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CHAPTBK XXIV. 



THE HONGKEW MARKET. 



" Sounds and motions for ever and ever are blending 

 All at once and all o'er." — Southey. 



'T^HOSE, and the number is large and inclusive of many a long time resident, who have 

 * never dropped in upon the active scene which this market presents in its business 

 hours of the early morning have certainly missed one of the most entertaining, interesting 

 and informing sights which Shanghai affords: while by the more or less regular visitor 

 there is invariably something fresh to see, some new lesson to be learnt, something to be 

 remembered. A visit to this market with its profusion of game and fish and meats, its 

 wealth of flowers and vegetables, its busy hum of sounds not always of "dulcet harmonies 

 and voices sweet" is really worth the making and an occasion not soon to be forgotten. 



At the south east corner hangs a small signboard bearing the Chinese characters 

 (^ W) Cheng Kee, but there is much more in this simple hieroglyph than at first catches 

 the eye. To the ordinary passer-by it conveys just as much or just as little as do the 

 mystic characters on the ordinary native signboard which may be seen hung up before 

 every shop and in every street in the Settlement. And yet when its associations and 

 surroundings begin to be studied a new world of pre-eminent interest gradually begins to 

 reveal itself, a world of paramount importance to a vast proportion of this ever-increasing 

 foreign community, although the signboard, severe in its simplicity, has no information 

 whatever to betray beyond the mere trading name of its owner. Nevertheless it is a centre 

 to which thousands flock for their daily necessaries. In fact, in the prematutinal hours it 

 may be fairly called the Mecca of Shanghai. The signboard in question adorns the chief 

 fane in the Hongkew Forum, whose high priest is none other than the redoubtable Cheng 

 Kee himself. Here under a roof of but very modest proportions, in happy juxtaposition are 

 to be found the first cousins of the great London markets of Billingsgate, Leadenhall and 

 Covent Garden, with their abundant supplies of fish, meat, vegetables and flowers, all of the 

 best qualitie^s procurable, and at prices which at any time and in all circumstances could 

 not be characterized as other than reasonable. Little wonder then at the popularity of this 

 establishment which is almost unique, and the still growing favour which it continues to 

 command. 



The proprietor of this Emporium or, at least, he who poses and passes and is 

 recognized as the high priest of its shrine, is a personality with whom a chat on the great 



