To the Editor of the "Nowri-Emma Dany News.
'Sm,—Inasmuch as the controversy' over my definition of the "Shanghai Mind" appears, with notable exceptions inthe ease of "Old Timer," 'Corporal" H. A. Thompson, and "P. G. S',' to have wandered away from the" main issue, may I once! again state the original definition fand attach what seem to be necessary amplifications. I must resort to italies for the sake of clarity, "By 'Shanghai Mind' T mean the nguche of an we Sappouee he Shroloteauncfinay the. counfests and SSicruardy of Ri'hometsnd 10p00 er The future government of Shanghai and its vast foreign investments are questions of vital importance. Whatever changes are made must be effected by gradual evolutionary, methods. But these changes. are bound to come. We cannot say we have had no. warning of possible! revisions in treaties. In fact they were promised by one great Power
investments have been made since that date must have been made with that, possibility in view. But it is true that many interests have gone ahead blindly, in all probability pushed along' by the ines: apable forces of economic pressure, sinking' huge sums of money in real estate, buildings, and other economi assets.
The investors of @ previous day have recouped in a great many eases and departed for their homelands. They passed their interests fon, at profitable figures, to succes~ sors, who have also in turn passed on, in a somewhat endless The present holders securities, properties, bonds and what not, are legates and are determined to maintain the status quo until they in turn will have fulfilled the cycle and departed, But this cycle cannot go on. indefinitely. The burden of carry ing the losses, if any, attendant upon. a reorganization of concession government, must fall upon some tone, And" quite naturally, no. current set of legatees is prone to view the probability of losses when they have had to pay dearly in money and diligence in order to achieve their present position: 'And, it must be conceded, from their point of view they are acting not unexpectedly. Consoquently, those who suppose they "can continue' forever to enjoy" the present! anomalous situation of an inter ational, feudalistic regime perched on the gateway of another nation are living in a fool's paradise. Such f state of mind could not develop anywhere-in the world save in Shanghai, Who thinks these concessions are} Chinese hose cards and brass plates bone} Ronsensical "Chinese characters {hined. from nedgeated compradores find effec boysi=—"
If the few better informed participants in this discussion would go. beyond their accustomed social contacts and: listen to the average Shanghai comment upon our Model" domain they might hear the amazing notions of its origin, land tenure, and treaty bases, They might discover that most people have only the forgiost iden as to whether this settlement was ceded, bought or, in the Lloyd George style, captured from the Chinese. They might find that few persons have any idea of the difference between settlement and. a concession, 'Too many residents are possessed of an intolerance of, and an overbearing attitude towards, the poorer classes of Chinese who' form the!
Gomestic servant, office ataif, and private Inbouring elements, 'This intolerance, manifested: in uniroasoning anger, summary dismissals, and frequent violence, is rooted in race prejudice, survives upon the unconscious' assumption of white superiority over coloured races, and! is fortified by the snobbishness {inherent in the relative economic randards.
Outside of missionary endeavour, and small groups of semi-public clubs and back-slapping soci the majority of foreigners have no social contect with their Chinese equals and do not realize-that such Chinese even. exist. The lower economic standard of Chinese of the educated modern classes prevents them mixing upon social equality, for the Chinese wage scale practically begins where the for ends. That is to say, 1 the underlying race prejudice, there can be no gener: the lowest foreigner in scale receives a wage that style supports distinctly higher culture.
Chinese earning Tis, 200 a month is usually in the returned student class, a. university man, and he can have very little in common with the type of foreigner that receives the came income. A Chinese, therefore, will not, if he hap any self-respect, descend to a lower cultural plane, while a taipan getting Tls. 1,500 a. month cannot establish a truly: reciprocal social contact with a Chinese whose salary is Tls. 200, even though they may both be! graduates of the same Western university.
Tam conscious here of the poss bility of my. being interpreted as. providing the best possible reason for lack of Sino-foreign social contacts, which might be true), Sut T maintain: uhst this relative Cconamie variance does not excuse for justify the blanket indictments Furled at Chinese of li class particularly as it shows. that Eenthe, of the community do. Know al classes of Chinese, It Ti''too commonly assumed that Chinese ave in this Settlement on Suteranc, in the form of dene Seodaren, Feshe pullers and. the ants," petty tradesmen, com
Fes rating date that we Zo not tang {0 fulnh for oursclven. There. Sceme tobe a. total ignorance. focal history which records. that: Shanghai androntere fought againat the better judgment. and. higher Principles of their nation's necredit= Ministers and. encouraged Chinese. "migration" whereby' they fade fortunes out of jerry-built fonoments, rented to. poiltlal and Gther: refugees, ands consequently cided to. the uninhabitabiity. and Congestion that. theo Sattlements were desiznod to prevent.
As "for the, nonsensical name plates and hong names it isnot Fong ago, that a. Shanghai new! ayer article. listed the ateoco find. often comical. misteansiations, Sbviously" sapphod by uneducated office boys and compradores. We Stten laugh at the "English" of Chinese shop signs, but "when we Consider "the "digniNed doorways Slovned by sbsur characters and the innumerable. "ising one" and oho. laugh ip really, don't think this needs amplificns tion, It is pretty well conceded that we are out here upon a business adventure and for whut we can gob out of it at the least possible cost and in the swiftest. possible time, a common attitude along the malarial frontiers of the world and isin some respects a continuation of the Anglo-Indian point of view, The historical "My God, T stan astonished at my own moderation, still has about as much restraining: influence as ever, We openly con" domn the bad fellows who smuggle farms, ammunition, and opium, and secretly wonder how, they. "get away" with their marvelously. alms ple methods of subtracting Inkhs of dollars from trusting Tuchuns.
But the days of "easy money' save gradually receded into the distant past. Tt is no longer sible to "drink ench other under the tabla" and still have enough left over to buy country estates in the homeland. As one sorrowing old China hand said: the other day, "one now has to earn his: money—th Concessions are now just like any Western city." Hence the romantic appeal of gun-ranning and Champions Sweepstakes.
Our chief impertinence, under the circumstances, lies in our refusing to permit the people of this "happy hunting ground" to indulge in revolutions that retard the ae. cumulation of many or interfere in any way with the Divine Right, of Trade. "We are. directly interested in keeping the routes of commerce open, our salaries depend on it, and every new order means that our homeland millwhecls turn a few hundred times more. This is, to be sure, enlightened self-interest, but we all do not agree us to methods, That is to say, some of us hastily try to quash revolutions in China by various forms of interference, such as financing one side againeb another, or propagandizing strenuously to maintain outworn dogmas, while others fee! the time has come, long since, to adopt a different cal tore ho norns There is no implication here, as some disputants have imagined, that we must make a deep study of Chinese language, art and civilizee fon. The statement is clear that most of us know nothing about these things. The nowly arrived "griffin" is usually running over enthusiasm, curiosity and general interest in his new environ-rent, But he is soon squelched by his cynical mentors. A blare of trumpets, cymbals, and tinselled trappings outside his office or mess might get his immediate attention. He is met with a growl, "Oh, that's some damned wedding or funeral, or something—let's have a drink, That there are game who overcome this cyniciain and indifference
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.