Page 125 - Merchants and Mandarins China Trade Era

111.

Beggars were especially prevalent in these Chinese

crowds. They often followed foreigners through the streets and

even into the shops pleading for offerings. Chinese beggars

carried bamboo sticks, which they beat together to create a

raucous noise. Imperial law prohibited shopkeepers from

18
throwing beggars out of their shops. Americans at first
were sympathetic to these unfortunate Chinese, but their stag­

gering numbers quickly inured the residents to their existence.

Irritation and indignation replaced sympathy in Americans deal­
ing with the beggars. The average American gradually began to

view the Cantonese with contempt.

Although Americans generally viewed the Chinese masses

at Canton with disdain, this condescending attitude appeared

only after the Americans had resided at Canton for a length of

time. Newly-arrived Americans observed the Chinese with interest

and curiosity. These residents found their habits and customs

strange but neither disgusting nor contemptible. Americans

accepted the Chinese as another "exotic" facet of China. During

the course of a few years' residence at Canton their impression
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changed. This reversal of attitude must have been partially a

18
Journal of P.S. Forbes, Jun. 22, 1843, Harvard Business
School, Baker Library, Forbes MSS. Abee 1, Journal, pp. 86-87.
19
stuart Creighton Miller, The Unwelcome Immigrant: The
American Image of the Chinese, 1785-1882 (Berkeley, 1969) deals
with American merchants' attitudes toward the Chinese. Miller
states that contempt for the Chinese colored the total American
attitude toward them. He has divided American visitors (not all
of them are traders as he claims) into groups according to their
feelings toward the Chinese, with those contemptuous of the Chinese
outnumbering those favorably disposed toward them. I would generall�
agree with his conclusions except for the qualifications noted
in the text of this chapter.