Foreign Devils in the Flowery Kingdom

by Carl Crow

  In no language could the conversation have been any more definite and in none could fewer words have been used. In spite of its barbarous nature pidgin was quite sufficient for all commercial transactions and in default of any other means of communication could cover a wide range of subjects. During a Japanese air raid in Chungking last summer I shared the hospitality of a dugout with a distinguished French delegate to the League of Nations. He had a fair command of pidgin and in the two hours that we had to wait for the all-clear signal we carried on an animated conversation on a variety of subjects from Wilson’s policy at Versailles to the high price we had to pay for beer in Chungking.

  These pidgin English conversations between the taipan and the compradore were of daily occurrence. They discussed in detail every transaction in which the firm was engaged or had in prospect and exchanged opinions as to the state of the market. The lack of a language medium in which nice distinctions could be drawn and opinions qualified made for efficiency in the conduct of business. Each expressed approval by “can do” and disapproval by “no can.” Any further comment or explanation would have been mere garrulity from which their limited vocabulary saved them. But within the limits of a few hundred words they found plenty of conversation. Aside from his household servants the compradore was the only Chinese with whom the foreign business man came into daily contact. If he had any curiosity about the customs and life of the strange country in which he was living he took the word of his compradore as the final authority. As a result many strange ideas were perpetuated for the compradore was seldom an educated man and many of them were entirely ignorant about everything except business. Because of his sole reliance on the compradore the old-fashioned taipan was often appallingly ignorant about China.

  The compradore became a synonym for wealth and was a lordly figure on whom petty shopkeepers looked with awe. He was a daring trader and often made immense fortunes not only for himself but for the firm which employed him. Some of them acquired legendary reputations for an ability to tell which way the market in silk or silver or tea was going to turn. Foreigners who speculated in commodities would risk fortunes on a hint from him. The Englishman who talked to him in pidgin might be an Oxford graduate but he treated his illiterate compradore with respect.

  He was considered to be indispensable in the conduct of any general import and export trade. When a firm started in business, whether it was a one-man show with a few thousand dollars of capital or a huge limited liability company, the first and most important thing to do was to engage a compradore - or possibly a half-dozen of them - one for each department. There were always plenty of applicants for the position, for the import and export business promised a volume of trade and liberal profits which were not to be found in the more restricted and highly competitive domestic trade.

  If the compradore was satisfied that there was money to be made in the agencies and if the foreigner was satisfied that the compradore had connections which would enable him to make sales and secure produce on favorable terms they began to talk over the arrangements. Usually the terms provided that the foreigner paid the compradore a salary and from his salary he would meet the wages of the Chinese staff. While the compradore’s quarters were always crowded with Chinese assistants and every foreigner had more clerks and office boys than he knew what to do with, this did not necessarily mean a large pay roll. They were all dependent relatives of the compradore. In many cases the employees got no salary at all. He fed, lodged and clothed them and at the end of the year they got a share of the profits.

  Then there was the very important question of how much capital the compradore would put into the enterprise and just how the profits would be divided. The arrangement differed with each concern but usually the compradore was supposed to supply the working capital. In actual practice a good many foreigners got started in business with little investment beyond the price of a ticket to China. No matter what the other details of the arrangement might be the compradore always handled the current cash. In the early days this consisted of a great variety of Chinese and foreign silver dollars, each having different and fluctuating values to say nothing of a fair amount of counterfeits which were just as valuable as the genuine coins if they contained enough silver. Few foreigners ever pretended to master the intricacies of Chinese currency or to have more than a theoretical knowledge of the Chinese banking system. In many cases the taipans kept their own books in their own national currencies either U. S. dollars or pounds sterling.

  The compradore, through his staff, made all the sales to Chinese, guaranteed the accounts and made the collections. He also financed the purchase of export cargo. Every activity of the hong was divided between “taipan pidgin” and “compradore pidgin.” For example it was the taipan’s business to pay for the English-language stationery and forms and the compradore’s business to pay for Chinese-language forms. The compradore paid the insurance to cargo until it was stored in the taipan’s godown, where it became his responsibility. The money to be made from the sale of waste packing material went to the compradore. As it was also his responsibility to provide the godown coolies he usually short-circuited what would otherwise have been a complicated and troublesome business by giving the coolies the packing cases in lieu of wages.

  In theory and according to any legal interpretation of the contract, the compradore had no proprietary interest in the business and might be discharged like any other employee. This was a rare occurrence and I do not remember that it was ever done except by a few small and new firms. The compradore not only controlled the entire Chinese staff but all connections either for the sale of merchandise or the purchase of produce. A change meant making an entirely new start, handicapped by the vengeful animosity of the old compradore’s friends and business associates.

  The taipan did not concern himself with small things. The compradore accumulated the Chinese produce for export by innumerable small purchases; disposed of the imported merchandise by means of innumerable small sales. The taipan had nothing to do with these deals and was often unfamiliar with his sources of supply or the identity of his customers. He dealt only with large sums of money as represented by the value of completed cargoes. He usually talked in terms of “lakhs” which meant a hundred thousand ounces of silver. All personal accounts such as club bills and household expenses were settled through the compradore. Instead of writing checks on the bank for these and other items the manager or foreign members of the staff would write “compradore orders” which was an order to the compradore to pay the amount specified. These slips of paper had about the same legal standing as bank checks and were accepted by banks for deposit. When it occasionally happened that the compradore of a large concern was in difficulties and failed to honor these orders there was as much of a scandal as would have been created by a bank failure.

  In large and prosperous establishments the compradore was an ever-useful friend to junior foreign employees who were inclined to spend more than their incomes. They would draw compradore orders in payment of their debts on the theory that the amount would be deducted from salary. But if the firm was prosperous and the compradore was making money, he was not inclined to press too harshly for the prompt liquidation of these balances, which might be carried on from month to month or year to year. Many an unwise young foreigner who gambled too heavily had his credit saved by the compradore who honored his order in settlement and discreetly said nothing about it to the taipan. He was not unaware of the fact that the young man he was placing under such obligations might in a few years be sitting at the taipan’s desk.

  It often happened that a compradore would be rolling in wealth while the firm of which he was an employee would be struggling for an existence and the taipan unable to meet his personal bills. This was never surprising. It was the custom for the compradore to live frugally and save his money and for the taipan to live lavishly and spend his. Under circumstances like this the compradore would naturally not allow the firm to crash and many were saved from bankru
ptcy by help from the compradore and others continued for years going deeper and deeper into debt to him. This did not involve any change in the relationship between the compradore and the taipan except that the former had a little more to say about running the business.

  In some cases the foreigner’s interest in the business was absorbed completely, and the oldish fellow whose name appeared on the letter heads of the concern and who signed the checks and endorsed the bills of lading was really the employee of the compradore he had hired in his younger days. This reversal of position was often accomplished pleasantly and painlessly. The elderly foreigner was ready to retire, the salary he received from the compradore enabled him to do this gracefully, and his duties as nominal head of a business did not demand his attention for more than a few hours a day. There is not a little sentiment in those business relationships, for through years of association the foreign business man and his Chinese compradore grow genuinely fond of each other.

  With a well-organized compradore department a firm might do a fairly large business with a very small foreign staff, or with no staff at all outside the foreign owner or manager. The only routine duties demanded of him were to take care of the foreign correspondence, countersign the invoices and bills of lading and interview the bankers about arranging an overdraft or getting an extension of time on the payment of drafts which had been accepted. His tiffin at the club might last well into the afternoon or he might go from the tiffin table to the golf course with the comforting assurance that while he was enjoying the fresh air, the compradore was piling up profits. During the sailing ship era the only time when the foreign members of the staff were actually busy was on mail days when they might sit up all night writing letters and reports to catch a mail closing the following morning. Mails are now received and dispatched with greater regularity but the old custom continues and visitors are not welcome on the day before a steamer sails.

  Even in the matter of banking the taipan was not indispensable. The compradore had his own banking arrangements with the native bankers and if the Scotchmen who managed most of the British banks were too glassy-eyed he might get credit after the taipan had failed. Each leaned heavily on the other. At infrequent intervals - usually once a month - there was a settlement at which accounts would be checked over and a payment made to one or the other. Thus a large and prosperous establishment might receive or pay out only one check a month covering local transactions. The compradore often handed the taipan a native order or a check for amounts that would represent several tons of silver but there was usually plenty more where that came from. By and large he made more money than the taipan.

  There was seldom any tendency to inquire into the sources of compradore prosperity. Obviously one with money in the bank was more useful than one who was heavily in debt and it was taken for granted that everyone was entitled to some perquisites aside from his regular income. Some taipans might collect secret commissions for their own personal accounts. This was not at all common but such unethical if not fraudulent practices are amply provided for in the phrases of the most generally used and highly respectable code books.

  Until it was destroyed by Japanese air raids there was in Hankow a very fine foreign residence which stood as a symbol of compradore prosperity and of gratitude to a system which had enabled the easy accumulation of wealth.

  A Russian dealer in brick tea returned from a long absence at home to find that his compradore had built, as a present to him, the kind of house that he had been dreaming about for years but had not been able to afford. After he moved into his fine new home he continued to wonder how it had all happened. A careful review of the volume of business done from the day the compradore was employed failed to explain how he could possibly have saved money for the purchase of the land and the construction of the house through legitimate earnings. But the house was there and without a cent of indebtedness against it.

  It was just one of those mysteries of a strange country it was futile to attempt to solve. The one indisputable fact was the possession of the title to a piece of property the Russian would never have been able to buy for himself. I have never heard of a second gift of that magnificence but quite a number of foreigners are living in houses built for them by their compradores. They pay a very low rental but the compradore keeps the title to the property which he hopes will increase in value. Valuable gifts by the compradore are assumed as a part of the established order of things. The wife of the taipan would feel hurt and neglected if the Christmas season didn’t bring her a very handsome present from the compradore but I never heard of anyone ever remembering a compradore in that way. Once a year the compradore gives a dinner to the foreign employees of his hong but there the friendly courtesies begin and end. No one ever entertains a compradore. His position is something like that of a chief steward on a baronial estate, a very useful person whose services are indispensable but not to be considered as a social equal.

  In spite of the fact that the wars were fought and the treaties were forced on China in the interest of the foreign trader he was not the only one to benefit. For centuries the domestic trade of China had been as stagnant as the Chinese mind of that period. There were no new routes, no new markets, no new articles to sell. The foreign trade which developed as a result of the treaties was a stimulant and a tonic and a blood transfusion. The entire trade of the country took on a new vigor and health. The hereditary Shansi bankers and the equally hereditary dealers in silverware, silk and tea constituted about the only wealthy guilds and until foreign trade opened new avenues to wealth, the newcomer in business was restricted to the retail shop. The treaties changed all this. Chinese whose ancestors before them had been nothing but petty tradesmen saw new opportunities in the sale of foreign articles or in the purchase of Chinese produce for export.

  For a thousand years the only population movements in China had been caused by flight before an invader. Successive invasions from the north had driven millions to the south until Canton became the largest city in the country. The raids of Japanese pirates drove all but fishermen from the coast. With the opening of ports for the residence of the foreign trader there was the entirely new phenomenon of people being attracted toward new homes instead of being driven from old ones. There was a steady influx of Chinese toward the open ports. Shanghai provided the most powerful magnet, but there were many others: Ningpo, Foochow, Swatow, Chefoo, Wuhu, Hankow, Shasi, Chungking, Tientsin. Most of these places were unimportant villages until the trade of the foreigner made them important ports. Foreign traders set up their hongs in all of these places, gave employment to many Chinese and provided business opportunities for many others. Real-estate values in China had remained unchanged for centuries but now they rocketed. Many a wealthy family in Shanghai possessed a century ago nothing more than an acre of rice land. In every section that came under foreign influence there was that wholesome stimulation of the social as well as economic life of the people that comes with the creation of new wealth and the lifting of families from poverty to a certain degree of prosperity.

  The compradore was symbolic of this change. He bridged the period when foreigners didn’t know very much about the Chinese, and Chinese didn’t know very much about the foreigner. Considering his limitations he did a very good job of interpreting the two civilizations. He was not a Confucian scholar but he was a personification of much that is typical of China. On the whole he was generous and honest. Many a deal representing thousands of dollars rested on a guarantee no more definite than a compradore’s “can do.” Many a foreigner escaped bankruptcy only because he would tear up a contract rather than go into court to enforce his rights.

  The increase in the volume of foreign trade made the role of the compradore: appear to be one of increasing importance. There were more compradores and they did a greater amount of business. But actually with the passing of each year he became less and less of a necessity. The old-fashioned taipan luxuriated in his ignorance of the Chinese language and of everything that was
connected with China. Even those who grew gray through their years on the China Coast persisted in the whimsy that they were only temporary residents who would make a fortune and go home in a few years and so it wasn’t worth while getting acquainted with the country. The old-fashioned compradore never abandoned his Chinese gown and cloth-soled shoes and never improved his rudimentary knowledge of English. Each continued in his comfortable groove, disturbed by nothing more serious than the prospect of diminishing profits. The clumsy arrangement was dictated by necessity but neither made any attempt to change it.

  Each thought that his sons would follow in his footsteps. The sons thought differently. Sons of the compradores went to American universities and returned to China speaking flawless English. The sons of the taipans were born in China and most of them spoke Chinese and English with equal facility. To them China was not a country of terrifying mysteries, but the land of their birth for which they had a permanent affection. Neither members of this generation needed a go-between in order to do business in China and their conversations were not confined to pidgin English. Young Chinese went into the import and export business and the work of compradore and taipan was done at the same desk. Some of them employed foreigners as assistants. New foreign firms were established without thought of employing a compradore. Smart young Chinese were employed as salesmen, and as departmental managers. There weren’t any Chinese who could hold positions of this kind when the Treaty of Nanking was signed. The Chinese salesman was one of the developments of modern China - along with Chinese girls who bobbed their hair, played golf and tennis and danced the tango.