Page 474 - Chinese SIlver By Adrien Von Ferscht

LEECHING [LEE CHING]
24a Queens Road, Hong Kong
30 Old China Street, Canton; Sai Hing Kai Street, Canton & Club Street, Honam
Island, Canton
Nanking Road, ShangHai
circa 1830-1895

An article that appeared in The China Magazine in December 1868 is probably the best and most amusing way to
describe both the nature of the culture as
well as the mystery of the world of the retail
silversmith Lee Ching [Leeching]:

“Like the Silversmiths in other climes, our
Chinese Silversmith is highly respectable
and does his business in a highly
respectable shop. His shop looks
supremely down upon all other China
shops, through a glass window. As a rule
there are no glass windows to China shops
—nothing but an opening, but our
Silversmiths wares are valuable, and
Chinese thieves have a clever knack of
hooking things on to the end of a long
bamboo and disappearing with them, and
Lee-ching’s glass window is intended to
keep temptation from such people. There
is nothing in the window—no recherche
articles displayed to the best advantage,
with seductive price tickets loaded with
superlative adjectives. If you want to see
Lee Ching’s wares you must go inside the
shop. Inside we go.”
“Chin chin ! says Lee-ching, under the
impression that ‘ chin chin’ is English for
“the top of the morning to you.” When I
say Lee-ching I mean one of the shopmen,
any of whom will tell you that his name is
Lee-ching, that that is his shop, and that