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“ To count age by the almanack is not always to count truly: Mr. Wright claims that he was really born on the steamer that brought him to the Far East in 1902. Till then, he discovered, he had merely existed in chrysalis form. His advent in Japan, and meteoric career there, is still spoken of with bated breath by those confreres who managed to survive his mordant humour. At the outbreak of the war he achieved special distinction by declining to accept the chance of glory, and dysentery, by going to Korea as the Daily Mail's war correspondent. ”

“ Social Shanghai. Probably no place in the East has been so prolific in the production of periodicals as Shanghai, where the population is of so unique and cosmopolitan a character and the interests represented are so varied. Papers in profusion, both weekly and monthly, have seen the light of day. Many of them, after a brief and hopeless struggle for existence, have passed into the limbo of things forgotten. ”

“ George Ernest Morrison, the famous correspondent to the Times, has, probably, a more intimate acquaintance with the interior of China than any man living. Peking is his postal address, but there is only a modicum of truth in the statement that it is his home. Travel forms his sole recreation, and he has, at various times, accomplished the most
arduous and, what would appear to the ordinary man, almost impossible journeys. ”

“ Ample opportunity for indulgence in the mild excitement of shopping is provided by the many excellent foreign stores, at which it is possible to buy almost anything purchasable in England, and the fascinating pursuit of bargain-hunting may be followed from time to time at one or other of the "annual sales" or autumn sales. When wearied of the daily round, the ladies of Shanghai can find quiet and seclusion at the Empress Club, the only ladies' club in China that can boast its own premises and independent set of rules. ”

“ NANKING.
ANKING borrows its interest to-day from the glories of the past and the promise of the future. Except as the centre of Government for the two river provinces of Kiangsu and Anhwei, the former of which contains Shanghai, the city is of little importance. ”

“ As a shipping paper the Hongkong Daily Press began, and as a shipping and commercial paper it still chiefly claims pre-eminence among its contemporaries. Even in those early days, however, it had a soul above mere dollars and dividends, and showed
a stronger sense of public duty than modern communities, in comparatively small towns, are accustomed to from journals depending largely on their subscribers, and advertisers, for existence. On public affairs of interest to the Colony, its pronouncements had a tone refreshingly candid; a spade was a spade fifty years ago ”

“ The British community is divided into two main classes — official and mercantile — but these are capable of infinite multiplication. After all the more familiar methods of social distinction have been exhausted, and officers of the Navy and Army, civil servants, professional men, merchants, and large retailers, have grouped themselves into separate constellations, other and more ingenious devices are introduced to satisfy the desire for exclusiveness. Thus a man's exact position in the social scale is not infrequently determined by the altitude of his house. ”

“ At the present time there is a great call for brick tea, which is made from tea dust, and is exported to Mongolia, North China, and Russia. The factories are working to their utmost capacity, but the supply seems to be insufficient. Of the brick-tea factories, two are situated in the Russian Concession and two in the British Concession. They are equipped with modern machines and employ thousands of Chinese, and the importance of the business may be gathered from the fact that some 26,000,000 taels' worth of brick and tablet tea have passed through the Customs during the last ten years. ”

“ The native city presents no distinctive features, being much like other native cities—a maze of narrow streets flanked by more or less dilapidated-looking houses. Its wealth and prosperity, however, cannot be denied, and the leavening spirit of progress is seen in the recent installation of a plant for supplying some 500,000 gallons of water daily, and in the erection of the necessary machinery for lighting the streets with electricity. The total population of Hankow approaches a quarter of a million. ”

“ The Amoy of to-day is thus the shadow of its former self. The loss of the tea trade has sensibly reduced the foreign community, and with the tea have gone the attendant industries. To regain its position as an important centre of foreign trade the port must find some productions wherewith to pay for its Importations and replace those articles of export which have disappeared. Hope for the future lies in a railway which is now being built, entirely with Chinese capital and by a Chinese engineer, from Sungseu, on the mainland to the west of Amoy, to Changchow. ”

“ Enter into the social life of the community and you will find that the proportion between those whose thoughts are for the most part bounded by the res- tricted limits of the Settlement and its immediate surroundings, and those whose minds dwell upon Weltpolitik, science, art, and the hundred and one subjects that form the basis of conversation in the big capitals of the world, is well preserved in the contents of the daily Press. Shanghai is a commercial centre, and the reward for strict attention to business in business hours is complete relaxation of mind at all other times. ”

“ The trade in these staples, with the ownership or agency of the vessels which carried them and other commodities, such as rice, in which a large coasting trade was done, furnished a lucrative business for the merchants of the time. These were the days of the opium clippers, smartly found craft, which, carrying a valuable cargo paying a high freight, and being also the mail boats of those days, could afford a style and equipment not seen later on the coast. ”

“ These form favourite places of resort, not only for natives, but also for foreigners on pleasure bent, who frequently use them for picnics. The appearance of the harbour as it is approached from the sea is one of considerable beauty. The rugged islands, the rocky hills, the blue water, and the pretty island of Kulangsu with its buildings coloured as in a southern European town, combine to make an attractive picture. ”

“ One of the largest trading firms between India and the Far East is that of E. Pabaney, which does an immense business in opium, yarn, cotton, silk, tea, and other valuable merchandise. The firm was founded by Sir Currimbhoy Ebrahim, who was born in Bombay in 1840, and at the age of sixteen went into business there on his own account. Foreseeing the possibilities of the Far East, he opened a branch of his business in Hongkong in 1857. The success of the venture led to the establishment of other Far Eastern branches, and to-day the firm has an enormous stake in Oriental commerce. ”

“ In this little community are produced all the characteristics of suburban life in England, intensified by peculiar local circumstances. As is, perhaps, only natural, each of the principal nationalities represented — British, German, Portuguese, Indian, and Japanese — resolves itself into a separate and distinct unit, while Eurasians here, as elsewhere, hold a precarious position somewhere between the foreign and the native elements. ”

“ There are many sights of interest. A swinging bridge of boats across a branch of the River Han leads to the famous Han San, a mountain looming green and high, with bamboo groves and clusters of ferns on its sides. ”

“ VEN if it should never be known as a great centre for trade, Chefoo, under an enterprising administration, might quickly become one of the most popular summer resorts in the Far East. It has a climate which is not surpassed in any other part of China, for, while the winter, extending from December to March, is severe, and rain and heat form a rather unpleasant combination in July and August, the spring months are delightful, and the autumn, with its succession of warm days, tempered with cool breezes, provides almost ideal holiday conditions. ”

“ Like most newspaper enterprises in the Far East, the " South China Morning Post," Ltd., does not confine itself to the production of newspapers. Its printing department is fitted with the most modern English and American machinery and plant, including the linotype, of which marvellous invention the Company is the pioneer in the Far East, and of which the Chinese trained on the premises by Mr. G. J. Dyer come to be expert operators in a comparatively short time. So successful has the innovation been, that the Company is now erecting its third machine. ”

“ No fewer than seventeen nationalities have their own Consular representatives at the port, but the British section of the community has always maintained a long lead in both social and mercantile circles, the next in importance being the German section. It is, no doubt, due to this predominance of the British that sport occupies so prominent a place in local life. Hunting, horse-racing, polo, baseball, cricket, hockey, tennis, shooting, rowing, and sailing have each a representative club, which, with the solitary exception of baseball, was originally instituted by the British. ”

“ Whenever a good cause is in need of assistance he is always one of the first to come to its aid. During the Boxer troubles in North China he went to Peking and, at great personal risk, brought away many refugees in steamers specially chartered for the purpose. Again, after the great typhoon which swept over Hongkong in September, 1906, Mr. Ho Kom Tong acted for months on the sub-committee of the Tung Wah Hospital, assisting sufferers in every way possible, and his valuable services in this connection received hearty and official acknowledgment from the Secretary of State for the Colonies. ”

“ To-day it thrives with the distinction of being the oldest paper in the Colony, if not in the Far East. Started on February 20, 1845, as a British journal, it has, through the years that have been lean, or fat, remained true to its colours, and the high policy it established at the outset of being fair to all men in general and stoutly loyal to British traditions in particular has been maintained through varying changes to the present day. It now stands, without prejudice, for the best that is British and the best that is cosmopolitan in the Colony. ”

“ The terminus of the Shanghai–Nanking Railway is outside this wall, at Hsiakuan, a few minutes' walk from the most northerly gate, while the most southerly gate is ten miles distant. To the south of the city, just outside the wall, rise the many tall chimneys of the Powder Works and Arsenal, while within the wall near the west water gate is a mint with a plant capable of producing 2,000,000 copper coins a day. During recent years many wide and good roads have been constructed by order of the Viceroy, so that, in this respect, Nanking is far ahead of most Chinese cities. ”

“ Its criticisms—when necessary unsparing, but at all times studiously free from rancour—bear the impress of genuine effort to uphold the right. A watchful eye is first kept upon the Colony's interests, and, withal, a broad imperialism is the political gospel preached, with a fair commercial field and no favour to all men.
Its columns are never sullied by personalities, and, in general, the conduct of the journal is in line with the very best traditions of English journalism.
The first appearance of the China Mail, in 1845, was as a weekly paper, published each Thursday. ”

“ The climate of Amoy is, for its latitude, a mild and agreeable one. It was remarked in 1871 by Dr. (now Sir) Patrick Manson, then medical officer in Amoy:—"For Europeans, as they are now housed, the climate cannot be considered unhealthy. Their places of business and a few of their residences are situated along the foreshore of the town—rather a hot locality—but for the most part they have their private houses on Kulangsu. ... In the summer they have the full benefit of the strong sea-breezes blowing during the greater part of the day, and of the land winds at night. ”

“ In fact it was the surrender of Admiral Ting at Weihaiwei, following on the fall of Port Arthur, that convinced the Chinese of the futility of further resistance. In this short war the one redeeming feature in the sorry exhibition of Chinese impotence was the heroic, if hopeless, defence of Liu-kung-tao and the harbour by the naval forces of China. The garrisons of various forts on the mainland in most instances deserted en masse. Had the army offered anything like the resistance shown by the sister service, a very different complexion might have been put upon the war. ”

“ While supplying articles of every description, they make a speciality of furniture from their own factory. The firm believes in the old-fashioned method of making furniture by hand, whereby quality, durability, and finish are alike secured. Their workmen are recruited from Ningpo- Chekiang, where most of the cabinet-makers in China are to be found, and though men employed on piece-work are sometimes difficult to manage, the firm of "Kung Yih " — to give the Chinese name — have such an enviable reputation for fair dealing that they have yet to record their first hitch or strike. ”

“ Amoy is the port of foreign trade for South Fokien, a region which, though politically and administratively united with the northern half of the province of Fokien, is geographically and ethnologically distinct. Shut off from the other portion of the province and the rest of China by high mountain ranges, the inhabitants of what might be called the Amoy district have always preserved their distinctive peculiarities. Isolated from the interior of their country, their trend for many centuries has been seawards towards Formosa, the Philippine Islands, and the countries of the Malay Archipelago. ”

“ Silk piece goods are woven on hand-looms by small weavers, who either buy raw silk from the farmers and sell the manufactured articles themselves, or weave to order silk supplied them by merchants. The whole of the producing districts contribute to this heading of export, but the figures given below do not afford any indication of the amount of silk actually woven in the country, for by far the greater proportion of the finest silk—that woven from the first crop of raw silk—finds a market within the borders of the Empire among the official and wealthy classes. ”

“ For all this, though, life may be passed very pleasantly in Hongkong, both by those who move in the "upper circles" and by those whose souls are untroubled with social aspirations. Sport forms the pivot of existence. ”

“ The extent of the highly remunerative business carried on by the Standard Oil Company, of which Mr. J. D. Rockefeller, the great American millionaire is the head, forms the subject of comment in many parts of the world. A branch of the undertaking was opened in Hongkong in August, 1894, by Mr. George Henry Wheeler, who had formerly been a partner in the firm of Russel & Co., at Shanghai. Since 1898, in spite of considerable competition from the Asiatic Petroleum Company, and the Maatschappij tot Mijnbosch-en Landbouwexploitatie in Langkat, their trade has increased several hundred per cent. ”

“ As a newspaper, the China Mail ranks as first in the Colony. Its telegraphic services from London, Australia, and the whole of the Far East, including Japan, Colombo, and the Straits Settlements, enables it invariably to give the earliest information of current events. The publication of news of Chinese affairs, with criticisms, is a feature of the journal, and one that is of distinct service to all interested in the Chinese Empire. ”

“ Large ocean-going ships and men-of-war are usually berthed either at the north or south end of Kulangsu, in either of which places they can find good anchorage. On the Amoy side lies the British Concession, marked by its bund, backed by the row of foreign hongs. This is the principal business quarter of the town, where the foreign trade is carried on, and near which are located the establishments of the leading Chinese merchants. The bulk of the foreign residents cross the harbour daily from their homes in Kulangsu to their offices in Amoy. ”