Page 126 - Merchants and Mandarins China Trade Era

112.

reflection of the frustration with which the Americans viewed

their life at Canton. The tropical climate, the heavy work­

load and the boredom, the lack of family and friends (especially

ladies), the regulations and seemingly ridiculous restrictions,

the inability to escape Canton for more than a few days at a

time--all these tensions must have gradually increased the

residents• resentment for China and the Chinese.

Ridicule and derision which the residents received as

foreigners also evoked negative feelings for the Chinese. Rarely

could the Americans go into the Square or the suburbs without

causing a crowd to gather and taunt them with cries of "Fanqui"

(Fan-kuei or Foreign Devil) and "I-yang" (Barbarian). The

Chinese had as "insatiable curiosity," which to most Americans

was " ot ' d ' I 20 Actually the majority of
b h amus:i.ng an annoying. '

Chinese stared at the foreigners simply because they had never
seen one before. The appearance of Westerners with their large

noses, "red" (not black) hair, strange language and tight-fitting

clothes astounded the Chinese as much as Chinese peculiarities

intrigued Americans and Europeans. These Chinese onlookers,

basically uneducated peasants and coolies, called them Fanqui

for lack of understanding. Westerners• habits and actions were
21
also strange to Chinese eyes. The Canton police protected the

20
Tiffany, The Canton Chinese, p. 42. Gideon Nye, jr.,
The Morning of My Life in China (Canton, 1873), p. 33. Fitch
Taylor, A Voyage around the World (New Haven, 1855)� pp. 139-40.
21
Nye, Morning of My Life in China, p. 33, notes that
Chinese paid to watch Augustine Heard of Russell & Co. ride a
pony for exercise in an enclosure in Factory Square.