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| Home > Topics > East Asia > Shanghai 1867-1870 |
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I also made a round of calls to the ladies, in accordance with the custom, between two and four in the afternoon. This was sometimes a burden for the ladies, having to receive any European with a halfway respectable appearance, but seeing as they did have a quite a lot of time on their hands, I believe they did so not unwillingly, and later left it up to the circumstances whether or not to invite the caller. The visitor was received by the Chinese "boy".
One gave him one's visiting card and asked in Pidgin English (mixed language between Europeans and Chinese) >Missis have got?< (Madame at home?), upon which the boy carried the card inside, and after a few minutes returned, opened the door to the drawing room, and said: >Missis can see< (Madame will be pleased). However, some of the most comical intermezzi were caused by the naivety of these boys.
Thus, for example, one lady, fatigued from the many visitors, saw a gentleman well-known to be a bore advancing across the courtyard. When her servant brought her the card, she could not refrain from saying in the presence of the boy: "Oh, this snob, must I see everybody?" and, turning to the servant, she said: "Tell him I am not at home." Subsequently the boy, in all severity, informed the stranger: "Missis no can see you, you too muchee snob." When a lady had announced that she was attending to her toilet, the boy expressed this through a pantomime movement across his face and saying: "Missis makee wash." ...
Having completed these social obligations, which make up a good portion of business life in China, I turned to performing my actual business profession. It was no easy task that awaited me. My predecessor, a frivolous man of pleasure, had left the business for me in a desolate state. ... My throw hit the mark. Whereas my neighbours watched my audacious operation [of business] with appal, seeing as it took place in full public view just like every other large operation, the result was brilliant, exceeding all expectations.
The profits numbered in the millions of francs, and from this day on I was considered the greatest banquier in China. The old stories are always of past successes. But without luck, even the best laid plans go astray. ...
I had just set my bank's affairs in Shanghai onto a suitable basis when I received an order from the head office direction in Paris to travel to Japan to found a branch office of our organization under my supervision, originating from Shanghai.
The agent assigned to me, who was to work under me, was called Mammelsdorf, an original character who, horribile dictu, guzzled only water. I say guzzled because he threw back incredible quantities of water. At the table he requested water from my Chinese boy, and seeing as he repeatedly called for more water, the boy finally set a bucket in front of him. ...
Source: Hermann Wallich, Aus meinem Leben, in: Zwei Generationen im deutschen Bankwesen, 1833-1914, Frankfurt am Main 1978, pp. 85-97
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