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Updated: May 1, 2025
The S.S. Kin Kiang First View of Canton The Island of Shameen England in Canton The Tartar City Drains and Barricades Canton at Night Street Picturesqueness Ghastly Gifts Oriental Enchantments The Examination Hall S.S. "KIN KIANG," December 30.
A guide having thrust his services upon me before I could get off the boat, we left the Shameen, crossed one of the bridges and plunged into the network of streets where, without a guide, a stranger would be lost in a few minutes.
That section of Canton known as Shameen, in reality an island suburb, is set apart under concessions to the United States and certain European powers, and the consuls, missionaries and foreign merchants there dwell surrounded by many of the comforts of home.
There is one on the Shameen bridge who has a callosity like a horn on his forehead, with which he strikes the pavement and produces an audible thump. After the cleanliness, beauty, and good repair of the Japanese temples, those of Canton impress me as being very repulsive.
Long avenues of trees are seen on every side, the grounds of many of the homes sloping to the river, which of itself adds to the beauty; the water is spanned by two iron bridges which are locked every night; everywhere a general air of refinement prevails. This very Shameen furnishes the greatest contrast of all to hoary, venerable old Canton.
After crossing a dirty stream we found ourselves in the foreign settlement Shameen it is called walking on nice turf, under the shade of fine trees. The houses of the merchants which line this promenade are all fine, handsome stone buildings, with deep verandahs. At the back there are compounds with kitchen gardens, and under the trees dairy cows are grazing.
Mackrill Smith, whose guest I am, brought me in a bamboo chair, carried by two coolies, through a covered and crowded street of merchandise six feet wide, to Shameen, the island in the river on which the foreigners reside; most of the missionary community, however, living in the buildings on the site of the old factory farther down.
The children look healthy and happy too, in spite of these apparent drawbacks, and notwithstanding the fact that in many cases their poor little feet must be cruelly tortured by the practice of bandaging them tightly to make them small. When we got back to Shameen there was time for a stroll along the Bund.
The knife-and-fork coins are particularly curious and rare, some of them being worth as much as 5,000 dollars each, as curiosities. All the coins have holes in the centre for convenience of carriage. Sunday, March 4th. There is a fine cathedral at Shameen, in which the services are beautifully performed.
At some distance below Shameen there are moored tiers of large, two-storied house boats, with entrance doors seven feet high, always open, and doorways of rich wood carving, through which the interiors can be seen with their richly decorated altars, innumerable colored lamps, chairs, and settees of carved ebony with white marble let into the seats and backs, embroidered silk hangings, gilded mirrors and cornices, and all the extravagances of Chinese luxury.
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