Jane Orcutt - All the Tea in China

I also left behind the gray cotton dress, for I saw no need to keep any reminders of the life I had left behind.

Prearranged, a cart arrived for us, taking us back to the harbor at Macao. The Dignity had left, I saw, and I asked Phineas if he thought we might see the ship in Canton.

“I doubt it. And even if we do, no one aboard will recognize us. We look Chinese to them and would easily pass under their eyes with no notice.”

“How will we get to Canton? Is it a long journey?”

“Not particularly. We will travel up the Pearl estuary by way of sampan.”

“What is that?”

Phineas pointed to a small flat-bottomed boat propelled by two short oars. I judged its size against the larger ships I saw in the docks. The East Indiamen and the equally large four-masted Chinese junks overwhelmed the little skiff. “Can we make it so far on that?” I said.

“Many people-entire families-live on sampans,” Phineas said. “It will hold us.”

The journey seemed to symbolize my current life, in which everything was new and exciting. I had foreign clothes and a new hairstyle, had been admonished to act Chinese, and found myself in possession of a husband. I was thrilled to be traveling where no British women were supposed to go. The future seemed endless!

“Where are we going first when we reach Canton?” I asked Phineas.

He glanced at me sideways. “To my mother’s.”

The future suddenly seemed rather unsteady.

The air was hot and sticky, and my cotton clothes clung to my skin. Phineas said that this month, August, was one of the warmest and that in Canton summers were long and the winters short. He warned me that sometimes monsoons occurred-devastating winds and rains.

The sampan belonged to a husband, wife, and two small children, and it reminded me of Phineas’s words when we had visited the poor in Oxford: “Yet even they would be richer than many in China.” I knew now what he meant. The family of four, with another child obviously on its way, lived on the tiny wooden boat with its partial cover, catching to eat and sell what fish they could on the Pearl. The husband’s eyes widened when Phineas dropped extra coins in his hands. “You are going to much trouble to row us up river,” Phineas said. I did not know how much the money was worth, but it must have been a goodly amount.

Besides other small sampans like ours, Chinese junks with sails that looked like folding fans sailed past. Dwarfing them were the foreign ships of commerce, much like the Dignity, belonging not only to England, but according to their flags, the Netherlands, Spain, and Sweden as well. We also saw stern-oared tanka boats. Both sides of the shores were hilly, and here and there I spotted small Chinese buildings. The river smelled of fish, water warmed by the sun, and the promise of commerce miles upriver in Canton.

When we were finally on shore, I was amazed again to hear so many languages. I was even more amazed that so much of it was English. Facing the harbor and the many ships crowding the water was a row of different buildings that various countries rented to conduct their trade. Each country flew its flag outside its building, all of which were enclosed by a wall. Phineas said that the European merchants were not allowed to leave this riverbank area, known as the Thirteen Factories.

“When the emperor allowed foreigner traders, he believed that if he could contain them to this area and within Canton, in the extreme south of China, that no harm would come. The Chinese merchants who deal with the Europeans must be licensed by the government in Peking and pay large fees. The government also profits from the European silver acquired in trade, the Europeans acquire their tea, silk, and porcelain, and all are happy.”

His face darkened. “Until the Europeans started trading opium instead of silver.”

“But the Dignity carried no opium,” I said. “What will they trade?”

“No doubt they met with another East Indiaman in Macao, one that weighed anchor in India first for opium. Wong Si-yan!” he said to me sharply, under his breath. “Put your head down and walk behind me. Do not gawk at anything, for you must appear to be a submissive Chinese wife.”

I raised my head even higher to argue, but his expression indicated that to brook an argument might be at my own peril. I lowered my head and dropped behind him a few paces. We were scarcely noticed in the crowd of people, who had important trade matters to tend to.

One man in British clothes bumped into me then tipped his cap. “So solly, missy,” he said, grinning before he hustled away in the crowd.

Phineas smiled briefly, apparently pleased that our ruse had worked, then continued pushing through the crowd. Outside the walled compound, he approached several men standing beside a sort of bamboo chair attached to two long poles. I could not hear his words, but I believe they haggled over a price. At last he gestured to me and, like a displeased husband, ordered me brusquely into the chair.

I had questions, naturally, but I wisely held my tongue, keeping my head down and my face away from the strange men. I did not want them to look too closely at me, lest they realize I was not Chinese. Fortunately, they seemed more intent on their business, one hoisting Phineas’s trunk onto his shoulders with apparent ease, and the other two lifting the poles of my chair to their shoulders. My stomach lurched, and I found myself up in the air.

I glanced at Phineas, who grinned up at me. “Will you not ride?” I asked quietly, so that no one could hear.

“It would not be seemly,” he said, equally as soft, then walked ahead as though happy to be shed of my company.

Once I accustomed myself to the jostling of the chair, I found it quite exciting and enjoyable. I was a good head taller than my chair bearers, so I could see over everyone we passed. The narrow streets were lined with many small shops, their steep roofs consisting of long tiles with the corners turned curiously up at their ends. Vertical banners hung near the street, proclaiming each shop’s purpose. Vendors also sold wares and food-some with tantalizing smells and others a trifle peculiar to my senses. The streets teemed with people and the varying pitches of their voices as they proceeded with their commerce.

I would have continued to gaze in awe at everything the entire city had to reveal, but Phineas glanced back at me and frowned. I remembered to put my head down, focusing, sadly, on the dirt road instead.

We traveled a short distance, just long enough for me to wonder why I had not been allowed to walk. I was certainly capable! Perhaps it had something to do with class. I knew that there were different levels of society in China, just as in Britain, and I wondered about his mother. I had not thought to ask about her.

We stopped in a merchant area, and the chair bearers let me down rather roughly, to my estimation. I was unharmed, however, and certainly above giving them the satisfaction of knowing they had displeased me. I managed a quick glance at our surroundings before returning my gaze to the road. The buildings were set so close together that it was difficult to see where one shop ended and another began. Vendors and buyers haggled at makeshift tables set up to display wares such as squawking chickens, ducks, earthenware, and shoes.

To my disgust, it seemed that nearly every vendor and buyer managed to spit at least once. I can assure you that I kept a close eye on not only where I stepped but the lovely but serviceable black slippers Precious Spring had given me. The spitters took little notice of their saliva’s destination, often to the peril of many shoes.

Phineas paid the sedan chair men and indicated that the man shouldering the trunk should follow. We headed off the main road, and I wanted to ask Phineas a multitude of questions, but with the stranger present, I could not. I remained the dutiful, unnoticed wife.