The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1901-06-12
NIsSLEY IN HONG KONG.
Topeka Man Writes Entertainingly of
What He Sees.

J. 2. Nissley. of Topeka, who is cir
COMMUNICATING the globe. writes from
Hong Kong, China, to the Abilene Re
Hector as follows:
At 5 o'clock on the morning of the
18th Zone day ahead Of our schedule) our
Chinese porter boy raped on the door
and said, 40 minutes be in Hong
Kong" Hurriedly we got up and out
on deck to catch the first glimpse of
the entrance to this important harbor.
Heavy clouds capped the mountains on
our left, struggling sanpons leisurely
skim along over the calm waters of the
bay; thousands of masts and spars
lowered heavenWard as far as the eye
could see; Cinnamon from out Of the
Asiatic Steerage quarters of our boat
came on deck by the hundreds to once
again look upon their beloved native
shores; such were the surroundings for
our introduction to this far eastern me
tropolis at such an early hour and with
a perspiring sense of having woke up
in the tropics.
Hong Kong has a population of -.~,.vJ
of which number goodly portion are
hoating, that is on the water I am told
that many families are born, live and
die right on the water, having as their
only place of abode the little sanpon
(boat) probably 10 feet long and 4 feet
wide. On one of these boats we saw "A
grandmother, a mother and father, five
children ranging in age from months
to 10 or u years, cat and a brood OF
chicks that were or s days old. This
1 have no doubt is a sample of thous-
ands of others. For a livelihood they
transport freight and passengers from
shore to shore and boat to boat and
fish at odd spells-their odd spells be-
ing many and of long duration.
In all our travels thus far Hong Kong
has the least horses of any place we
have vet visited. During the first day
L failed to see one, but since then sew
erl ponies and inferior horses have
come to our notice. Hong Kong has no
street cars, J1nrlckShaS and seden chairs
being used. There are two reasons for
this method. One is the convenience of
climbing the hills in sedan chairs and
the other the economy of dispensing
with the luxury of horses and electric
cars. 1t costs SIS a month to keep a
horse, besides, you need a drivers place
to keep him and considerable invest
ment, especially if it be a we'll bred an
imal. A cOolie can be hired for from 81
to 50 per month and boards himself.
No investment, no care, and always at
your service All labor is proportion
ately cheap and it is the exception, not
a rule, to have all the way from three to
six personal attendants and notwith-
standing our prejudice against Chinese
labor, they do their work we'll I confess
since have seen them in their own
baiHWlck and laying my cultivated pre-
John Chinaman credit for a great deal
more than previously. He is a hard,
faithful, and painstalzing workman; in
duStriouS, willing, and I have a pity
rather than contempt for him now. He
is what he is, simply as a result of CEN
turtles of environments that would leave
their degenerate scar upon the lives of
any one else under the same influence.
That the Christian missionaries have
welded an inestimable amount of good
through their various channels goes
without saying, reports to the contrary
Notwithstanding. and I, for one, place
a much more liberal and broader value
upon missionary enterprise in the orient
than ever before. This is speaking only
from the standpoint Of 4 business man
and viewing it entirely from it's COM
mercial phase. We have now sufficient
interest in the east that as business
proposition we can, or at least should
not neglect the Importance OF cuItivat-
ing Chinese trade.
Shanghai is known for the distinctive
" foreign settlement and her native or
walled city. We visited both. In for
eign Shanghai you get the impression
of being in quite a modern city, large
buildings, wide streets. horses and car
riages and many other evidences OF. the
Goth century prOgressiveness In the
walled city are small, dingy, dirty build-
ings, narrow streets avera ging probably
to 10 feet in width; no sewerage, filthy,
ragged, forlorn looking. almost naked
people, fakirs. storytellers. jugglers.
peddlerS, beggars- all sorts of humanity
We were told that to see old Shang-
hal is practically to see China 900 miles
inland Whether that is a fact or not
our curiosity is satisfied so far as real
typical Chinese life is concerned.