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Chapter 15 - Miscellanea SETTLEMENT ROADS. The length of the roads under the control of the Shanghai Municipal Council is a fraction more than 182 miles. 
Salaries of Officials. Executive officials of the International Settlement (S.M.C.) are paid on a standard comparable with other great cities. Annual salaries: Secretary General, $41,960; Commissioner of Police, $38,600; Commissioner of Public Works, $38,600; Treasurer and Controller, $38,600; Commissioner of Public Health, $29,380; Commandant of Shanghai Volunteer Corps, $28,110; Chief Officer of Fire Brigade, $21,820; Conductor of Municipal Orchestra and Band, $16,360.
Cost of Government. The Shanghai Municipal Council (the following statistics pertain only to the International Settlement) according to the budget for 1934 will have a total income of almost exactly $49,000,000, balanced by estimated expenditures. Income and expenses are both listed under two headings, ordinary and extraordinary, almost evenly divided.
Ordinary revenue, which provides for general administrative expenses of the International Settlement, is derived from license fees and other sundry sources but principally from a land tax of seven-tenths of one per cent, payable by renters of property assessed at $1,057,670,749, less $70,158,321, the value of municipal and exempted properties; a general municipal tax rate of 14 per cent on the assessed rentals of buildings, foreign houses within the Settlement being assessed at $47,000,000 and Chinese houses at $37,000,000, and a special rate of 12 per cent on assessed rentals of buildings beyond the International Settlement limits (in the extra-Settlement Roads areas), the assessment on foreign houses in these districts being $6,404,000 and Chinese, $400,000.
Extraordinary income is derived from a sinking fund, sale of surplus land, and from the issuance of debentures or other temporary measures. Extraordinary expenditures are for construction and maintenance of public buildings and works, purchase of new equipment, in short for capital investments rather than for operating expenses.
Parks. Parks in Shanghai are well kept and verdantly lovely. In the International Settlement are Jessfield Park, Hongkew Park, and the Public Garden. There is the Koukaza Garden in the French Concession. Jessfield Park is the largest and most beautiful, with splendid flower beds, hothouses, the Municipal Conservatory, ancient trees, and a well stocked zoo. It may be reached by continuing along Bubbling Well Road to the Avenue Haig and Jessfield Road intersection. Either continue along Jessfield Road to St. John's University and enter by way of the zoo, or branch off at the Yu Yuen Road intersection with Jessfield Road and continue to Brennan Road. Jessfield Park is at the intersection of Yu Yuen Road and Brenan Road.
Hongkew Park may be reached by continuing along North Szechuen Road to the Thomas Hanbury School and then turning into Paoshan Road for a distance of a few hundred yards. The park is directly in front of the Municipal Rifle Range used by the Shanghai Volunteer Corps. In this park are a golf course, tennis courts, and a swimming pool.
The Public Garden is directly adjacent to The Bund, just South of the Garden Bridge. The horticulture of this Garden is its chief charm.
The Koukaza Garden is on Rue Lafayette, at the Avenue Dubail intersection. It may also be entered from Route Voyron off Avenue Joffre. It contains a children's playground and has well laid out flower beds.
Twenty cents admission is charged to all of the parks. Season tickets may be purchased for $1.00.
Fireman, Save My Child! The public Ambulance Service in the International Settlement of Shanghai is operated - and efficiently operated - by the Shanghai Fire Brigade. The Settlement's fire fighting machinery is motorized and is the last word in modernity, in both equipment and organization.
Public Library. The Shanghai Municipal Council maintains a Public Library at 22 Nanking Road (upstairs).
Swimming Baths. Those visitors making use of the Y.M.C.A., the Columbia Country Club, the Cercle Sportif Francais, the Country Club, the Shanghai Rowing Club or the Swimming Bath Club will have the use in each of these institutions of an admirable swimming bath. There is also a public swimming bath adjoining Hongkew Park.
Houseboating. Week-end excursions on houseboats are a favourite diversion of Shanghailanders and may be enjoyed by visitors as houseboats, both foreign and Chinese, are available for rental. Houseboating, if time affords, is an excellent way of seeing Chinese rural life and scenery at first hand. Because of the many rivers and canals which make a checkerboard of the vast Yangtsze delta, houseboat trips of amazing distances may be made. To obtain a houseboat, fully equipped and manned, advertise in the local newspapers.
Good Hunting. There is plenty of wild game in China and excellent hunting may be had in various districts, the game ranging from snipe to tigers and panthers. Game birds, snipe, duck and pheasant, abound in regions contiguous to Shanghai. Deer may be hunted along the Yangtsze. Wild pigs offer good sport in Chekiang Province. Hunters are required to register at their Consulates. Local sporting goods houses will be glad to advise as to official requirements, equipment, and hunting districts.
Shanghai Goes Motoring. The number of motor vehicles in Shanghai has increased by 42 per cent. in five years.
More Passengers. The Tramway Company transported 119,669,536 passengers in 1933 as against 108,845,656 in 1932.
Police Marksman. Shanghai policemen are trained in marksmanship. In 32 encounters with armed criminals in 1933 the Police casualties were one killed and eight wounded. Eleven criminals were shot dead and 13 were wounded. Chicago papers please copy.
Shopping Around. Peking Road, in the blocks to the West from The Bund, offers much of interest to the tourist. Here are centred secondhand shops, scores of them, dealing in every conceivable variety of merchandise. Some of them take on the aspect of a small museum. Occasionally rare bargains may be obtained. But one must be a keen bargainer. Don't pay the first price asked; perhaps the third or fourth quotation will be about right. Even then you may be "taken."
Guilds. Guilds are to be found in every part of China, some of them dating back for thousands of years. They are divided primarily into three classes, the trade unions, clubs of fellow provincials in an alien city, and associations of merchants for the regulation of trade: the last is more rarely found than the others, while the trade guilds predate the rest by hundreds of years. All craftsmen become members of the guild of their craft: in certain cities the craft is in the hands of aliens who are not allowed to divulge its secrets to the natives. The administration is carried out by a manager, a committee, and a paid secretary who arranges all legal defence, apportions grants for charity, and approaches officials. The revenue is obtained by means of a regular subscription according to the financial standing of the person, and taxes and fmes of the members. In addition members may be called upon for extraordinary subscriptions for funeral or doctors' expenses. Members who are caught stealing or in any shady practices are fined heavily and may be expelled or even in severe cases executed. The basic idea of Chinese guilds is to promote general wellbeing among the members and to protect them as far as possible in everything. The four most famous guilds are the Canton Guild, the Shansi Guild, the Shantung Guild, and the Ningpo Guild.
Naval Maneuvers. During the Summer months the United States Asiatic Fleet, based at the Cavite Navyyard, Philippine Islands, holds maneuvers at Chefoo and Tsingtao, popular Summer resorts North of Shanghai, Tsingtao being situated on the South shore of the Shantung Peninsula and Chefoo on the North. Weihaiwei, near Chefoo on the North shore of the peninsula, is a Summer rendezvous for British warships. Tsingtao and Chefoo are easily accessible from Shanghai by coastwise steamers. They offer much in the way of Summer recreation. Tsingtao is 400 miles from Shanghai, Chefoo 520.
"Keep to the Left." The "keep to the left" rule in driving is universal in Shanghai, and, indeed, throughout China and the rest of the Orient, save only in Tsingtao, a Summer resort city in Shantung Province. There the American "keep to the right" rule prevails, due to the fact that Tsingtao is a former German possession; the Germans also "keep to the right." There is a movement, however, to have Tsingtao change to the left-drive rule.
Native Products Movement. China exports tea, silk, wood oil, soya beans and a few other well known products. Yet there are many other Chinese products which have never been known abroad but which will find a ready market once introduced.
Fostering the rapidly growing movement to popularize native products, not only in foreign markets but within China as well, a group of Shanghai manufacturers and bankers organized the China Native Products Co. (Shanghai), Ltd., on Nanking Road.
It is essentially a department store, selling Chinese products of all descriptions. A visit is worth while as showing China's progress as a producing country. There is beautiful embroidery work made by Hunan girls, porcelain ware from the famous Chin-Teh-Chen where China wares used by royal families of ancient dynasties were made, exquisite stone articles from Wenchow, ivory novelties carved by Cantonese artists, and so on through an endless list to the modern machine-made articles of every description.
The collection suggests an amalgamation of ancient and modern China, of arts and science, of culture and industry. Encouraged by the initial success, similar organizations are springing up in great cities all over the country. They have now, or soon will have, one each in the following cities: Chenchow, N'anking, Changsha, Hankow, Canton and Chungking.
Taipings Come Close. In their second attack on the Foreign Settlement, in January, 1862, the Taiping Rebels, approaching from the direction of Woosung, reached a point one and a half miles from the British Consulate (present location on The Bund). The third attack, in August, 1862, carried the Taipings to the Bubbling Well.
Lace and Embroidery. With the advent of the missionaries, lace-making was introduced to China and has since become a small but important industry. Since in China there are missionaries from every part of the world every variety and design of lace may be found.
Unlike lace-making the art of embroidery is centuries old and is entirely native to China. Embroidery in China has an older history than in any other country, no doubt because of the first development of the silk industry here. Richest examples of embroidery are to be found on the old Chinese theatrical costumes. One costume, for one actor, has often required the skilled labour of a dozen women for half a dozen years.
Tea Was a Vegetable. The universal beverage of the Chinese is tea. Its earliest use was as a vegetable rather than a drink. The Emperor Wen-ti (589-605 A.D.) was advised by a Buddhist priest to drink boiled tea plant leaves as' a remedy for headache. In the eighth century there is evidence of tea growing having become a regular industry, for in the annals of the T'ang Dynasty one learns of its being subjected to an imperial duty.
"Pailous." These gates or archways are common all over China, serving as memorials. "P'ai" means tablet and "lou" storey. Early in the Chou Dynasty (B.C. 1122-249) worthy men were honoured by a tablet of distinction being affixed to the gateway of their village. (see Encyclopaedia Sinica). Later the practice was adopted of erecting special gateways, or Pailous, to bear the honorific tablets. The commonest type have four pillars, forming a large central passage, flanked by two smaller ones.
These memorial arches were granted to loyal servants of the state who died in war, officials of good reputation, men distinguished by virtue and learning, philanthropists, families that had lived together for four or five generations, centenarians, highest literary graduates, women who were killed or committed suicide in defence of their virtue, and widows who escaped compulsion to re-marry by destroying themselves.
There is a widow's arch on the Race Course and Public Recreation Ground in Shanghai.
"Losing Face." When Chinese are accused of a fault, publicly reprimanded, apprehended in misbehaviour or theft, or fail to discharge an obligation, they are said to "lose face." The closest English conception of the term "face" is conveyed by "pride." To "lose face" is to suffer a grevious wound of the pride.
The Chinese will do anything to "save face" at whatever cost and trouble, even though it means dismissal from service. The best way to get along with Chinese servants is not to do anything to make them "lose face." If necessary, simply dismiss them and do not discuss the matter.
The first public meeting held in Shanghai took place at the British Consulate on-April 12, 1844. Sir George Balfour, British Consul, acted as chairman of the gathering, which met to consider the purchase of a burial ground "to the west of the ditch at the back of the Custom House."
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