Twentieth Century Impressions of Hongkong, Shanghai, and other Treaty Ports of China/Social Life

SOCIAL LIFE.

HONGKONG.

AMONG Englishmen who have never visited the outlying portions of the Empire the idea prevails that social distinctions are forgotten in the presence of the stern realities of life in the colonies, and that "all sorts and conditions of men" are united in the bonds of brotherhood by a common feeling of expatriation. But, though this idea may not be without justitication in the backwoods of Canada, the bush of Australia, and the veldt of South Africa, it is certainly a travesty of the conditions obtaining in our Crown Colonies. Nowhere, perhaps, is it more completely repudiated than in Hongkong, where society is cast into innumerable divisions and subdivisions. Apart from the Chinese, the population of the island numbers in round figures twenty thousand, and if from this the rank and file of the land and sea forces be withdrawn, the figure is reduced to between ten and twelve thousand. In this little community are produced all the characteristics of suburban life in England, intensified by peculiar local circumstances. As is, perhaps, only natural, each of the principal nationalities represented — British, German, Portuguese, Indian, and Japanese — resolves itself into a separate and distinct unit, while Eurasians here, as elsewhere, hold a precarious position somewhere between the foreign and the native elements. The British community is divided into two main classes — official and mercantile — but these are capable of infinite multiplication. After all the more familiar methods of social distinction have been exhausted, and officers of the Navy and Army, civil servants, professional men, merchants, and large retailers, have grouped themselves into separate constellations, other and more ingenious devices are introduced to satisfy the desire for exclusiveness. Thus a man's exact position in the social scale is not infrequently determined by the altitude of his house. Generally speaking, it may be said that the higher he climbs up the side of the Peak the rarer becomes the social atmosphere which he breathes, and, as a consequence, between those who reside at the summit and those who live in the peninsula of Kowloon there is as wide a gulf as that which divided Dives and Lazarus. A club which welcomes with open arms a mercantile clerk — or rather "assistant," as he becomes upon landing in Hongkong — closes its doors resolutely against the head of a departmental store, and hence the existence of the Peak, Hongkong, and St. George's Clubs. That Pope's dictum, "The proper study of mankind is man," should find general acceptance in a society so constituted need occasion no surprise, especially when the paucity of other interesting topics of conversation, owing to the circumscribed character and isolated position of the Colony, is borne in mind.

For all this, though, life may be passed very pleasantly in Hongkong, both by those who move in the "upper circles" and by those whose souls are untroubled with social aspirations. Sport forms the pivot of existence. Happy Valley is its chief, though by no means its only, home, and here at different seasons of the year cricket, tennis, football, hockey, and golf hold sway. Races take place in February on three consecutive days, which are observed as general holidays. All the world and his wife may then be seen upon the course, but nobody so far forgets himself as to show anything more than a languid interest in the proceedings. The inspiriting cry of the bookmaker and the clamour of excited voices are unknown, betting being carried on in grim silence by means of the pari-mutuel and totalisator. "All the air a solemn stillness holds" that is broken only at intervals by the music of a military band. There is a fourth day's meeting at the end of the week, when the events are furnished by those ponies who have failed to carry off prizes on the previous three days. Gymkhanas are held on the same course at other seasons of the year. Polo is played on another ground specially reserved for the purpose. Yachting is very popular during the winter and spring, the Canton Delta affording magnificent opportunities for indulging in this delightful pastime. In the summer months relief from the enervating heat is sought in the cool, refreshing waters of the harbour, and numerous picnic parties repair by steam launch to the seclusion of one or other of the adjacent islets.

Of sporting, athletic, and social clubs it may be said that "their name is legion." They exist for every branch of sport and for every section of the community. The premier club is undoubtedly the Hongkong Club, which occupies a commanding and well-appointed building, containing reading, writing, dining, billiard, and card rooms, bowling alley, residential quarters, and a library stocked with upwards of twenty thousand volumes. In point of importance and equipment the German Club comes next. The Peak Club, a much smaller institution, is designed, as its name implies, to meet the gregarious tendencies of those who reside at the Peak and feel disinclined in the evening to return to the city of Victoria in quest of society. Ladies are admitted to the privileges of the Club, and dances and bridge parties form the chief amusements between the tea and dinner hours in the cool months of the year. The club-house commands charming views of the surrounding scenery and is enclosed in a garden which is always bright with flowers.

The chief form of amusement during the long winter evenings is dancing. The season opens with St. Andrew's Ball and closes with the Volunteer Ball, and in the meantime a constant succession of subscription dances is maintained by various local organisations. Plays are occasionally produced at the theatre by the Amateur Dramatic Society, and from time to time performances are given by travelling companies. For the rest, people are thrown upon their own resources. The prevailing character of the European residences is such as to allow of no excuse for inhospitality. The houses are commodious and, although perched on the hill-side, are almost invariably surrounded by gardens. Many of them also possess tennis courts. The difficulty of getting from one place to another, however, tends to restrict social intercourse. The gradients make carriages impossible — even the Governor is carried about in a chair by eight scarlet-clad coolies — and in these circumstances a call often partakes of the nature of an expedition.

SHANGHAI.

What Shanghai lacks in beauty it atones for in vivacity. Throughout the winter it is kept gay with a constant succession of dances, concerts, dinner parties, and other social gatherings. The St. Andrew's Society, which embraces every leal Scotsman in the Settlement, is responsible for the largest ball of the season. The Masonic brethren, who are very strongly represented, combine to give a grand ball every alternate year, and regular dances and occasional smoking concerts are held under the auspices of the Volunteer Companies, the Merchant Officers' Association, the Engineers' Institute, and the Customs Club. The St. George's, St. Patrick's, and Lancastrians' Societies provide various forms of entertainment for members and their friends, as well as holding out a helping hand to any distressed fellow countrymen who may he in need of assistance. Excellent performances of well-known plays are presented by the British, French, and German Amateur Dramatic Societies, and a series of classical concerts is contributed by the Konzert Verein. A well-trained band of capable instrumentalists, engaged by the Municipality, renders selections of high-class music in the Town Hall during the winter months, and plays popular music in the public gardens and the recreation ground during the summer.

The Settlement is honeycombed with social and sporting clubs, the most important of those coming within the first-named category being the Shanghai, Concordia, Masonic, Country, and Customs Clubs. Owing to the fact that the foreign population is almost entirely of a mercantile character, the social conditions are much less complex than in India or Hongkong; but, nevertheless, some anomalies have been established. For instance, a clerk in a bank, shipping, or mercantile office will be welcomed with open arms into a circle from which a well-to-do and highly esteemed British resident who has the misfortune to be directly connected with a large retail store will be tabooed.

No fewer than seventeen nationalities have their own Consular representatives at the port, but the British section of the community has always maintained a long lead in both social and mercantile circles, the next in importance being the German section. It is, no doubt, due to this predominance of the British that sport occupies so prominent a place in local life. Hunting, horse-racing, polo, baseball, cricket, hockey, tennis, shooting, rowing, and sailing have each a representative club, which, with the solitary exception of baseball, was originally instituted by the British. During the summer months tennis, swimming, and boating are the most favoured pastimes, but in the winter golf, hockey, and football claim most attention. For those who enjoy a run across country excellent sport is provided by the Paper-hunt Club and the Drag-hunt Club. An Automobile Club has been formed, but little is heard of it, although close upon two hundred motor licences have been issued by the Municipal Council up to date.

The average woman leads a much more luxurious life in Shanghai than at home. For this, thanks are due to the Chinese, who make admirable servants, a good "boy" or cook being quite capable of taking all the responsibility of managing the entire affairs of the household. Social engagements, therefore, claim the major part of every woman's time. For paying calls a carriage can be kept at a cost that would barely suffice to pay the wages of a coachman in England. Ample opportunity for indulgence in the mild excitement of shopping is provided by the many excellent foreign stores, at which it is possible to buy almost anything purchasable in England, and the fascinating pursuit of bargain-hunting may be followed from time to time at one or other of the "annual sales" or autumn sales. When wearied of the daily round, the ladies of Shanghai can find quiet and seclusion at the Empress Club, the only ladies' club in China that can boast its own premises and independent set of rules.