City of Devils

by Paul French

  Bucko mate—A term most commonly used in late nineteenth and early twentieth century American for a sailor who worked his crew hard but fair.

  Brigade des Stupéfiants—The French police drugs squad.

  Bupkis—A Yiddish word meaning ‘nothing at all’.

  Cadillac—American slang term used in Shanghai to describe a pill containing opium.

  Canto—Slang shortening of ‘Cantonese’ for a person from Canton (Guangzhou) or that city’s environs in southern China.

  Catty—A traditional Chinese unit of weight measurement for various foodstuffs; one catty equals approximately six hundred grams.

  Compradors—From the Portuguese word for ‘buyer’; members of the Chinese merchant class who aided Western traders in southern China in the late eighteenth, nineteenth, and early twentieth centuries.

  Coolies—A general word for an unskilled native laborer in China and some other Asian countries; it was widely used at the time and has since become a considerably more derogatory word than it was in the early twentieth century.

  Cosh—A term most commonly used in Britain to describe a thick, heavy stick or bar used as a weapon.

  Crib—Originally an English term for a house occupied by criminals, though later, by the 1930s, had become a term used by African-Americans to describe a home.

  Cumshaw—China Coast pidgin English for a tip or gratuity.

  Demimonde—Literally the French for ‘half-world’; a late nineteenth/early twentieth century term denoting a group of people living a hedonistic lifestyle.

  Déshabillé—Originally from the French; the state of being only partly or scantily clothed.

  Dime-dropper—American slang for a police informer; someone who gives the police information in return for a reward.

  Driftwood—A term regularly used in Shanghai to describe those foreigners who came to the city and were feckless, refused to work, and often became engaged in petty crime.

  Emo—Spirits in Japanese folklore.

  Entrepôt—A port to which goods are brought for import and export, and for collection and distribution.

  Fakakta mamzer—A Yiddish term meaning ‘worthless bastard’.

  Fan-tan—A Chinese gambling game in which players try to guess the remainder after the banker has divided a number of hidden objects into four groups.

  Flic—A French slang word for a policeman; the police being ‘les flics’.

  Fox demons—From both Chinese and Japanese folklore; can shape-shift to human beings at night and invariably lead people to destruction.

  Frauenzimmer—A German term, literally ‘woman’s room’; used to describe bourgeois women in a humorous and derogatory way.

  Gauleiter—German; a political official under the Nazis.

  Gee-gees—English slang for horse racing.

  Gelt—An older German term, more commonly used in colloquial Yiddish, to mean money.

  Gitanes—The French word for a Romani (gypsy).

  Godowns—From the Malay word ‘godong’ meaning storehouses or warehouses and used throughout Asia in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

  Gonef—A Yiddish word for a dishonest or untrustworthy person; from the Hebrew word for ‘thief’.

  Grind shops—American slang for illegal gambling dens usually specializing in slot machines and low-limit games of chance.

  Gudao—Chinese meaning ‘solitary’ or ‘lonely’ island; the term applied to the foreign concessions of Shanghai during the period from the initial Japanese attack on the Chinese areas of Shanghai on August 14, 1937 (Bloody Saturday), until December 9, 1941, when the Japanese Army finally occupied the International Settlement following Pearl Harbor.

  Hawk-spit—The act of loudly clearing mucus from one’s throat.

  Hitodama—From Japanese folklore and meaning ‘human soul’; balls of fire that float in the night and are said to be the souls of the dead that have separated from their bodies.

  Hong Kong foot—A fungal infection of the skin that causes scaling, flaking, and itching of affected areas; known elsewhere as athlete’s foot.

  Hongs—The term originated in southern China to describe the early trading houses at Canton (Guangzhou); the term was also applied to large foreign trading concerns in Hong Kong, Shanghai, and throughout the treaty ports of China.

  Hutongs—The ancient narrow streets of courtyard houses or alleyways associated with Beijing.

  Izvinite—Russian for ‘excuse me’.

  Joss—From the Portuguese word for God, ‘Deus’; can relate to a Chinese temple (joss house) or incense (joss sticks); nineteenth century China Coast pidgin English word for ‘luck’.

  Hanjian—The Chinese word for a traitor; but specifically a traitor to the Han Chinese race; the term was used to attack those Chinese that collaborated with the Japanese during World War II.

  Hwa-Wei lottery—The Hwa-Wei (or ‘flowery’) lottery was one of several numbers rackets that operated in Shanghai at the time of these events.

  Jai alai—The Basque game, where a ball is bounced off a wall at considerable speed through the use of a curved handheld device called a cesta; the game was always referred to as hai-alai in Shanghai.

  Kaffee und kuchen—German for ‘coffee and cake’; a ritual usually undertaken between lunch and dinner and accompanied by conversation and gossip.

  Kalderash—A subset of the Romani (gypsy) people mostly originating from Romania, Ukraine, and Russia.

  Kanji—The adopted logographic Chinese characters that are used in the modern Japanese writing system, along with hiragana and katakana.

  Kasha—A buckwheat dish extremely popular in Russia.

  Kempeitai—The military police arm of the Imperial Japanese Army from 1881 to 1945.

  Kepi—A French word simply meaning ‘cap’ and invariably denoting a form of peaked headwear worn by the police and military.

  Khuy—Russian slang for penis

  Kuei huo—From Chinese folklore; ‘kuei’ or ‘kwei’ meaning a ghost and ‘ho’ means fire; a fire spirit arising from the blood of the dead; takes the form of ignis fatui (will-o’-the-wisp), a hovering phosphorescent light.

  Laissez passer—A form of travel document issued by a national government or the League of Nations allowing for passage.

  Lathi—From the Bengali word for ‘stick’; a lathi is made of bamboo and is between six and eight feet long; lathis were used by Sikh constables in the Shanghai Municipal Police for crowd control purposes.

  Latifundia—The large landed estates in Latin America, typically worked by peasants or slaves.

  Lieu-maung—A Shanghainese dialect term invariably translated at the time as ‘loafer’; denoting general unemployed young ne’er-do-wells likely to engage in various forms of criminality; common enough to be included in the Shanghai Municipal Council’s publication One Thousand Phrases in the Shanghai Dialect for the use of the Municipal Police (1926).

  Longtou zha—A Chinese phrase meaning ‘faucet dregs’ and being the tarlike residue found at the bottom of opium pipes after opium has been smoked; these dregs are then boiled with water and sold to addicts and the poor.

  Manouche—A French term for Romani (gypsy) people.

  Meiyu—A Chinese word denoting the East Asian rainy season or, in China, the Plum Rains that come to China in late spring.

  Meshuggeneh—A Yiddish word to describe someone who is crazy.

  Mopu/moge—A Chinese term used in Shanghai in the early twentieth century to describe those young Chinese people (usually of some financial means) who had embraced modern ways, meaning invariably American, European, and Japanese fashions, music, and tastes; a mopu was a ‘modern boy’ and a moge a ‘modern girl’.

  Nansen passports—Internationally recognized refugee travel documents issued by the League of Nations to stateless refugees; known as ‘Nansen passports’ after their promoter, the Norwegian statesman and polar explorer Fridtjof Nansen.

  Naptha-lit—Naphtha flare lamps predated todays paraffin (Tilly)
lamps; they were widely used by showmen, market-stall holders, and circuses until World War I to create dramatic lighting effects.

  Nichts—German word for ‘nothing’.

  No wantchee—Nineteenth-century China Coast pidgin English for ‘do not want’.

  Nobble (a horse)—English slang phrase meaning to influence a horse race by underhand or unfair methods, usually doping or in some way slowing a horse.

  Old lags—British-Australian English slang; hardened or habitual prisoners and former convicts.

  Okami—The Japanese name for the creature commonly called the Japanese wolf (Canis lupus hodophilax), which became extinct in 1905 and is a major figure in Japanese folklore.

  On the lam—A slang term originating in America meaning to hide; attempting to escape from the police or an enemy.

  Panier—The historic waterfront of Marseille composed of myriad narrow alleyways and long a hide out for the city’s criminal fraternity.

  Papyruski—A papyruski is composed of a hollow cardboard tube extended by a thin cigarette paper tube containing tobacco; the cardboard tube plays the role of a disposable cigarette holder; it was seen as a very cheap and inferior smoke in Shanghai at the time.

  Pari-mutuel—From the French term for ‘mutual betting’; a betting system in which all bets of a particular type are placed together in a pool and the payoff odds are calculated by sharing the pool among all the winning bets.

  Partido—From Galician, meaning the division of a game of hai-alai (jai-alai)

  Philopon—The original brand name for mass-produced methamphetamine (or shabu) in Japan, where it was invented, consumed in large amounts by the military and exported to other East Asian countries.

  Picul—A unit of measurement for rice dating back to the early days of the eighteenth century China trade; one picul is defined as a shoulder-load, or as much as a man can carry on a shoulder-pole; a picul is always equivalent to 100 catties (see catty above).

  Pi-seh—A Shanghainese dialect term for a beggar, usually noting a particularly physically aggressive beggar who may turn swiftly to crime; common enough to be included in the Shanghai Municipal Council’s publication One Thousand Phrases in the Shanghai Dialect for the use of the Municipal Police (1926).

  Pongee—A soft, thin woven cloth suitable for lightweight and summer suits mostly manufactured in the mills around Shanghai and eastern China for local consumption and, primarily, export to the United States.

  Quiniela—From Spanish; a bet in which the gambler picks the first and second place finishers but need not designate their order of finish in order to win.

  Rabbit ball—Also called a jackrabbit ball; a rather lively baseball; considered a form of cheating.

  Rin-kwa or kin-kwa—From Japanese folklore; ghostly lights that hover; often a gold color and associated with places were many have died.

  Ronin—Originally a Japanese samurai warrior without a master, but in the 1930s in Shanghai the term was used by vigilante groups of Japanese in the city who officially operated as auxiliaries to the Japanese army but in reality behaved arbitrarily with no restraint.

  Rufiões—The Portuguese word for ‘ruffians’; young gang members.

  Samogon—Russian moonshine; high-proof illicitly distilled spirit made from grain.

  Sampan—Flat-bottomed wooden Chinese style of boat; often used as conveyances across rivers and creeks in Shanghai at the time as well as for transportation and as homes by the poor on ‘beggar boats’.

  Schlemiel—A Yiddish word for an awkward or unlucky person.

  Schtum—A German word meaning ‘silent’; though commonly used in Yiddish to denote maintaining silence in the face of the authorities.

  Schvantze—Yiddish word for penis.

  Shabu—A slang term for the drug methamphetamine, normally at this time associated with Japanese-manufactured narcotics.

  Shamshoo—Chinese moonshine; high-proof illicitly distilled spirit made from rice.

  Shanghailander—A foreigner (either by birth or nationality) residing and working in the International Settlement and French Concession of Shanghai.

  Shanghainese—A Chinese resident of the city of Shanghai; also the Chinese dialect spoken in Shanghai.

  Shebeen—A term originating in Ireland but used throughout the Anglo-Saxon English speaking world to denote an illegal drinking den.

  Shlyukha—Russian slang term for a prostitute.

  Shroff—A cashier; the word is derived from the Hindustani word saraf (bullion merchant); was widely used throughout British India, East and Southeast Asia in the nineteenth and the first half of the twentieth century.

  Slumgullion—Of nineteenth-century American derivation; a cheap and insubstantial stew of indeterminate ingredients (though usually with some meat content), usually eaten by the poor.

  Smuts—A spot or soil caused by soot or coal dust.

  Sojourner—A person who resides temporarily in a place.

  Speak—Speakeasy; an American term for an illicit establishment selling alcohol, though in prior use, the term came to prominence during Prohibition.

  Squeeze—A China Coast pidgin English term for an augmentation of servants’ or workers’ wages through purchasing something at one price and receiving repayment at a higher price; alternatively, receiving a commission from a shopkeeper or service provider in return for placing their firm or employers business with them.

  Standover men—Australian slang; criminals who steal or extort money by intimidation from other criminals knowing they cannot go to the police.

  Taipan—A Cantonese term meaning literally the ‘big boss’.

  Tchotchke—Yiddish term meaning a bauble or small miscellaneous item but also used to refer to gigolos.

  Tonk—A fast-paced matching card game that can be played at intervals and by varying numbers of players, making it perfect for actors between scenes and musicians between sets.

  Tonkinese—Denoting people from the Tonkin region of North Vietnam, at that time a part of the French Indo-Chinese Empire; many Tonkinese served in the French Concession’s Garde Municipal police force and in France’s Colonial Regiments.

  Tooth glasses—The common term at the time to describe a glass for holding toothbrushes.

  Tukhes—The Yiddish word for ‘backside’.

  Triads—Organized crime syndicates originating in China.

  Trusty—A prisoner, usually having served a lengthy sentence, who is given special privileges or responsibilities in return for good behavior.

  Ublyudok—Russian word for ‘bastard’.

  Vig—Or the vigorish (from the Russian word for ‘winnings’); the amount charged by a bookmaker for accepting the bet or the interest on a loan granted by a loan shark.

  Voor vrouw—A Dutch word meaning ‘wife’, but with the implication of a somewhat tough demeanor.

  Vunbottlvine—A phrase that became a Shanghai joke in the early twentieth century to mimic how the many White Russian émigrés working in bars and nightclubs asked the question, ‘one bottle of wine?’

  Weianfu—The Chinese term for ‘comfort women’, those women and girls forced into sexual slavery by the Imperial Japanese Army in its occupied territories during World War II.

  Weiansuo—Chinese for ‘comfort houses’; the locations for Japanese army brothels filled with coerced Chinese women and girls in Shanghai.

  Yakitori—A Japanese type of skewered chicken grilled over a charcoal fire.

  Yakuza—Organized crime syndicates originating in Japan.

  You-tiao—Chinese fried dough sticks cooked in oil by street vendors, a traditional breakfast.

  Zakuski—Russian term for hot and cold hors d’oeuvres invariably intended to follow shots of vodka; the word literally means ‘something to bite after’.

  Zitterer—German term that came into use during World War I to describe those soldiers suffering the particularly severe post-traumatic stress disorder that causes the body to shake uncontrollably; usually referred to as ‘shell shock’ in
English at the time.

  APPENDIX—OLD SHANGHAI INDEX

  Chinese Cities/Provinces

  OLD

  CURRENT

  Amoy

  Xiamen

  Canton

  Guangzhou

  Chekiang

  Zhejiang

  Chungking

  Chongqing

  Dairen

  Dalian

  Foochow

  Fuzhou

  Hangchow

  Hangzhou

  Hankow

  Hankou

  Kiangsu

  Jiangsu

  Mokanshan

  Moganshan

  Nanking

  Nanjing

  Ningpo

  Ningbo

  Peking

  Beijing

  Shanshi

  Shanxi

  Shumchun

  Shenzhen

  Tientsin

  Tianjin

  Weihaiwei

  Weihai

  Shanghai Districts

  OLD

  CURRENT

  Chapei

  Zhabei

  Hongkew

  Hongkou

  Hungjao

  Hongqiao

  Kiangwan

  Jiangwan

  Paoshan

  Baoshan

  Siccawei

  Xujiahui

  Yangtszepoo

  Yangpu

  Shanghai Streets

  OLD

  CURRENT

  Avenue Road

  Beijing Road West

  Baikal Road

  Huimin Road

  Blood Alley

  Rue Chu Pao San

  Brenan Road

  Changning Road

  Broadway

  Daming Road

  Broadway East

  Daming Road East

  Bubbling Well Road

  Nanjing Road West