, 1889-03-27
A CHINESE %MILLIoNAlRE.
The Residence and Manner of Life of tho
Celestial Vanderbilt

Celestial Vanderbilt
/ visited this afternoon tho Wander
bilt Of China. He is a relative of the
Chinese minister at Washington, and
his grandfather died less than a gen
Grafton ago leaving an estate worth
90, 1000, 900 hard gold dollars. His name
is How Qua; and he has acresof houses
in the busiest part of Canton, his own
residence occupies the site of q good
sized farm, and he has diamonds and
pearls by the cupful. One of his dia-
monds, a ring which cost $50, 900, was
sent to England TO be sold not long
ago, and it is probably now in the
jewel casket of one of the monarchs of
Europe. he has plantations of rice
fields and many acres Of the choicest
tea gardens. His money is well in
vested and he would approach the
wealth Of Jay Gould were it not that
the officials every now and then come
down upon him for a gift OF from SO
600 to 800, 900 and he dare not refuse.
This rich mar is now 40 years old,
though he docs not look over IS. He
is a typical Chinaman of the literary
class, has n broad, high forehead, thin
yellow cheeks and eyes that shine as
brightly as his choicest diamonds.
Els hair is like jet and his cue reaches
to his ankles. He was dressed in silks
and furs when he received me, and he
had n tight, round black silk skull cap
on the top of his head. He shook his
own hands before his breastin Chinese
s%alutation when our American consul,
Nj. Seymour, introduced me to him,
and then he reached out his long
nailed fingers and grasped my hand a
la Americaine.
1t was in his grand residence on the
banks OF the Pearl river in the heart
of Canton. We walked through a
wilderness Of buildings devoted TO the
servants and relatives of the family be-
fore we came TO the reception room.
How Qua supports about 400 Of his
poorer relatives, and when O man
makes a fortune in China his whole
clan settles down upon him. In the
various courts all kinds of work
seemed TO be going on. Here servants
were cleaning the fish for the family.
There rice was being ground into flour
and dried in great baskets, and just
next the reception OOH we heard the
buzzing of Babel. II was How Qua's
children being taught by their tutor,
and like all Chinese children, they
studied out loud, singing their lessons
out at the tops of their voices. Now
and then the sharp chatter of the
ruler could be heard when one of the
boys made a mistake, and the father
told me that he intended TO have his
boys educated at the Hong Kong for
eign college and to finish them off in
America and England. He talked
English himself and he is among the
progressive of the Chinese.
As we sat and chatted the choicest
OF Formosa tea was brought in, the
leaves of which were, l judge, worth
about $40 a pound, and we seated our
selves in black ebony chairs, which in
couples were ranged on the sides of
small tables, and slipped the tea from
covered China cups without saucers.
There are no easy chairs in the Chi
csc gentleman's house, and this pal
ace in China had uncarpeted floors of
stone, and its walls between the rooms
were of colored glass framed in ebony.
Some of tho curious shaped panels had
pictures painted on them by Chinese
artists, and the effect of the whole was
h finish of n fancy store room yet
~unoccupied, rather than that of n com
Portable home.
Some of the finest rooms looked out
upon a little lake of lotus plants of
perhaps an aero in extent, and there
were glass covered corridors which
ran around this. The chairs sat
against the wall, and their ~unbending
backs were straight up and down.
There were no coy hooks such as
you find in our American homes and
the soft tints Of u family life were
n%otfound in the picture. Nearly every
room contained an American clock,
and some We're hung with glass chan
deliers. l went into his mothers bed
room, the best in tho house, l doubt
not, and where How Qua pointed as
he said, There my mamma sleeps"
was n platform between four posts,
which was covered with straw mat
ting and upon which was a piece of
porcelain Of about the shape and size
Of a f%lve-cent loaf of bread, and this
was the pillow of this rich Chinese
ln1u Il n rornnnfo,