Part 29

Shanghai is situated on the left bank of a stream called the Hiangpo, a tributary of the Yangtse River. Formerly there were an English settlement and an American settlement, the latter with no legal claims. These are now merged into the foreign settlement. There is also a French colony, with its numerous concessions.

The history of the city may be divided into two sections, the pre-foreign period and the foreign period. In both there has been a continuous increase of prosperity and importance, due to furnishing unusual facilities for fostering trade. In the early years Shanghai was subject to frequent raids and disturbances, and in 1543 there was a general devastation. Foreign residence was sanctioned only as a result of the first Chinese war. The signing of the treaty of Nanking threw open Shanghai and four other ports to foreign trade, the latter being Swatow, Amoy, Foochow, and Ningpoo, but these have never acquired the importance of Shanghai, which has the advantage of being at the mouth of the Yangtse River.

In 1849 a concession was granted to the French, but as late as 1850 there were only one hundred and fifty-seven foreign residents, and twenty-five foreign firms doing business. Shanghai is distinctively a commercial city, with a flat location, no background, and an artificial foreground of solid rows of business buildings. The approach to the city reveals a succession of mills, docks, wharves, engineering works, and buildings of every description, except those of artistic and pleasing appearance. The principal streets, the Bund and the Nanking Road, run at right angles to each other, and the chief thoroughfares run parallel to these two. The Bund is broad, fronting the water, and is a popular thoroughfare. The Nanking Road deserves special mention. It begins as a narrow passage-way with foreign business houses on each side; it then widens, and has Chinese shops, with, later on, the recreation ground, Town Hall, and Library. Farther on it is known as Bubbling Well Road.

Shanghai, as a residence for the European, is said to be the finest city in the East as regards modern conveniences, finer than any place east of Suez, but it is a city of contrasts. No centre can offer a wider choice for enjoyment,--the public recreation ground covering eight thousand acres. Within this enclosure is the race course, where cricket, football, hockey, tennis, golf, polo, and baseball are played; and numberless pavilions, dressing-rooms, and a swimming-bath are included in the adjacent building--all free to the public. There are in addition many clubs of a private nature, some social and others musical, and many of them owning fine buildings. Matters of education are not neglected, and the public schools even include kindergartens. There are likewise private schools, but the provisions for educating Chinese children are very inadequate, and mostly of the mission order. The Roman Catholic missions have excellent schools and well-equipped buildings. There is a fine American College, St. John's, that grants degrees. Some institutions are managed by the Chinese, the principal one being the Imperial Polytechnic College, which is housed in a fine block of buildings. There are also various organizations of an intellectual order, such as the Royal Asiatic Society, which is affiliated with a society of the same name in England; and an American Asiatic Society to further interests in the Far East. Architects, engineers, and missionaries likewise have their guilds.

The religious life of the settlement is very diversified, and includes Jews, Parsees, Mohammedans, Greek and Roman Catholics, and members of the Anglican Church; the various forms of the Protestant Church are represented, and most of the missions have their headquarters here.

We returned to our steamer in the evening, and sailed on for Kobe, our point of departure, but we had "stop-over privileges at Nagasaki." Our intervening day was passed mostly on deck, the weather being fine.

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NAGASAKI, April 8th: We arrived at Nagasaki on the morning of April 8th in a pouring rain which rather dampened our ardor, inasmuch as we had a full day's programme arranged. We went ashore, however, and proceeded to the Cliff House for a short time, but as the storm increased we returned to the steamer somewhat crestfallen. The Korea was taking on coal when we left, but on our return there was an ominous silence, and we learned that the workers, thoroughly drenched, had struck and that the vessel would be compelled to remain another day. Hope revived amongst us, and on the following morning the sun was shining brightly. This was the only time I have known a strike to be of benefit.

The process of taking on coal was very peculiar. Ladders were placed up the sides of the steamer, relays of men and women were arranged in nine rows, counting from the bottom; coal was placed in baskets and passed up in fire-bucket fashion with the utmost quickness and dexterity. It continued incessantly until the work was completed. There were more women than men working, and they all wore pointed white handkerchiefs over their heads.

A steam launch conveyed us to Nagasaki, and once there we took a jinrikisha for a memorable mountain ride of five miles, along a road called the Mogi. We ascended gradually from the sea-level, and soon the loveliest view was spread before us. On our right, looking downward, were the sea and the city rising in terraces from the water, the hillsides covered with foliage, all sparkling in the morning light; on our left, foothills, and beyond these the mountains. We stopped at a Japanese tea-house to rest the jinrikisha men, and soon after, we came to a point in the landscape said to be represented in the opera of "Madame Butterfly." Reaching the Mogi, we found another tea-house, and we all alighted and roamed around the point, where we had a magnificent, far-reaching panorama. The descent was quite as enjoyable, and altogether we voted the ride an entire success.

We next visited some bazars. The temples were omitted, but I later visited them on my return trip to North China. Then we returned to the steamer for a late luncheon, and the bevy of animated coal-heavers were still at work. The day following was our last on the steamer, and our way lay through one portion of the Inland Sea, meaning a narrow waterway, the shores of which were visible on both sides.

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KOBE: We arrived at Kobe on the evening of April 10th, and fell at once into the grasp of the custom-house authorities, who proved, however, very lenient. Our valued Director here left us to go on to Yokohama and was succeeded by a Japanese guide, Mr. Macheeda, who took charge of four of the party, small groups and native guides being the policy in Japan. Our abiding-place in Kobe was the Oriental Hotel.

The following morning we went out early in jinrikishas for a general ride through Kobe, going first to the distant waterfall in the mountains, which really proved a fine spectacle. Next we visited temples, then some shops or bazars, and a Satsuma studio, where the whole art process was explained to us by a most courteous Japanese, who spoke English perfectly. All the appointments of the studio were truly Japanese, including the sliding windows and doors, the hardwood floor and the matting walls. Here tea and little cakes were served to us.

We then went to another studio with a different interior. This was larger and more pretentious. Again the process was explained to us in the same courteous way, and we realized that we were now in a land where good manners prevailed. A heavy rain unfortunately set in, and we were compelled to return to the hotel.

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ONOMICHI: The following day we took the train for Onomichi, arriving at our destination in the evening. Here we were to have a new experience, the hotel being strictly Japanese, with not a word of English spoken. First, we were asked to remove our shoes and put on slippers, the alternative being cotton coverings for our own shoes. I preferred the latter. The house was quite large, consisting of two stories. The first floor was, however, occupied by the family. The second floor was entirely devoted to our party, whose suite included several rooms with movable screens so arranged that one large room could be converted into two. There were sliding windows, paper taking the place of glass.

Our beds were the futons, composed of dark red comforters, one below and one above us, with another hard roll for the head. There were no chairs in the sleeping-rooms, but washstands had been improvised, there being dressing-rooms outside of some of the rooms. Concession was made us in the improvised dining-room, a table and chairs being reserved for our special use. On one side of this room there was a slightly raised floor, and here were pretty little side tables and bronze ornaments. Our guide had very considerately brought some canned goods with him and also some bread; the family, however, furnished us with eggs and tea. The mother and two daughters were bright and sunny, as were the little Japanese maids who attended to the menial work. It was altogether a novel experience. The next morning, however, the rain was coming down in torrents, and there was no possibility of our taking a steamer for a trip of several hours to the sacred island of Miyajima, so we reluctantly boarded the morning train for Osaka, arriving there late in the afternoon.

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OSAKA, April 13th: The next morning dawned brightly, and we left in jinrikishas for a general tour, first visiting the fort where stands a noted castle, very picturesque in appearance. We then visited the Exposition of Industrial Arts, which did not seem unlike an exposition at home in its general arrangements. The goods displayed, however, were very different. Then we had a ride along Cherry Blossom Avenue, the trees being laden with the pale pink flower. We visited bazars and noted the general aspect of the place, canals being a dominant characteristic of the landscape. We saw a particularly fine temple among many others. Osaka is a commercial city of great wealth and is more celebrated from a business point of view than from its artistic aspect.

After luncheon we went to Yaba Meczan's Satsuma studio. This artist is celebrated, having taken prizes at both the Chicago and St. Louis Expositions, and his work surpassed any I had ever seen. The decoration on some of the vases was so fine that it required a glass to bring out the full and minute detail. In designing and decorating these vases the work has to be done with a magnifying glass, which is a very severe strain on the eyes. We then proceeded up what is called Theatre Street, so named because of the situation of several playhouses in the midst of prominent shops. Banners and signs were displayed in every available space, all of different colors, and the general effect was very unusual as they floated in the breeze. Later in the afternoon we took a train for Kyoto.

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KYOTO, April 15th: The following morning another heavy rain greeted us. We were now in the Japanese city which retains more of the old life and customs than any other, not having been spoiled as yet by modern innovations. The bad weather abating in the afternoon, we went to the temple Nishi Otani. This is situated on quite an eminence. We crossed a stone bridge spanning a lotus pond, and walked up an inclined way paved with granite, a flight of steps leading to the handsome main gate which faces a strikingly carved two-storied structure. We took our places on the steps and awaited the arrival of the procession of Buddhist priests, this being the chief object of our visit. They came in large numbers, walking two by two, and arrayed in the most gorgeous brocades, no two being of the same pattern. Around the waist they wore wide sashes of equal richness and beauty, and the effect was truly very striking, as they walked up the hill. This was one of the features of the rite of commemoration, the ceremonies continuing through the week. We then visited some shops, of which there are a large number, all of them very interesting.

Shintoism is the State religion, and the following morning we visited one of the temples, named Kitano Tenjin. Entering through the great stone torii or gateway, we found stone lanterns, together with stone and bronze bulls presented by devotees. Another torii and a couple of two-storied gates were passed through, the last being called the Gate of the Three Luminaries, or the Sun, Moon, and Stars. This was the entrance to one side of the square, the other three sides being formed of colonnades. It might be well to explain that a torii consists of two upright columns several feet apart. At the top is a cross-bar extending out about one foot on each side and two feet lower than the top of the columns.

There were many other details noted by us, and it was perhaps the most effective Shinto temple that we saw. We then visited Kinkakuji, more commonly called the "Golden Pavilion." This is Buddhist in character, and there is a monastery surrounded by a fine garden in which is another pavilion. The garden was artistic, in the middle of which is a lake with pine-clad shores and pine-clad islets; this indeed seemed unusual so near a large city. The lake is usually filled with a flowering plant called junsai and is stocked with carp, which always appear on the approach of visitors, expecting to be fed.

All the ancient buildings have disappeared except the Pavilion, which was restored in 1906. It stands on the water's edge and is three-storied. Each floor is furnished with statuettes of different saints and has mural decorations by Kano Masanobu. There are very unusual features connected with this temple. The so-called apartments are in two sets,--one attached to the main building with pictorial sliding screens symbolic of Chinese sages and other subjects by Kano. There are also drawings of birds and trees, and ornaments done by celebrated artists. Folding screens are in common use. One artistic group represents three religious teachers, Confucius, Buddha, and Lao Tze. After showing these art treasures to us the priests served tea, while we sat around in true Japanese style.

After luncheon we went to still another very interesting Buddhist temple, Kiyomizu-dera. Kyoto abounds in fine temples. We left our jinrikishas at the foot of the hill and walked up a long, high lane called Teapot Street because in all the little shops bordering the thoroughfare china and teapots are displayed, forming the favorite purchases of the country people who frequent this temple. The building is situated in a striking position and commands a view of the entire city. The two-storied gateway at the top of the steps was restored in 1897. Outside this gate are two pagodas, each three-storied, and the large green bell, dating from 1624. We then passed up through a colonnade to the main temple, whose rough, hewn columns and bare floor are most unusual. The whole style is original and unique. The great festival day here is on the 17th of August, when a classic concert is given, the musicians being dressed in various unique costumes. They are seated opposite each other in the wings like the two sides of a choir. A dancing stage extends the whole length of its front, and this opens into a hall full of ex-voto pictures, some of which possess great artistic merit. Directly behind this main temple are several other temples and an eleven-storied pagoda which it is impossible to describe here adequately.

On our homeward way we visited the Art Museum. This and the museum at Nara contain the very best collections of early Japanese statuary. The exhibits have been taken or borrowed from time to time from various Buddhist temples in Kyoto and the surrounding provinces. Some date from the seventh and eighth centuries, when Buddhist carving was at the height of its excellence. There are also screens, ancient manuscripts, swords, armor, musical instruments, coins, imperial robes, and miscellaneous articles.