Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-03-21
THE RICHEST MAN IN CHINA.
How a Celestial Millionaire Enjoys Life
at Canton.

How a Celestial Millionaire Enjoys Life
at Canton.
Canton. China Correspondence of the New York World
] visited this afternoon the Vanderbilt of
Of China. He is relative of the Chinese min
lister at Washington, and his grandfather died
less than generation ago, leaving an estate
worth fifty million hard gold dollars. His name
Is How Qua, and he has acres Of houses in the
busiest part of Canton, his own residence oc-
cupies the site of good-sized farm, and he has
diamonds and pearls by the cupful. One of his
diamonds. 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-ields and many acres of the choicest
tea gardens. His money is well invested and
ne would approach the wealth of jay Gould
were 1t not that the officials every now and then
come down upon him for gift of from SIC, 900
70 Sl0O,OOO and he dare not refuse. This rich
man Is now forty-nine years old. though he
does not look over thrty-fve. He is a typical
Chinaman of the literary class, has a broad,
nigh forehead. thin yellow cheeks and eyes
that shine as brightly as his choicest diamonds.
His hair isfike jet and his queue caches to his
ankles. He was dressed in silks and furs when
he received me, and he had tight, round black
silk scull-cap on the top of his head. He shook
his own hands before his breast in Chinese salu-
tat1on when our American consul. Mr.. Seymour,
introduced me to him, and then he reached out
his ong-nailed fingers and grasped my hand
In Americana
1t was in his gland residence on the banks of
the Pearl river, in the heart of Canton. We
walked through a wilderness of buildings de-
voted to the servants and relatives of the family
before we came to the reception room. How
qua supports about four hundred OF his poorer
relatives, and when a man makes a fortune il.
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 room we heard the
buzzing of babel. 1t was How Qua's children
being taught by their tutor. and like all Chi
nese children, they studied out loud. singing
their lessons out at the tops of their voices.
Now and then the sharp clatter of the ruler
could be heard when one of the boys II ade
mistake, and the father told me 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 For
mosa tea was brought in, the leaves of which
were, Judge, worth about $50 pound, and
we seated ourselves in black ebony chairs,
Whlcn In couples were ranged on the sides of
small tables, and slipped the tea from covered
emma cups without saucers. There are no easy
chaifs In this Chinese gentieman's house, and
this palace in China had uncarpeted floors of
stone, and its walls between the rooms were of
colored glass framed in ebony. Some of the
curious shaped panels had pictures painted on
them by Chinese artists, and the effect of the
whole was the finish of a fancy storeroom vet
unoccupied, rather than that of a comfortable
home
Some Of the finest rooms looked out upon a
little lake Of lotus plants of perhaps an acre in
extent, and there were glass-covered corridors
which ran around this The chairs sat against
the WALL and Il cir unbending backs were
straight up and down. There were no cosy
hooks such as you find in our American homes
and the soft tints of our family life were not
found in the picture. Nearly every room con-
tanned an American clock, and some were hung
with glass chandeliers went into his mothers
bedroom, the best in the house, l doubt not,
and where How Qua pointed as he said There
my mamma sleeps" was a platform between
four posts, which was covered with straw mat
ting and upon which was piece of porcelain
OF about the shape and size of scent loaf of
bread, and this was the pillow of this rich Chi
nese lady.
In no country in the world have mothers more
power than in China, and in no place is filial
affection more shown. How Qua, though forty
nine years old, obeys his mother well as when
he was ten, and he would not think of going
out at night without asking her permission.
Not long ago he was invited to our consulate
for dinner. He replied: Il would like to come
but l cannot tell till l ask my mamma" Still
How Qua is nearly fifty and his mother sixty
nine. The Chinese mother selects the bride for
her son, and How Qua, during his visit, seemed
much prouder of his mother than his wife.
WOMEN WITH sHocKINaLY SMALL FEET.
He introduced us to the old lady, who was
sitting in a chair wrapped in furs and powdered
and painted. Her seat looked out upon her
flower garden and she had two maids beside
her. Upon her cloth cap was great button Of
diamonds as large as the biggest full-blown rose
and of about the same shape. 1t was made of
numerous stones and the central one was as
large as the egg of robin. Pearls hung in
her ears. and what interested US most were the
golden lilies" which shone out beneath her
embroidered petticoat. Golden lilies" Is the
Chinese expression for the smallest of ladies'
feet, and Nine. How Qua had shoes not more
than two inches in diameter. Their soles were
round rather than oblong, and their tops were
embroidered in silver and silk. They were SO
small that she could not walk alone. and this
old lady, who has for years controlleda fortune
greater than that possessed by Miss Mary Gar
rett or Mrs. Mark Hopkins. cannot move from
one room to another without the assistance of
her maids.