# A Residence Among the Chinese

​A RESIDENCE
AMONG
THE CHINESE
INLAND, ON THE COAST, AND AT SEA.
BEING A NARRATIVE OF SCENES AND ADVENTURES DURING A THIRD VISIT TO CHINA, FROM 1853 TO 1856.
INCLUDING NOTICES OF MANY NATURAL PRODUCTIONS AND WORKS OF ART, THE CULTURE OF SILK, &c.;
WITH SUGGESTIONS ON THE PRESENT WAR.
By ROBERT FORTUNE,
HONORART MEMBER OF THE AGRI-HORT. SOCIETY OP INDIA, AUTHOR OF "THREE years' WANDERINGS IN CHINA," "A JOURNEY TO THE TEA COUNTRIES," ETC.
with illustrations.
LONDON:
JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET.
1857.
The right of Translation is reserved.
(not listed in original)
Introduction
​CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
CHAPTER II.
CHAPTER III.
Tea-gatherers and their wages — Food of Chinese labourers compared with the food of the same class in England — Old city of Tse-kee — Streets and shops — Market — Mode of skinning frogs​— Temple on hill and fine scenery — Lake near north gate — Temples and priests — My servant's mode of answering ques- tions — Chesnut-trees discovered — Introduced to India — Chi- nese tombs and ceremonies — A widow comes to worship — Beggars and coffins — Different customs in different countries — Reflections Page 41
CHAPTER IV.
Entomology — Chinese ideas respecting my collections — My sanity doubtful — Mode of employing natives to assist me — A scene on returning to my boat — Curious tree — Visit from a mandarin — An endeavour to explain my objects in making collections of natural history — Crowds of natives — Their quietness and civility — Return mandarin's visit — My reception — Example of Chinese politeness — Our conversation — Inquisitiveness of his ladies and its consequences — Beauty of ladies at Tse-kee — Our luncheon and adieu 59
CHAPTER V.
Visit a collector of ancient works of art — His house and garden — Inspect his collections of old crackle china and other vases, &c. — Fondness of Chinese for their own ancient works of art — Description of ancient porcelain most prized by them — Ancient enamels — Foo-chow enamels — Jade-stone — Rock crystal — Magnetic iron and other minerals — Gold-stone — Red lacquer and gold japan — Porcelain bottles found in Egyptian tombs — Found also in China at the present day — Age of these — Mr. Medhurst's remarks 78
CHAPTER VI.
Boat-travelling — Unsettled state of the country — A midnight alarm — Old quarters at Tein-tung — A good Buddhist priest — Chinese farmers — Their wives and families — Chinese women's passion, and its effects — Woman's curse — The author is seized with fever — A native doctor and his mode of treatment — Method of taking honey from bees — Mosquito tobacco — Its composition and manufacture 93 ​CHAPTER VII.
Difficulty in procuring black-tea manufacturers — Return to Shanghae — Chief magistrate murdered — Strange prejudices of foreign residents — Their professions of neutrality — Chinese warfare — Dr. Lockhart's hospital and patients — Value of medical missions — Public opinion changes — Shanghae evacuated by the rebels — Entered by thevImperialists — Cruelty of soldiers — Effects of the rebellion on the face of the country Page 116
CHAPTER VIII.
Keturn to the tea-districts of Chekiang — Mode of making collections of seeds amongst Chinese peasantry — Messengers sent to Moo-yuen and Ping-shuy — Ping-shuy teas — Agricultural and Horti- cultural Society of India — Varnish-tree — Wax-insect tree — Soap-tree — Death and funeral of a Buddhist priest — New blue dye — Its cultivation and manufacture — "Green indigo" — Its introduction to India and Europe 142
CHAPTER IX.
Journey to the Snowy Valley and waterfalls — Kong-k'how pagoda — Adventure with a blind man — Elaborate carving — A new acquaintance, Mr. Achang — Iron-ore — Mountain stream — Its rafts and cormorants — The temple of the Snowy Valley — Description of the falls — Our dinner and guests — How Mr. Achang enjoys it — His lecture on medical botany and lucky spots for graves — A Buddhist recluse — Continue our journey across the mountains — Natural productions — Fine variety of bamboo — Its introduction to India — Romantic glen — Arrive at our boats and bid adieu to Mr. 4 chang 171
CHAPTER X.
Collections shipped for India — Success attending this year's importations — Visit Canton — Method of scenting teas described​— Flowers used in the operation — Their scientific and Chinese names — Their relative value — Prices paid for them — Manufacture of " caper " described — Inferior ditto — " Lie capers " — Orange pekoe — High character of foreign merchants in China — Howqua's garden described — Its plants, ornamental doors, and alcoves, &c, — Polite notices to visitors worthy of imitation Page 195
CHAPTER XI.
Visit the port of Foo-chow-foo — Its foreign trade — The advantages and disadvantages of the port — Steamer "Confucius" — Sail for Formosa — An amateur watch kept — Sea-sickness of mandarins — Appearance of Formosa from sea — Land on the island — Eice-paper plant — The natives — Productions of the island — Suggestions to the navy in these seas — Sail for Shanghae — Spring and spring flowers 219
CHAPTER XII.
Return to Chekiang — A journey to the interior — Chinese country fair — Small feet of women — How formed, and the results — Stalls at the fair — Ancient porcelain seal same as found in the bogs of Ireland — Theatricals — Chinese actors — Natural productions of the country — Lihaceous medicinal plant — " Cold water temple" — Start for Tsan-tsin — Mountain scenery and productions — Astonishment of the people — A little boy's opinion of my habits 245
CHAPTER XIII.
A dinner audience — Adventure with a priest — Sanatarium for Ningpo missionaries and others — Abies Ksempferi — Journey to Quan-ting — Bamboo woods and their value — Magnificent scenery — Natives of Poo-in-chee — Golden bell at Quan-ting — Chinese traditions — Cold of the mountains — Journey with Mr. Wang — A disappointment — Adventure with pirates — Strange but satisfactory signal — Results 268 ​CHAPTER XIV.
Season's collections shipped for India — Ancient porcelain vase — Chinese dealers — Joined by two friends — Inland journey — City of Yu-yaou — Fine rice district — Appearance and conduct of natives — Laughable occurrence with an avaricious boatman — Soil and rocks of district — Village of Ne-ka-loo and Chinese inn — Shores of the bay of Hang-chow — Salt and its manufacture — Curious moonlight journey — Eapid tides — Passage junk — Voyage across the bay — Chinese sailors — Arrive at Kan-poo | Page 294
CHAPTER XV.
The Tsien-tang river — Its eagre or "bore" — Appearance it presents — Effects it produces — Superstitions of the natives — City of Kan-poo — Mentioned by Marco Polo — Its decay as a maritime port — Another source of wealth — Its inhabitants — Village of Luh-le-heen — Engage canal boats — Pass through borders of silk country — City of Yuen-hwa — Supposed emporium for "Yuen-fa" silk — Geology of isolated hills — City of Ping-hoo — Way to manage Chinese crowds — Shops and gardens — A dangerous position — Arrive at Shanghae | 316
CHAPTER XVI.
Leave Shanghae for the silk country — Melancholy results of the Shanghae rebellion — Country and productions about Cading — Indigo and safflower — Bamboo paper-making — Insects — Lakes and marshy country — Visit the town of Nan-tsin in the silk districts — Its shops and inhabitants — Producers of raw silk and silk merchants — Description of silk country — Soil — Method of cultivating the mulberry — Valuable varieties — Increased by grafting and not by seeds — Method of gathering the leaves — Hills near Hoo-chow-foo — Temples and priests | 331
CHAPTER XVIL
Enter the city of Hoo-chow-foo — Chinese crowds — Description of the city — Richness of the shops — Fans and silks — Rich dresses of the people — Raw silk and hongs — Flowered crapes​— Chinese play and audience — How I perform my part ! — Leave the city — Charming scenes in the country — Thrown silk — Silk villages and their inhabitants — Temple of Wan- shew-si and its priests — Taou-chang-shan pagoda — Glorious views from the pagoda hill | Page 350
CHAPTER XVIII.
Ascend the Lun-ke river — A musical Buddhist high priest — Hoo-shan monastery — Its silk-worms — Mode of feeding them — General treatment — Their aversion to noise and bright light — The country embanked in all directions — A farmer's explanation of this — Town of Mei-che — Silk-worms begin to spin — Method of putting them on straw — Artificial heat employed — Reeling process — Machine described — Work-people — Silk scenes in a monastery — Industrious Buddhist priests — Novel mode of catching fish — End of silk season — Price of raw silk where it is produced | 365
CHAPTER XIX.
Leave the silk country — Adventure at Nanziang — A visit from thieves — I am robbed of everything — Unsuccessful efforts to trace the robbers — Astonished by another visit from them — Its objects — My clothes and papers returned — Their motives for this — A visit to the Nanziang mandarin — Means taken to catch the robbers — Two are caught and bambooed — My visit to the mandarin returned — Arrive at Shanghae — Report the robbery to Her Majesty's Consul — A portion of the money recovered — The remainder supposed to be kept by the mandarins | 379
CHAPTER XX.
Tea-makers from Fokien and Kiangse engaged for India — Ning-chow tea country — Formerly produced green teas — Now produces black — How this change took place — Difficulty in getting the men off — One of them arrested for debt — All on board at last and sent on to Calcutta — Coast infested with pirates — Ningpo missionaries robbed — Politeness of the pirates — Their ​rendezvous discovered — Attacked and destroyed by the 'Bittern' — A mandarin in difficulty — The English "don't fight fair" — Liberality of the Chinese and English merchants — Captain Vansittart's reward Page 392
CHAPTER XXL
Return to the interior — Curious superstition — Adventures with a priest — Journey in search of new trees — Mountain scenery — New Rhododendron — Valley of the Nine Stones — Fine trees — Yew and golden pine — Curiosity of the natives — A dark and stormy night — We lose ourselves amongst the mountains — Seek shelter in a hut — Alarm of the inmates — Morning after the storm — Return to Ningpo — A fine new plant discovered — Adieu to the north of China — Engage scented-tea makers, &c., at Canton — Sail for India — Complimentary letter from Lord Dalhousie — Ordered to visit the tea-plantations in the Himalayas and Punjab — Return to England 405
CHAPTER XXII. ON THE PRESENT WAR.
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
1. Method of making "Caper" Tea Frontispiece. 2. Boats used on the rivers in China 22 3. Ladies and Children on a Pilgrimage to Ayuka's Temple 25 4. Eemarkable Tree 65 5. Curious pilgrim-shaped Bottle, enamelled with butterflies 79 6. Porcelain Vase enamelled with figures of animals and plants 81 7. Vase of sea-green crackle 84 8. Oviform Bottle of rare turquoise colour 85 9. Gourd-shaped Bottle of yellowish stone-colour crackle 85 10. Ancient porcelain vessel 87 11. Ancient Vase enamelled on metal 88 12. Bottle, same as found in Egyptian tombs 92 13. Rain Cloak — Hemp palm 145 14. Wax Tree 147 15. Tea-Picker— Canton 207 16. Foo-chow Countrywoman 249 17. Ancient porcelain Seals 254 18. Larch Tree 274 19. View on the Grand Canal, with mulberry trees on its banks 339 20. Mulberry Tree 345 21. Mulberry Tree 347 22. Curious method of Fishing 375