese women.
This was the more noteworthy that we find the Home Government, Lord 1'almerston being Foreign Minister at the period, instruoting Sir
The procession was carried out on a scale of J. Davis to impress on the Chinese authorities "in plain and distiot terms that the British grandeur seldom seen in Hongkong, the expenses Government will not tolerate that a Chinese connects therewith, which must have been mob shall with impunity matrest British exceedingly heavy, being borne principally by an I that if the the different guilds in the Colony. Each guild subjects in China Chinese authorities will not by the exercise of had its band, which followed directly on the banner bearers, and as all were playing differ- their own power punish and prevent such ont- rages, the British Government will be obligedent music, the air along the route was filled with strange sound, the quaint selections of to take the matter into their own hands, "
black smoke" robs the man of his wonted vitality and the once proud family of a happy father sinks into the misery which all excesses bring. To farther enhance the evil effects of the opium babit a large pipe, made to resemble
native coffin, was displayed, in it being an unfortunate man whose life has passed away with the uselessness of smoke. The widow followed the
been as useless as that of an absintheur. Then the roué was pourtrayed at his worst; the last scene in a wasted life. Next the spectators saw the effects of a too constant application to the cup that inebriates. First the dashing young man after a wild night being conveyed to the ́" and the same last retreat of the "glorious, miserable young man next morning when it is time to rise, and finally the last moments which culminate the drunkard's existence. A large dice borne on high by a sturdy native then transferred the spectator's thoughts to the fourth human vice-gambling,
While it seems strange to believe that such a pastime is considered a vice in China, or even in the East, still it must be taken as a truth that such is the case from the fast that a caricature appeared in this memorable prcoes-
8'00.
The wretched gamblor in the misery which follows the loss of all was pourtrayed, but
* thoumnda in the happy gambler who was was left to the imagination to picture.
静
As on the previous day, it might be mid for the previous week, the Chiness quarter of the city was dressed in holiday attire. It is
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