China Sea

“ At Hongkong the sailing is on a bright, blue sea, whether in the magnificent harbour or amongst the numerous lovely islands, while at Shanghai it is on the muddy waters of the Whangpoo, which, except for the fact that it is the harbour of this thriving settlement, where scores of vessels of all sizes and nationalities ride at anchor or are berthed alongside wharves, is a small and uninteresting river flowing into the estuary of the Yangtse. ”

“ Thus the China Sea became a principal battle-ground whereon the struggle for ascendancy between the ships of Great Britain and the United States was most 239 strenuously fought out. It was, as Mr Green said, a fair and open contest, alike creditable to both sides, and an unmixed benefit to the world at large. The energy of the English shipping interest was thoroughly aroused, and the shipowners and shipbuilders of Scotland came speedily to the front. ”

“ It was of course necessary for this purpose to employ Chinese boats, which are not very trustworthy. The distance from Chusan to the town of Chinhae, at the mouth of the Ning-po river, is about thirty miles. A sail across a sea such as this is generally pleasant enough, because the water, which is hemmed in on all sides, is frequently as smooth as a mill-pond. Sometimes, however, the wind comes down in gusts from the openings amongst the hills, and then the little China boats are all laid nearly upon their beam-ends before the sail can be taken in. ”

“ In these circumstances it is easy to understand why the loss of junks and lives on the Chinese coast every year is so great. The immense number of people who live in boats on the rivers in southern China, render the terrible typhoons which sweep the sea and land especially destructive. For the most part these boat-people are not of Chinese origin but are remnants of the aborigines of the country. That the race has ever survived is a constant wonder, seeing the hourly and almost momentary danger of drowning in which the children live on board their boats. ”

“ There was a service on Sunday, both for the first-class and second-class passengers. We soon entered the China Sea, which was to be our sole waterway to Hong-Kong, fifteen hundred miles distant, or205 rather to the Straits of Formosa, which guard the China Sea on the north, as the Strait of Malacca does on the south. We reached port on the morning of March 20th, and the approach—past many islands, along the fine harbor, with its high rocky shores, towering mountains in the background, and a terraced city in the foreground—gave us a new sensation. ”

“ The Chinese, in fact, are equally unskilled in naval architecture, as in the art of navigation. They keep no reckoning at sea, nor possess the least idea of drawing imaginary lines upon the surface of the globe, by the help of which the position of any particular spot may be assigned ”

“ It must here be remarked that this intricate passage was one never before traversed by any European vessel or boat, and believed by the Chinese themselves to be inaccessible to foreigners, both owing to the shallowness and intricacy of its channels, and to the number and strength of the artificial defences erected on [179] its banks. It can, perhaps, be scarcely called a distinct river, but may be rather considered as in reality one of those almost innumerable channels which present themselves to view on every side, along the whole sea-board of China ”

“ Woosung and Shanghai, situated on the banks of a river which falls into the sea at the entrance of the Yang’tse Kiang, were first captured, and on the 6th of July, 1842, a fleet of nearly 80 sail, including among them the Cornwallis, of 72 guns, Sir William Parker’s flag-ship, in five divisions, sailed up the mighty stream on their voyage of 200 miles into the very heart of China. Before reaching Nankin they came off the large city of Chin Keang Foo, near which passes the great canal of China. ”

“ You get interested in the boats you pass and meet; some coming down stream, laden with plants in pots—two dwarf orange-trees, with oranges on them, I saw once—or bringing down straw braid, or taking up brick tea—such quantities of brick tea, which had, I suppose, come all the way down the Yangtse from poor water-beleaguered Hankow of the willow avenues and ravening mosquitoes, and round farther by sea from Shanghai to Tientsin, and whose progress on strings and strings of dignified camels Siberiawards we subsequently saw. ”

“ We were to clear in ballast for the open ports of the southern islands, ostensibly after a general cargo of rice, tobacco, coffee, hemp, sugar, etc., and, once clear of the land, were to make all haste across the China Sea, run into the estuary of the Hai Chin River, and drop anchor. ”

“ In the China Sea there are cross-currents which make for bad going at the best of times, and when they are piled up by a typhoon into great, warring waves the result is likely to be extraordinary.
My husband cabled me to take a larger vessel, a United States army transport which left Hongkong about the same time we did, but I was comfortably located with my family on the little Kasuga Maru ”

“ The sailor in him had quickly recognized that the craft would stand the weather, so long as she remained in quiet water. Probably he expected every minute that Lee Fu would change his tactics and put into some sheltered cove.... But when we shot through Lymoon Pass, I saw him turn and scrutinize the Chinaman closely. Darkness was falling behind the murk, the real night now; ahead of us lay a widening reach among the islands, that opened abruptly on the main body of the China Sea. We were rapidly leaving the protection of Victoria Island. Soon we should be unable to see our way. ”

“ Their mode of proceeding, is to set out with the favourable monsoon. After reaching a certain point without losing sight of land, they stand across the China Sea, calculating that they will, as they generally do, reach the opposite side in ten or twelve days. They make but one voyage across the China Sea in a year ”

“ When he had no means of keeping food or fresh water for any great length of time, he was a bold man who would venture far out of sight of land. Provided with the faithful compass, men became bolder; they enlarged their vessels, making longer voyages, until they ran over the length and breadth of the Eastern seas. Still the China Sea, with its typhoons and its monsoons and currents, down to a comparatively recent period, was looked upon as an obstacle which was to be smoothed down and not to be wrestled with. ”

“ Nevertheless, they keep the boats scrupulously clean and very much at the service of any European who will exchange a few sen for a long, soft float on the swelling Chinese sea.
Nature herself is thorough in China. When it rains on Hong-Kong, the island is drenched with a wet splendour that dwarfs into a mere mist all the rains that ever fell on Europe. The last time that we were in Hong-Kong it rained incessantly. Between the steamer and the hotel our boxes were thoroughly drenched. ”

“ Resuming our course, after a stay of about forty-eight hours, we next touched at the island of White Dogs, off the port of Foo-Choo, the great naval depôt and arsenal of China. The "Vigilant" had preceded us here to embark the admiral for Foo-Choo, whilst we put to sea again.
April 30th.—At daylight we found ourselves amongst an archipelago of picturesque and richly cultivated islands, one mass of greenery from base to summit. The effect produced by the different tints of the foliage was very fine indeed. Beyond a doubt the Chinese exhibit great skill and economy in the gardener's art. ”

“ The Chinese drove, or perhaps walked, but did not "go in for games" as the "foreign devils" do; it is better, they think, to pay people to do all this to amuse them.
The steamer quitted Shanghai, and made her way into the Yellow Sea, which is beautifully blue, and derives its name from the Ho, or Yellow River. Near the land it is more muddy, but steaming at sea through the ocean depths the water is blue as an Italian sky. We made our way up to Taku, or Tien Tsin, the well-known port of Northern China. ”

“ From the ancient Portuguese colony of Macao, distant forty miles from Hongkong and celebrated as the home of the poet Camoëns, come fleets of fishing-boats, which, in pursuit of their calling, cruise amongst the islands in the delta of the West River.
These "Macao junks" are about the best sea-boats and the fastest sailers of all Chinese vessels. ”

“ In the south Canton was the only port open to those who came to China by sea, while along the coast-line, facing to the eastward, the ports were sealed against foreign intrusion. Commerce between China and the outer world was hampered by many restrictions, and only its great profits kept it alive. But once fairly established, the barbarian merchants taught the slow-learning Chinese that the trade brought advantage to all engaged in it. ”

“ The need of such a port in this part of China goes without saying. For the provinces of Chili, Shansi, Western Shantung, Northern Honan, a part of Fengtien and the greater part of Shensi and Kansu with a population of about 100 millions are lacking of a seaport of this kind. Mongolia and Sinkiang as well as the rich coal and iron fields of Shansi will also have to depend on the Chili coast as their only outlet to the sea. And the millions of congested population of the coast and the Yangtze valley need an entrance to the virgin soil of the Mongolian Prairie and the Tienshan Valley. ”

“ The extension of sea-board opened to foreign enterprise by Lord Elgin's treaty, and the free navigation of the great river Yangtsze-Kiang, have attracted a large fleet of [369] steamers to the coast and rivers of China. These are chiefly employed, and in many instances owned, by natives. In everything the Chinese have exhibited a remarkable freedom from prejudice. They are much too practical to allow any freak of fancy to influence them in matters in which they have a tangible interest. ”

“ The entrance of our harbor is in the deepest part of the Hangchow Bay, and from the entrance to the open sea there is an average depth of six to seven fathoms at low water. The largest ocean liner could therefore come into port at any hour. Thus as a first-class seaport in Central China our Projected Port is superior to Shanghai. See Map III.
From the viewpoint of the principle of the line of least resistance, our Projected Port will be on new land which will offer absolute freedom for city planning and industrial development. ”

“ In giving a correct general idea of China one cannot perhaps do better than to institute a comparison between it and the United States, to which it bears a striking resemblance. It occupies the same position in the eastern hemisphere that the United States does in the western. Its line of sea coast on the Pacific resembles that of the United States on the Atlantic, not only in length but also in contour. Being found within almost the same parallels of latitude, it embraces almost the same variety of climate and production. ”

“ It is significant to find that all round the coast, from the Red Sea to India, Ceylon, and Burma, the Egyptian types of vessels have been in use from the earliest seafaring periods. The Burmese junks on the Irawadi resemble closely, as has been indicated, the Nile boats of the ancient Egyptians.13 The Chinese junks were developed from Egyptian models. More antique Egyptian boats than are found on the Chinese coast are still being used by the Koryak tribe who dwell around the sea of Okhotsk. ”

“ THE PROPITIATION OF THE GODS OF THE WATERS Among the festivals of Southern China none is more popular than the Propitiation of the Gods of the Waters, which takes place during the spring and autumn in villages and cities bordering on the Chu Kiang estuary and the wild ocean banks of the Southern Sea; for these cities and towns have their boats with fathers, husbands and sons scattered over many waters and depend for their sustenance as well as life upon the mercy of the Gods of the Deep. ”

“ Vessels hugging the shore made their way from the Chinese coast to Singhapura or to some other port in the straits, from whence their cargoes were carried by Arab craft to India and Persia. Overland the rich fabrics and spices of the East were transmitted to the Levant for distribution to the more populous centres of Europe. The trade was a strictly Oriental one. An occasional European traveller, like Marco Polo, found his way into the interior of China and even over portions of the sea route ”

“ Did “spread-eagleism” as well as population first reach America from China?
“It is difficult,” says Mr. Cameron, “while looking at these junks, to imagine how they can manage in a seaway; and yet at times they must encounter the heaviest weather along the Chinese coast in the northern latitudes. It is true that when they encounter a gale they generally run before it; but yet in a typhoon this would be of little avail to ease a ship. There is no doubt they must possess some good qualities, and, probably, speed, with a fair wind in a smooth sea, is one of them. ”

“ During this period European seamen took service with the native pirates who made Hongkong their headquarters, whence they drew their supplies, and where they kept themselves informed as to the movements of valuable merchandise and of war-vessels. Foreigners were enlisted also in the service of the honest trader; Chinese merchants began to charter small European sailing-vessels for coasting voyages, whereby they gained the protection of a European flag, the prestige of a European crew, and the better sea-going qualities of a European vessel. ”