The Red Cloud chief., 1880-01-08
ChlseSe Fires and Fire Brigades.

To ave their cities from destructive
fires the Chinese observe MANY neces-
sary precautions. In the streets Of
many Of their cities wells are sunk.
which are called t1i-pin9tsIa9, OF
"great pe~ace-wells." They ale large
and contain abundant supplies OF water.
and Owe the mouth VI each a stone slab
is placed which is only removed when
any Of the neighboring houses are on fire.
II is provided by law that there sha'I he
placed in various parts Of a Chinese city
large tubs TO be ..ept at all times full of
water. On the side Of each Of these
vessels is written in large Chinese letters
the woIds .~'peace-tubs'' or eisterns. On
the tops Of the houses, also, il is not I'M
usual for tLe Chinese Ia place earthen
jars containing water, so that they may
always have al hand sufficient water
to enable them to suppress incipient
fires.
In each large city there are several
fire brigades maintained entirely by con-
tributions ON the pari Of the citizens.
The fire engines, water-buckets and
lanterns which belong to them are kept,
as a rule, in the different temples of the
city: and each brigade is distinguished
by a peculiar name. To each guild a
fire brigade is attached, and the ex-
penses Of the brigade are betrayed BY
the members of the guild. The officers
and men of the brigade are provided
with a distinctive uniform or dress. and
on their hats are recorded i'm large
Chinese characters the name or number
of their brigade, and the words Kow-fo,
or fre-extinguisher.
Besides these provisions by the citi-
Zens themselves, for the purpose of
checking or putting out fires, the men,
bers of the local government of each
city are called upon to render their as
s~istance. BY way of illustration 'ct me
take Canton. Each magistrate oi the
city has in his service several men hose
duty it is on the occurrence of fire 10
prevent robberies. Thus the Kwong-
hip, or commandans of the Chinese gar
risOn i'm Canton, nas under him. besides
others, W men, OF whom 90 are to assist
in preventing rObberies wher a fire takes
place, and GO are 10 ASST in putting out
the fire. OF these men 20 are stationed
at the Five Genii gate of The ely and 40
in the western suburb. Under the i'm
mediate command of the Governor
there ale 200 men, whose duty in a great
measure consists in helping firemen
to subdue the CONGREGATIONS. Through
out the city of Canton there are As
guard-houses, and from each of these,
in the event of a fire, two men are told
off to hasten to the scene. At the close
or commencement of each succeeding
month throughout the year, the Provin-
cial Judge and the Provincial Treasurer,
both of whom are very hign officials,
are supposed to inspect all the Govern
ment servants whose duty it is to assist
in putting out fire.
Once more: with a view of making
all Chinese officials active In the dis
charge of these duties, I, Is enacted that,
in the case of 50 houses being destroyed
by fire, all the officers in the city in
which the conflagraiion occurred shall
be degraded in rank one step; and iha
i'm case 10 houses are destroyed the mat
ter shall be reported to the Central
Government at Pekin. A few days af-
ter a confiagration the members of each
successive Fire Brigade which was pres
ent on the occasion receive, rs an ac-
acknowledgement of their good services,
roast pigs, jars Of wine and small sums
of money. The men to whom is as
signed the dangerous duty of holding
the hose attached 10 The engines receive,
On such occasions, extra rewards.
Wounded firemen are remunerated ac-
cording to the nature of their wounds.
The Chinese are, in my opinion, most
tiremen. They very quickly
at the scene Of action, end, rs Il
they are most prompt In extin-
gushing the flames. They are also very
During the late war between
Great Britain and China, when Canton
was set on fire by bombshells from Sir
NJ. SeymO' IRIS guns, / observed from the
top of the British factory the various fire
brigades steadily ~persevering in heir
attempts to subdue the flames in the
face of a constant fire of shot and shell.
Persons who, through careleSsness or
otherwise, are the cause of fine, are,
when caught, severely punished. / re-
member a large fire occurring in the
month of May, 1866, at Honam. a
suburb of the city of Canton. The fire
originated in consequence of the care
essness of three women, and upon be-
ng apprehended they were exposed for
several days in cdngues Qarge wooden
made Of square bOards) At the
rates of a temple in honor of the Queen
# Heaven. In the month Of August,
81, l saw y respectable druggist
famed Wong kwok-hing exposed in a
angue at the enG of the T%ung-hing Kai,
street in the southwestern suburb of I
To the carclessness of this
lruggist a fire was attributed which in
he preceding month of March had de-
trOyed upwards of forty houses. The +,
Unfortunate man was daily exposed in [:
his degrading manner for a whole ,
nonth.-" China and the Chinese" 6y 3,
!. II. Gray. +,
Sighting q Cannon. ]