*tOK)GRAPHICAL NOTES. — SOOCHOW 16§ 



in three years and which is plucked by the hand of Majesty " — been a resident of this city, 

 In 1874 the Chinese Minister to Germany was the recipient of the honour. Perhaps the 

 most illustrious name in the annals of Soochow is Fan Wen Chenkung who flourished lOOO 

 years ago. His ancestral hall is in the centre of the city and his grave at the foot of a 

 beautiful hill. He was a mandarin of sterling integrity and noble character. He wrote the 

 history of Soochow which has now grown to 150 volumes. 



The gentry of the city form a large and distinct class. Many of these have landed 

 estates and roll in wealth while the poor peasant is ground to poverty. As many of the 

 aristocracy out-rent the local officials they do not allow the latter to recline upon a bed of 

 roses. When out of office a Chinese mandarin cannot engage in business or act as president 

 of a railway, mining or manufacturing company; so he must live on the squeezes made 

 during his former term of office. There are 2,500 "expectant mandarins" in the capital, 

 who with their retainers — all told, 40,000 — constitute an idle class of the population. 



The Criminal Judge resides here, and his jail is the "hell" for the poor prisoner. All 

 the robbers, murderers and pirates in the province are brought to this place, and quite 

 recently an exceptionally large number of heads have tumbled on the execution ground. 

 Perhaps one reason of the proverbial badness of the men is that they so frequently witness 

 the stroke of the executioner's sword. 



The people are not remarkable for their height or physical strength, and the young 

 scholars are more like girls than men. Owing to the great amount of wealth there is much 

 voluptuousness and looseness of morals among the gilded youth of China's Babylon. If 

 there is one vice for which the Soochowites are specially noted it is profanity. Opium- 

 smoking is very general and on the increase among the women. On the other hand, the 

 people are specially noted for their politeness and their affability in transacting business. 

 They are talented, wily and sociable. The mandarins take special care of their " foreign 

 guests." The ladies are noted for their beauty and soft-toned voices. When they speak, 

 the remarkable sweetness of the dialect, with its gentle notes and musical rhythm, is specially 

 noticed. This language with its branches is spoken by ten millions. 



The great trade of Soochow is silk ; and in the hongs are found a hundred varieties 

 of satin and two hundred of silks and gauzes. When a silk robe was considered too great 

 a luxury for a Roman Emperor the Soochow scholar wore his gown of brocaded satin. In 

 the Nanking and Soochow Guilds there are 7,000 looms in constant operation. In and 

 around the city 100,000 women are employed in embroidering mandarins* robes, ladies' 

 dresses and stage actors' apparel, and twice a year the Imperial tailor sends on as tribute a 

 thousand trunks of embroidered robes for the Emperor's household. 



One whole section of the city is devoted to furniture. The wood is highly polished, 

 and the handsomely carved sets of furniture, with princely bedsteads, tables and chairs 

 inlaid with marble, sofas and wardrobes of rose-wood, would do credit to any market. 

 Another part is given up to jade, and the noisy scene at the temple of the jadestone god in 

 the mornings is like the Gold Board in New York. Silversmiths drive an extensive trade, 

 and so with a thousand small manufactures " within the six gates." The sale of foreign 

 goods is steadily and rapidly on the increase, and Soochow will soon become a large 

 wholesale market for the manufactures of the West. 



