Part 9

_Copyright._) (_See page 95._

SUMPITAN MATCH.]

The East India Company made many attempts to establish factories in Borneo and the neighbouring islands; but all came to nothing, so that the early history does not concern us here. One trace of former conditions remained in the nineteenth century, in the claims of Holland in the south of the island and of Spain in the north. These claims were revived at the time of our occupation and were not finally settled until the late eighties of the nineteenth century. The modern history of the region begins with the acquisition, by an American syndicate, of certain concessions in the north from the Sultans of Brunei and Sulu. Their rights were taken over ultimately by a British company which obtained a charter from the Crown, in 1881, under the title of the British North Borneo Company. The charter was a revival of the old plan for opening up new countries without the direct intervention or responsibility of the home Government. It was followed by other charters for African companies; but of these only one survives, and the North Borneo Company is at the present day the oldest remaining representative of the system. So we have a large piece of territory under British Protection but controlled by a private company. The Company does not trade, but confines itself to administration, and is supported like any other Government by duties and taxes of various kinds. It is largely independent, though the British Government can interfere if necessary in vital matters.

Malaya and Borneo are tropical estates and can only be developed by special methods. In dealing with these estates we have given considerable space to the subject of administration, since without order and security it is impossible to utilize those natural resources with which our geography is concerned. These resources include the minerals and the whole range of tropical products, together with the available human material, the Chinese or Indian labourer and the native Malay. Foreign capital, British or Chinese, under British direction provides the driving force for progress. In the different parts of the Malay Peninsula and in North Borneo we have various types of administration and various stages of progress; but over the whole area there is a general similarity of conditions which marks it off both from the Indian Ocean and from the Chinese group which is the object of our next visit.

LECTURE VI

THE CHINESE STATIONS

Fifteen hundred miles away from Singapore, guarding the northern outlet of the China Sea as Singapore guards the southern, commanding also the approach to the great commercial city of Canton and to the whole coastline of southeastern China, lies 1 the island harbour of Hongkong, the last fortified outpost of British power in this region of the world. The island is only one of a large group which fringes the coast round the mouth of the Canton river, and its area is less than thirty square miles, or nearly the same as that of Labuan. It consists of a 2 long irregular granite ridge, falling steeply to the sea, with deep-cut inlets on its southern side. To the north is the mainland, with long hill ranges ending in a mass of rocky peninsulas and headlands. Between the island and the mainland lies the narrow roadstead or harbour of Victoria.

As we round the west point of the island, the Peak is on our right, and below it are warehouses, wharves and piers, spread out for three miles along the water front. Behind is the crowded native quarter, and in the background the city rises in tier above tier of terraced houses up the lower slopes of the ridge. On the summit, too, we can see many houses scattered about. 3 Here is a panoramic view of the west end of the city, taken from the harbour. Notice the fine pile of offices and the European Club in the foreground of the picture. Our next view, further 4 east, shows the Admiralty dockyard, which makes an ugly break in the line of the sea front. The white band on the hill behind is the cable railway running up to the Peak. We pass merchant steamers, warships, and crowds of junks at anchor, and all about us the small native boats or _sampans_ are plying busily to and fro. Opposite the middle of the town, where the low peninsula of Kaulun juts out from the mainland, the harbour narrows to rather more than half a mile, and here is the ferry. On our left as we enter is Stonecutter Island, a long bare rock heavily fortified and guarding the passage; beyond it to the north the view is everywhere closed in by the mountain ridges of the mainland. 5 Here are two views from the hill, showing the west end of the 6 harbour, with Stonecutter Island and Kaulun; a third shows the 7 eastern passage, known as the _Lai-i-mun_, by which we shall leave after our visit.

Seventy years ago Hongkong was a mere rock, inhabited by a few fishermen; its sole value lay in its anchorage beyond the reach of Chinese troops. For two centuries the East India Company had traded on sufferance at Canton, but in 1834 its trade monopoly was abolished and the servants of the Company gave place to a British official. The Chinese failed to understand the change; they wished to treat our representative just as they had treated the merchants. In the end the foreign community was forced to leave Canton, and we despatched an armed expedition to support our claim to trade and to place the interests of British subjects on a secure footing. The war which followed is often styled the opium war; but the opium trade was only one item in the quarrel which involved recognition by the Chinese of international relations.

Our merchants, driven from Canton, and warned off from Macao by the Portuguese, who feared the Chinese and were jealous of our trade, took refuge in the roadstead of Hongkong, though the Chinese placed batteries on Kaulun and threatened to fire on the ships. In this way we first came to the island, which was ceded to us by the Treaty of Nanking in 1842. In 1860, at the conclusion of another war, we obtained full possession 8 of the Kaulun peninsula, which we had already leased from the local authorities as being necessary for the security of the harbour. Finally, in 1898, we leased the New Territory at the back of Kaulun, amounting in area to about 370 square miles. This was just as necessary under present conditions as the peninsula of Kaulun had been in the past, since Victoria with its shipping would be at the mercy of long-range artillery mounted on the hills of the mainland. From the first the Chinese people, recognizing the value of the security given by British rule, flocked to the island; so that we now have over 300,000 Chinese residents in the island and peninsula, excluding the leased Territory, and on the native boats and junks, while the European population numbers only a few thousand. The Chinese seem to prefer our system of government to their own. Hongkong is not merely a fortress; it is a free port, except as regards the importation of alcohol, and one of the greatest commercial centres in the world; but without the Chinese its trade could not be carried on for a single day.

Let us now land and learn something of the city and its 9 inhabitants. We stroll along Queen’s Road, the main artery of the town from west to east, with its offices and shops and its general air of prosperity. Then we turn off into a street running upwards from the harbour; it is Pottinger Street, named after 10 Sir Henry Pottinger, the trainer of the treaty of 1842. The tall houses and narrow roadway remind us that there is very little level ground in Victoria and that space is valuable. We could judge this also from the general views of the Peak which we saw as we entered. Trade needs money, and there are various banks in the city; one of the finest buildings is that of the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank, which is well known in England and has a large branch in London. If we go into one of these banks we find that many of the clerks and cashiers are native Chinese. Here is the entrance to the Hongkong and Shanghai bank and 11 here is the back of the great block of fine buildings. The statue in the corner is that of the late Queen Victoria, and the 12 figures in the foreground are Chinese women carrying pigs in baskets. The whole of this area, with its open spaces, including a cricket ground, and the mass of buildings which we saw from the harbour, has been reclaimed from the sea. In one of the narrow streets we may see something of native customs. It is New 13 Year’s Day, a great festival among the Chinese; all over the ground there is a litter of crackers, and we may perhaps see them solemnly firing a huge cracker in front of some important house as a kind of New Year’s greeting. At a corner we come on a scene which reminds us of London: the road is up and labourers are 14 at work, but here they are Chinese. Down on the water front is another aspect of native life. Here we have a large population 15 living always in covered boats; there are millions of Chinese living in this fashion on the rivers and waterways of the mainland.

To see how the Europeans live we must leave the busier part of the town and climb up the hill. Down below, in the native quarter, the houses are crowded together and the air is close. Higher up are trees and gardens and open spaces. Here is a 16 view from Battery Path, on our way up. We end our walk at 17 Government House, where we see the inevitable Chinese gardener at work.

To get a view of the island we must take the cable railway to the very summit of the Peak. It is much cooler here and there are many European houses. Hongkong is on the edge of the Tropics and is wet and warm in summer, while the town of Victoria is shut off from the sea breezes by the surrounding heights. But the upper part of the ridge is open to the Southeast Monsoon winds blowing in from the sea, and so it is a healthy residence for Europeans not unlike the hill stations of India.

In the matter of health, the island in past years had not a good name. On the southeast coast is Stanley, a primitive 18 little village on a beautiful bay; here is the spot where the British troops first landed in 1840. Further west, behind a sheltering island, is Aberdeen, which was also occupied for a time. But both were found to be unhealthy and so the troops were withdrawn. Stanley is a mere fishing village, though the graves of the soldiers and their wives are there to remind us of the price which we pay for our Empire. Aberdeen is a little more important, as it possesses a dock. But its main industry is fishing; and here we can see the fishermen, watched by an 19 admiring crowd, dragging out a large rock fish, which will be towed alive, behind a launch, to the market at Victoria. The mass of the population of the island is concentrated in Victoria, which is greatly overcrowded. Much has been done for health by improved drainage, and the great reservoir at Taitam, in the southeast corner of the island, with the concrete channels for gathering the heavy rains on the hill slopes, provides an ample supply of good water; but the Chinese have peculiar ideas as to sanitation, and plague and epidemic diseases are frequent, so that Hongkong has drawbacks as a place of residence, especially for European children. Though the hill is cooler than the town, it is damp, so that many prefer the drier Kaulun district on the other side of the water. Here a new Victoria is growing up with busy wharves and docks. Land is being reclaimed from the sea, 20 and in the surrounding hills we find granite quarries with 21 abundant material for the building of docks and sea walls. On a small hill near the landing stands a curious tower, with masts and flag-staffs around it. This is the observatory, 22 which watches the weather and especially gives warning of the approach of the dreaded typhoons of the China seas. These are fierce whirling storms which sweep in, usually in the autumn, from the ocean to the south-east, and then curve northwards along the coast of China towards Japan, carrying ruin in their track. In 1906, the warning failed to come: many large steamers were sunk or driven ashore; trees were rooted up and buildings beaten to the ground, and enormous damage was done to the piers and quays on the water-front. Here is the signal which is 23 hoisted to give notice of the coming of a typhoon.

Behind Kaulun is the New Territory: a land of mountain and torrent, with here and there a broader valley with fields of rice and sugar-cane. Here we see some of these rice fields 24 on the route of the new railway. Notice how the ground is 25 flooded. The population, about 100,000 in all, is not very dense and is grouped in scattered villages. Here is a view of the picturesque country at the back of Kaulun, with a cattle 26 depôt in the foreground to remind us that the city must be fed from the surrounding country. Here again we see a street in 27 Tai-wo-shi and a group of villagers gathered round the village well. Let us pay a short visit to Wun-yin, or “Pottery” village, 28 for a glimpse of a native industry. We see a potter at work, 29 painting the little bowls, but he does not look quite the same as the ordinary Chinese of the south. He is a _Hakka_, as is 30 also this native woman, who does not seem in the least nervous in front of the camera. Neither is handsome, but they are very useful in Hongkong, since they do much of the hard manual work which is necessary in a great port. The _Hakkas_ are immigrants, of a different race from the natives of the Canton district, and they have different habits. Among other peculiarities they do not bind the feet of their women.

In the New Territory we are already changing the face of the country. Water is being impounded in great reservoirs for the 31 supply of Kaulun, and a railway twists and burrows through the valleys and mountains, and connects at the frontier with the Chinese railway to Canton. So the Territory has a future of its own, but its real importance is as a protecting barrier to the harbour of Hongkong.

Hongkong is an excellent instance of the attraction which a free port, under a Government which gives security for life and property, and deals out even-handed justice, has for an industrious native race. The liberality with which the wealthier Chinese support public objects in Hongkong, such as schools and hospitals, is the best proof that they appreciate the methods and value of British rule.

The close connexion which has always been maintained between Canton and Hongkong, and the fact that the British Concession at Canton is an interesting survival from an earlier stage of our relations with China, justify us in paying a flying visit to that city before continuing our voyage northwards. So we board one of the small local steamers and pass up the broad river, with the old forts on its banks, which more than once have been bombarded by our fleets, until the growing crowd of native shipping tells as that we are approaching the great commercial city. Here are 32 junks and sampans packed together or moving slowly about the river, and huge shallow-draught steamers, resembling pictures of the old boats on the Mississippi, fifty years ago. We land at last on the Shameen, the British settlement outside the 33 walls. It was originally a mere mud bank, facing the main river and protected by a narrow creek at the back. Now it is laid 34 out as a European town, with open spaces, a church, and 35 European houses and gardens. Here is a view of the creek 36 with the English bridge. Across the creek is a Chinese suburb, thickly packed with native houses, and beyond are the high walls of the vast city with its million of turbulent people. We cross the bridge and make our way to the massive gates; if we are wise we shall take a guide with us. From the top of the old wall we look down over a sea of roofs, with here and there a fire lookout or a huge building, a pawnshop, showing above the general level. Hidden below is a mass of narrow and winding streets, and far away, in the very midst of the city, towers 37 the great Flowery Pagoda. Just below it is a building which we must visit, the old British Yamen, at one time the residence of our officials, though they now prefer the greater comfort of the Shameen. Here, in the heart of Canton, in the former palace of a high Chinese official, we established a British representative. It was a great change from the days when British merchants carried subservient messages to the city gates and the Chinese refused to interview or in any way recognize British officials. This interesting building is of great significance in the history of our relations with the great Empire of the East. Here are two 38 views of the Yamen; we seem to be very much in the heart of 39 China.

Canton has, to some extent, lost its former importance for us, and its merchants no longer have the monopoly of the whole external trade of China; so we return to Hongkong without further delay, and rejoining our ship steam out through the narrow eastern passage, the _Lai-i-mun_, and turn northwards on our voyage.

Our next port of call is Shanghai, a most important centre of (1) British trade and influence and in close connexion with British stations in the East, though not one of them itself. Hongkong is the great exchange station for shipping and trade in the Far East; Shanghai is the market and business centre for the great basin of the Yangtse river and for much of North China as well. Its importance may be measured by the fact that over half the total trade of China passes through the hands of its merchants. There are two Shanghais, and the contrast between them is great; on the one hand we have the old native walled 40 city, dirty and decaying and purely Chinese, and on the other the new Foreign Settlement, where all the business is done. 41 This part has grown steadily in size and prosperity. The French still have entire control of their own section, but in the International Settlement, which was at one time purely British, Germans and Americans have now a considerable share. We have here a very curious system: a foreign municipality established on Chinese soil and governing itself, subject only to the control of the foreign Consuls and the Ministers at Peking. It is responsible for a few thousand Europeans and over half a million Chinese. At Hongkong we are supreme in everything; but at Shanghai, though the citizens of foreign nations are subject to their own laws, the city is still legally part of China, so that the natives are under the jurisdiction of Chinese officials. This has been the cause of great trouble in the past, as Chinese and Western ideas of law are widely different. It is a very strange position. Here is a small body of foreign merchants, practically unprotected, in the midst of a vast native population, yet responsible for the well-being of one of the greatest commercial cities in the world.

Trade is the sole foundation of this new Shanghai, and trade 42 depends on the river Hwangpu; for though Shanghai is the outlet for the Yangtse basin, it stands at some distance from the main river and the sea, at the head of the tideway of a small tributary and in close contact with a great network of canals and rivers in the fertile country to the west. The bank of the river is lined with wharves, warehouses and factories, and the Settlement is spreading steadily down towards Wusung. The flat country round has been built up of silt brought down by the main river; centuries ago Shanghai may have been on the coast. The river is still at work: great banks are formed under water, and in a few generations become dry land thickly populated. In the whole breadth of the Yangtse mouth there are only two channels navigable by large vessels. Everywhere the land is gaining on the sea. Into the broad silt-laden estuary the little Hwangpu empties itself below Wusung; it brings down no silt, but the incoming tide sweeps in the muddy water of the main river. The silt is dropped and the stream is too weak to scour it away. At the mouth of the Hwangpu is a great bar, which is still growing; and so much has the channel changed and shallowed that it is no longer safe for the largest vessels to approach Shanghai. We may see the same process going on in England, in the Humber and the rivers flowing into the Wash. The Chinese are at last beginning to move; a new channel has been cut for traffic on the Hwangpu; the bed of the river has been dredged and its course straightened, and an embankment built to keep out the silt from the main river. But the size of the vessels engaged in trade increases every year and the future of Shanghai is in the balance; it remains to be seen whether modern engineering will win the day against the vast forces wielded by the Yangtse. Any decline in the activity of Shanghai would be likely to result in more business for Hongkong.

We leave Shanghai for the last stage of our long voyage from 43 Europe. As we steam northwards, the coast on our left is low, fringed with banks and without harbours or inlets; it is the edge of the great alluvial plain of China. But on the second day we come in sight of high bare cliffs, backed by dark mountains. We are approaching the promontory of Shantung, an isolated block of highland, cut off sharply by the sea on its eastern edge and sinking on the west to the shifting beds of the Hwang-ho and the maze of waterways which covers the great plain. Towards the southwest corner of the peninsula lies Kiaochau, now a possession of Germany; in the middle of the north side is the old Treaty Port of Chifu; and between Chifu and the extreme eastern point of the promontory is the bay and port of Wei-hai-wei. The map shows us that north of Shantung the coast again becomes low and uniform, difficult of access and without good seaports; but a hundred miles away, across the water, another mountainous peninsula, Liaotung, stretches out to meet Shantung, where a string of little islands partly bridges the broad channel. In Liaotung, as in Shantung, are headlands and deep inlets and harbours; here we have Port Arthur and Talienwan. The two great promontories seem framed by Nature to guard the approach to the Gulf and the capital province of China. On the one, two foreign Powers are established by diplomacy; two more have fought for the control of the other.