Page 123 - Merchants and Mandarins China Trade Era

109.

foreign residents called the unwalled sections of Canton)

absorbed the city's overflow of population. The Chinese auth­

orities permitted the presence of foreigners in this part of

Canton during the daytime. Most of the Outside merchants had

their shops in the suburbs, so the foreign residents generally

visited this area for business purposes. But they also went

to amuse themselves with the strange customs of the Chinese.

Canton's suburbs, outside the city's walls, were indis­

tinguishable from that older part of the city within the walls.

The streets were incredibly narrow, crowded and noisy to

Western eyes and ears. Ranging from two to sixteen feet wide,

the average street measured about eight feet across. On either

side were shops and houses, the latter including poor as well

as wealthy residences. While the houses of the rich Cantonese

presented walled exteriors to the streets, the dwellings of
14
11
the poor were mere mud hovels--low, narrow, dark, uncleanly."
At either end of the streets were gates which policemen or

guards closed at dusk. The guards' duties were to maintain

order and to prevent disturbances. Some of the American resi­

11
dents believed they also had orders to protect the persons and
15
property" of the foreigners.

14
Andrew Ljungstedt, An Historical Sketch of the Portugese
Settlement::; in Chinc:t ,Jnd of the Rornan C:,tholic Church and Mission
in China (Boston, 1836), pp. 237-38. E.C. Wines, A Peep at China
in Mr. Dunn's Collection, with Miscellaneous Notices Relating to the
Institutions and Customs of the Chinese and our Commercial Inter­
·course with Them (Philadelphia, 1839), pp. 23-24. Edmund Fanning,
Voyages to the South Seas, North and South Pacific Oceans, China
Sea, etc. (New York, 1833), pp. 309-10.
15
Hunter, 'Fan Kwae' at Canton, pp.26-27. William C.
Hunter, Bits of Old China (London, 1855), pp. 218-19.