Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7czq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T01:07:27.386Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

CHAPTER IX

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 October 2010

Get access

Summary

The question is, after sixteen years' residence in Shanghai, what report can we give of the country and of the people among whom we have sojourned? The answer, whether spoken or written, may be summed up as follows:

‘The country is well enough if one could get at it; but as there are no roads, no horses, no hotels, one is arrested at the very threshold; and as to the people, they are cheating, lying, dirty, and ugly,—and they do not understand us, whatever trouble we take to improve their intelligence. Why do not our men-of-war that are cruising hither and thither uselessly in the China Sea again carry their guns to the gates of the great cities, and from the mouth of the cannon insist on the country being opened up to foreigners and free trade everywhere, and roads and railways being made without delay? Then, indeed, the congested state of our manufactures would be relieved, and China's millions become clothed from western looms.’

This is our common talk, and nobody seems conscious of the inhumanity of the question, the onesidedness of the argument, and the presumption of the conclusion. We are a restless and unthinking race, active and energetic, like young people waltzing in a small room; we are content to enunciate one idea at all seasons, and we rotate in our narrow sphere with our narrow thoughts, till—we drop into silence.

Type
Chapter
Information
Land of the Dragon
My Boating and Shooting Excursions to the Gorges of the Upper Yangtze
, pp. 253 - 285
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2010
First published in: 1889

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×