A well-known
couplet says:
"I'd rather hear men wrangle in Suchow's dulcet tones
Than hear that mountain jargon, composed of sighs and groans."
Farther inland, near the banks of the "Great River," stands Nanking,
the old capital of the Ming dynasty. The Manchus, unwilling to
call it a _king_, _i.e._ seat of empire, changed its
name to Kiangning; but the old title survives in spite of official
jealousy. As it will figure prominently in our history we shall
not pause there at present, but proceed to Shanghai, a place which
more than any other controls the destinies of the State.
Formerly an insignificant town of the third order (provincial capitals
and prefectural towns ranking respectively first and second), some
sapient Englishman with an eye to commerce perceived the advantage
of the site; and in the dictation of the terms of peace in 1842 it
was made one of the five ports. It has come to overshadow Canton;
and more than all the other ports it displays to the Chinese the
marvels of Western skill, knowledge, and enterprise.
On a broad estuary near the mouth of the main artery that penetrates
the heart of China, it has become a leading emporium of the world's
commerce. The native city still hides its squalor behind low walls
of brick, but outside the North Gate lies a tract of land known
as the "Foreign Concessions." There a beautiful city styled the
"model settlement" has sprung up like a gorgeous pond-lily from
the muddy,
[Page 27]
paddy-fields.
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