Major Bodley's "Indisereet Travels East" har been received for review. Instead of dealing with this on te Book Page it is thought that Teadere might like to see what Major Bodtey.soys about Shanghat, till then be able to gather the general accuracy of his impressions.
Be' nations fanaa a coe of the most expensive), all the food cooked long before it Is wanted and then placed inside an enormous refrigerator, so that when 'a Toast partridge ora -hommard a 1"Amerieaine {s ordered, out it comes from the feo-box, 1s "heated up. for a few minutes, a little sauce poured over from one of the ever-simmering fenuldrons, and up it goes: while the in-primed "guests lay down their tes. and, smacking" their lips. Imagine that they are dining at the Berkeley.
Society and the Emigres oEERaL ome, ete I do not know as much about the Social Ie of Shanghai at of the 'Treaty Ports, for only remained there for afew weeks, staying with oldish people who moved in a circle Which Was Inclined to be Tugubrious in Shanghai there are sets of amusing people, some of whom are' intelligent. Society in hal, "with the exception. of 'Tient in Tepeating, Shang find 'Mulden, 1s the hest. please Fehitetutal' work ona are scale ever been perpetrated, The only time when 'Shanghai looks' well night, for the Chinese love Until" quite late' the. towers and Spires of the rear. stores, Windows and "boulevards, are Iinted, so\that the effect ts really more brilliant than London or Parl, The Chinese city (for with extra: territorial rights the Shanghat. tive" ina quarter away from he verned concessions) gives glimpses of the picturesque, if one has. never een a Chinese city before, but, after the colour of Java, Its" greyness House, lned_on plates and The Willow Tea
cups, might be attractive it the water 'Which surrounds ft was not #0 full garbage, Even the Chinese people Tend "no animation to the scene a they hurry' "about in thole "sombre goyins looking disdalngully at foreign International as. a casino. and not at all. French. "The: cliques Keep apart, but occasionally find: themselves ina party which not essentially their "own, but the groups of nce N'Est Pas La Chine"
"Mais comme fe cols Vat déja. dit." repeats' Guzon about the narrow, alley as ta fit was not for months that 1 understood the significance of these Ines. The Ttallans, forming a smaller community, fit in' where they" feel ome, and the Husslans De: any. extraterritorial Fight, ling together for reasons aguite ferent to those of other na-anc much what Is served. up. provide no cook could be expected produce Properly cooked {ood when Ineely'a matter of chance at what Ame dinner Will be served. What ts remarkable Is tue way in which cooks fo niceeed {n Serving a platable meal ninesthiety which wat ordered for 'Anunenviable status to be a White Russian in China, for practically all the Russians are' refugees or desfendants of refugees who emigrated in" 1017, "They. have no. ollee military' protection, "as "many of the other foreigners. who enjoy extrater~ torial privileges, nor even ministers of conatis to whom they can appeal 'They just cling together, richer members of the community' helping the poorer and trusting to luck that they wilt not fet nto" trouble with the Chinese, for if they do there ts no Fedress." In the famous." Thorburn ease (which caused the discussion of abolition. of British extraterritorial Fights to. be shelved "indefinitely, a young Englishman wandering. outside Russian and, therefore, without extra territorial rights, or, in other words, Without any" legal means of redress! eight o'clock. During the whole time {hat r'was th China, T only' sat down tovanmee' alla en nowes where the food was conslatenty rood (emphasize consstentiy. because have been to. parties where by accooked 9 the minute), and this Shui oe kaha! ime ie cree Who looked ike a chet, and a fat the drawing: for tt'Is this astern habit. of sitting round and ever' retiling cocktail shakers which makes people no longer. rare if they eat port or pheasant.
attribute also the mediocrity" of the food' in many private houses China to. what Is known at the contract system, for what cook who Is ald so much per' diem to foed Rousehold will not be tempted to buy cheap, ingredients for his dish thus "squeeze" a tittle extra for him-el Eraer tre ace dozen Russians of all ages and. sexes ens deer pitas Gantt The doyen" of the colony, 8 a pet a Soli ings Sis "The bad food in China ts not the cook's fault, it is that of the con Restaurants in Paris frequented by British and American tourists deerlorate "because the dinners accept What is) placed before them, merely Decause i has been cooked in a restaurant with a famous name, where. 4s, name oF not, a Frenchman will, Sehd" away'a badly. prepared "plat" ud not return to the restaurant for ome time. Inthe same. way, the restaurants and hotels in" Shanghai serve only passable food. because it would not make any difference to the volume of their business 1f they pro-shes of the standard of Voisin {in the days of his glory. At a certain hotel, advertised a8 the most luxurious of the. East (it is certainly one friends, the chef and the fat woman. the tentedwellers and the dozen oF others who lived together. The Eombined income of this community
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.