Ningpo to Shanghai in 1857/The Feng-je-ling to Fong-je-how
Fong-jue-ling, is the name of the pass between the boundary of the districts and a little location called Tchin-za-dow, 5 miles N.W. from the village of Shee-kong, where one or two families are employed in the manufactory of paper. From Tchin-za-dow to Ching-ka-wo, a hamlet of 40 families, the course is N.N.E. one mile. A fine open ancestral hill is to be seen here ;and from the appearance of the exteriors of the little two storied whitewashed houses, with indented window lintels and ornamented gabels, the inhabitants might reasonably be expected to possess more desire from cleanliness within their dwellings. Dirt and filth, however, are all their ornament;—the comfort of furniture, indeed, is sparingly indulged in by Chinese.
From this place to Che-kew, a village of a hundred families, the course is north, distant one mile. Good, sweet, crisp, finger shaped biscuits can be bought here at two cash each. By a three pieced Bridge on the road side there are several bamboo crushing mills for paper making. Sah-keo, a village of 150 families, N. by W. five lē from Che-kew, is the first patch of houses on the plain. By a small temple outside there is a fine Camphor tree, of large size; the surrounding country being covered with mulberry and other trees of loftier growth.
From Sah-keo to Shae-fah, and beyond it, the paved cause-way is wide enough for a carriage, and is kept in excellent repair. Shae-fah numbers 550 families, and Woo-jaw, a little further on, 700 families. The houses, of a superior class, are walled in here, and from the number of celebration columns seen, and other indications, the inhabitants appear to be above the ordinary standing. Loo-’ngh is a hamlet of 20 families two miles N.W. from Woo-jaw; and 5 lē further, W. N. W. is Zoo-tow of 50 families.
At Loo’ngh is a fine two storied temple;—the country around exhibiting some lofty firs and low poplars; the hills in early spring being covered with azalias of wild growth. N.W. of Zoo-tow, on a hill, is a square pagoda of five stories. A sixth story has fallen off just over the uppermost window, so giving to the top of the pagoda the appearance of a battlemented tower. On measurement, this pagoda, built of brick, is found to be 13 feet square outside, the lower walls 3 feet 9 inches thick, lower story 13 feet high, and the other stories of similar height apparently.
Immediately beneath the pagoda, N. W. is the town of Fong-je-how, and further on in a. nor' westerly direction are a series of lakes and winding streams between the hills and the River Tsien-tang. On the south foot of the hill under the pagoda is a capacious monastery, with good accommodation for the foreign traveller if he require it. But at Foong-je-how there are three firms, viz the Wan-ho, the Ling-jin, and the Ta-heu, all doing a stirring business in tea and silk with the northern consular Ports. The head of the first named, a gentleman of the name of Luh-ching woo, (11) is prone to hospitality, and will not permit the foreigner to remain at the monastery outside.
From Mr Luh or his brothers, the traveller may gain much useful and interesting information. From him it was learnt that though there were as many as 5,000 families in the town, say 25,000 people, there was not one officer of government; and as this place may be taken as an index of towns of similar size throughout the country, we here see upon what erroneous bases we speak when we say that to destroy the government, as established in a walled city, we leave nothing to follow but anarchy for the mass. * In reality, as before stated, the people of China govern themselves; and no blows that may be directed at provincial heads, will affect, so far as the general well being of society is concerned, the condition of the masses;—provided always that our blows are not so directed and so continuous as to prostrate the whole fabric;and to destroy that supreme police for which Governments, even of the worst class, are tolerated.
By the ancestral halls of this family (a capacious building exhibiting the tablets of twenty four generations of the clan Luh,) the firm of Wan-ho have their manufactory for the tea known to the trade as the Ping-suey, a green of excellent character. Until the fourth month of the year, when the gathering commences, the 120 drying pans of the Wan-ho establishment are filled with paddy husk, to prevent them from rusting, and nothing is done, beyond the manufacture of the boxes. From Fong-je-how, the depot of some surrounding miles, 270,000 pounds of Tea and 3,000 Bales, or nearly as many pounds, of Silk, are sent annually to the foreign markets.
These goods when destined for Shanghae are transported in boats of the capacity of a hundred chests each, by the way of Hang chow, at which place Teas pay a tax of 1,100 cash (nearly three farthings per pound) per chest. Were these goods taken to Ningpo direct, such duty would be avoided; and it is to be regretted that attempts are not made to divert some portion of the tea and silk to a place appearing to possess equal facilities with the other Consular Ports for doing business with dealers in the interior. At present the only article taken in return is Sycee Silver, and it may be, some opium. The places where opium is made use of at Fong-je-how, however, are not publicly known; and the foreign traveller has some difficulty finding them out. The article, it is said, is carried to Fong-je-how by the way of Shaou-hing foo. Until recently, say up to the autumn of 1856, clean Carolus dollars, in company with Sycee, were the media of exchange;—but latterly there has been such extraordinary fluctuations in the value of the dollars, (Government edicts, perhaps, have had somewhat to do with it,) that Sycee Silver or Copper cash are the only articles in which, as a rule, value is returned.
The people employed on the Tea works are all paid after the rate of a mace a day, in hard coin; and it is easy therefore to understand that copper cash will be in great demand;—but over and above the labourers' wages there must be a large surplus, and it is to be regretted that an introduction can not be made of our woollen goods. It would be even advisable to give away woollen comforters and socks and mits for a time in places like Fong-je-how, in order to induce a fancy to such things. In cold weather—and by common report it is cold enough—they would be invaluable, and highly appreciated. Up to late in the spring it is not uncommon to see small brass hand baskets, with live ashes, carried about from place to place, and moved from foot to foot as requisite;—poor substitutes for the comfort of worsted stockings.
The land tax here is after the rate of 360 cash per mow (6 mows, or, to be precise, 6, mows going to an English acre) the best land letting for 3,000 cash a mow a year. But land, generally, is let to the small farmer for a per centage of the crops. What this per centage is the farmer is found unwilling to tell; and, from the various reports, and, again, from the variety in weights and measures in the several districts, there is much difficulty in arriving at truthful statistics. For a good Carolus dollar, 1100 Copper cash can be obtained;—for a Carolus 10 per cent better than a Mexican, 1010 Cash—For a Mexican dollar 920 cash. Some of the buildings at Foong-je-how resemble palaces; and there is an excellent specimen of masonry in a large arched bridge over the stream.
* The Weekly Dispatch of the 1st. February 1857. thus remarks on the then recents acts of war at Canton.—
"And now having destroyed the Chinese Government, and brought chaos upon 350 millions of people, will Ministers tell us whether they are prepared to substitute another ruling power for that they have destroyed? Do we propose to annex China, or to partition it among the friends of the "sick man," American, French and English? Are we really aware what we are about when we take from countless millions their recognised rulers and withdraw from this seething mass of human life the organism by which it lived? Have we another administrative dispensation to offer it in the place of that which has been fashioned by the light of the experience of many centuries? Do we know what it is to undertake such a responsibility, ot to throw into utter confusion all the recognised machinery of State power in such a boundless empire?"