The Opelousas journal. [volume] (Opelousas, La.) 1868-1878, 1872-08-31

SOCIAL AND Prison LIFE IN A CHI
NEsE CITY.-A correspondent of the BOs-
ton Globe furnishes some pleasant and
unpleasant reading about the Chinese
city of Shanghai, its tea gardens and
prisons. The tea gardens on ordinary
days are not much visited, hut on Sun
days they are filled to OverflOwing with
persons in pursuit of pleasure. This is
doubtless one Of the effects of Shanghai
being foreign port. III any purely
Chinese town Sunday is like any other
day. The gardens, we are told, cover
an area of some four or five acres. In
the center is a pond, with an island
crowned by a tea-hOuse, approached by
zigZag bridges. There are several other
tea-hOuses about the place, all built in
the most ultra Chinese style. A space
of about an acre i'll one corner is walled
off for the special delectatiOn of the
TaOutai's wives, or anybody else who
can afford to pay for the privilege of
going in. The gardens are not very
beautiful, and it is more the people and
things to be seen there than the grounds
that attract foreigners.
Scattered over the place are various
vendors OF cakes, oranges, etc, all of
whom much prefer gambling with the
visitors than selling their wares. Nu-
merous peep-shOWs and other places of
entertainment are scattered over the
grounds, the most attractive of which
are said to he those of the cOniurers.
These perform ON the bare ground q va
riety of tricks thatmi ight even fill Heller
with envy. These places are literally
patrOniZed by native and foreigner, the
enjoyment afforded to each class being
about equally great.
Half mile distant, in the direction of
the city, are the prisons. Behind row
of strong wooden bars, says the writer,
is a chamber, full of a mass of seething
and writhing humanity, swarming over
each other i'll heaps, more like lump of
maggOts on dead dogs carcass than so
| many fellQw-men. Those in front thrust
their arms out between the bars, beg
ging for food like monkeys in cage,
while i'm the dim ObsGurity of the back
ground, pallid, bleached faces, void of
all expression, are turned blinking on
the observer. Some of them are chained
to the wall, without room to lie down,
| sweltering with heat and smOthered with
vermin and filth. The endurance of
such punishment would kill nine Ordin-
ary people out of ten in aday, but if this
correspondent is to be believed, it does
not affect these wretched creatures ex-
cept when fever attacks them. In ad-
dition to this punishment says the wri-
ter, they have several round cages about
two feet in diameter and over five feet
high, made of stout wooden bars, wide
apart. The topis like the head Ofa barrel
with hole ratherlarger than an ordinary
mans neck in it; the wretGhed victim is
put in this, and the hole at the top il
fitted around his neck. Thecage is cho.
sen so that his feet shall not touch the
ground, and brick or two put in so thai
he can just rest his toes on them ant
there he is left to die. No food or drink
being given him, he would speedily
starve, but it is not that that kills him
he soon has cramp in the legs, and t.
relieve it has to cling by his legs anG
arms to the bars and hang by his chin
Soon his limbs are covered with sore!
from his struggle, and then thefy comes
In about three days shapeless, tOrt4l
red, half-deE0ured mass Of flesh, deatl
relieves him from further pain. AnG
these are the tender mercies of the Chi
nese.