10 SHANGHAI 



prevailing colour of the crowd was blue, as it is 

 everywhere in China, but among the blue were 

 blacks, mauves, whites, and greys. Here and there 

 the clean kimono and bright obi of some little Jap 

 woman, tripping along with her peculiar knock- 

 kneed gait, caught the eye, or a couple of Japanese 

 naval officers resplendent with medals. Chinese 

 and Manchu jostled each other, the women with 

 their glossy black hair drawn tightly back and 

 hanging over the neck, plaited, or dressed on a 

 peculiar oblong frame. Stalwart Sikhs with black 

 curled beards controlled the traffic ; or, in the 

 French concession, Annamese or Tonkinese in 

 round conical khaki hats. Chinese Roman Catholic 

 priests rubbed elbows with their French brethren, 

 both in black soutanes ; or perhaps a fair-haired 

 missionary startled the onlooker with his yellow 

 moustache, blue eyes, and light-coloured queue. 

 At a few corners pale-faced British policemen in 

 khaki, with military helmets, regulated the jostling 

 throng. Bronzed bluejackets, English, French, or 

 German, showed conspicuously. A large motor 

 covered in flowers, driven by a neck-shaved, gum- 

 chewing gentleman from the States, went hooting 

 through the midst of the crowd, to be followed by 

 another driven by a Chinaman, with lolling Chinese 

 inside. Broughams drawn by sturdy little ponies, 

 a couple of red-tasselled Chinamen on the box, 

 carried Chinese women, palely peering above their 

 high, silver-embroidered collars. In some subtle 

 way their expressionless faces conveyed a curious 

 impression of restraint and anxiety. They looked 

 artificial and unreal. 



The Chinese quarter was full of strange swinging 



