登陆注册
5379700000120

第120章

Therefore, if he visits a foreign country, he makes arrangements to have his bones returned to China in case he dies; if he hires to go to a foreign country on a labor contract, there is always a stipulation that his body shall be taken back to China if he dies; if the government sells a gang of Coolies to a foreigner for the usual five-year term, it is specified in the contract that their bodies shall be restored to China in case of death.On the Pacific coast the Chinamen all belong to one or another of several great companies or organizations, and these companies keep track of their members, register their names, and ship their bodies home when they die.The See Yup Company is held to be the largest of these.The Ning Yeong Company is next, and numbers eighteen thousand members on the coast.Its headquarters are at San Francisco, where it has a costly temple, several great officers (one of whom keeps regal state in seclusion and cannot be approached by common humanity), and a numerous priesthood.In it I was shown a register of its members, with the dead and the date of their shipment to China duly marked.Every ship that sails from San Francisco carries away a heavy freight of Chinese corpses--or did, at least, until the legislature, with an ingenious refinement of Christian cruelty, forbade the shipments, as a neat underhanded way of deterring Chinese immigration.The bill was offered, whether it passed or not.It is my impression that it passed.There was another bill--it became a law--compelling every incoming Chinaman to be vaccinated on the wharf and pay a duly appointed quack (no decent doctor would defile himself with such legalized robbery) ten dollars for it.

As few importers of Chinese would want to go to an expense like that, the law-makers thought this would be another heavy blow to Chinese immigration.

What the Chinese quarter of Virginia was like--or, indeed, what the Chinese quarter of any Pacific coast town was and is like--may be gathered from this item which I printed in the Enterprise while reporting for that paper:

CHINATOWN.--Accompanied by a fellow reporter, we made a trip through our Chinese quarter the other night.The Chinese have built their portion of the city to suit themselves; and as they keep neither carriages nor wagons, their streets are not wide enough, as a general thing, to admit of the passage of vehicles.At ten o'clock at night the Chinaman may be seen in all his glory.In every little cooped-up, dingy cavern of a hut, faint with the odor of burning Josh-lights and with nothing to see the gloom by save the sickly, guttering tallow candle, were two or three yellow, long-tailed vagabonds, coiled up on a sort of short truckle-bed, smoking opium, motionless and with their lustreless eyes turned inward from excess of satisfaction--or rather the recent smoker looks thus, immediately after having passed the pipe to his neighbor--for opium-smoking is a comfortless operation, and requires constant attention.A lamp sits on the bed, the length of the long pipe-stem from the smoker's mouth; he puts a pellet of opium on the end of a wire, sets it on fire, and plasters it into the pipe much as a Christian would fill a hole with putty; then he applies the bowl to the lamp and proceeds to smoke--and the stewing and frying of the drug and the gurgling of the juices in the stem would well-nigh turn the stomach of a statue.

同类推荐
热门推荐
  • 台湾文献清史列传选

    台湾文献清史列传选

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 南亭

    南亭

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 2009中篇小说卷(中国当代文学经典必读)

    2009中篇小说卷(中国当代文学经典必读)

    本书主要收录了2009年中篇小说卷。 当代人不能代替后人命名当代“经典”,当代人所能做的就是对过去“经典”的缅怀和回忆。这种错觉的一个直接后果就是在“经典”问题上的厚古薄今,似乎没有人敢于理直气壮地对当代文学作品进行“经典”的命名,甚至还有人认为当代人连写当代史的权利都没有。
  • 我和末世有个约会

    我和末世有个约会

    莫名其妙穿越到丧尸横行的平行世界,养养狗,再被丧尸养成。本以为这是一个穿越女在末世养成与被养成的简单故事,结果……什么?人类都只是外星人吃腻了的食物?而丧尸是外星人喜爱的新食物,地球未来的新主人?这太不科学了!
  • 重生:溺宠太子妃

    重生:溺宠太子妃

    将军府内,嫡女重生。上一世,她错把鱼目当珍珠,误信豺狼;这一世,她要揭穿姨娘的佛口蛇心,撕烂庶妹的伪善嘴脸。这一生,且看她如何护双亲,保幼弟,斗姨娘,踩庶妹。谁负她,她必将百倍还之,阴谋阳谋统统灭掉!本想远离皇室,永不为妃,却不想挣不脱他的情网!--情节虚构,请勿模仿
  • 悟空爱上唐三藏

    悟空爱上唐三藏

    这是一个女版悟空穿越现代,颠覆传统,毁三观,无节操,无下限的《西游记》改编故事,讲述女版孙悟空与唐三藏之间虐恋,如何突破万世阻挠,弑神灭佛!你无法想象孙悟空是名女汉子,天蓬元帅是天庭最帅的男人,沙僧最阴险狡诈,唐三藏最邪气凛然!请准备足够的节操,否则你会发现,节操余额不足,请及时充值!
  • 穿越时空朕的皇后不一般

    穿越时空朕的皇后不一般

    21世纪的国际化杀手组织的头牌杀手伊苏,因一次意外的任务而魂穿了,魂穿之后她变成了将军府内的一个不受宠的四小姐,而她用自己的本事赢得了大家的称赞,一个小小的身体里变了一个主人之后,将会演变着怎样不平凡的故事呢?他,大祁王朝的主宰者,拥有天下的一切,却在一个不好的地方,遇见了不平凡的她,一眼望去,殊不知这九生九世的爱恋纠缠是上天注定了的,但这一次他们将会演变着怎样的人生?是悲?是喜?敬请观看!
  • 魔力大餐,你吃了么

    魔力大餐,你吃了么

    不想当首富的厨子不是好猎人。这是一个在现实中失去了味觉嗅觉的厨师进入游戏靠做菜富甲天下的故事。没有叱咤风云没有争霸天下,做做菜钓钓鱼泡泡妞,偶尔打打小怪兽,日子乐悠悠。
  • 血与火的赞歌

    血与火的赞歌

    正统奇幻史诗,故事围绕着几个家族和势力争夺大陆统治权而展开。ps:第二大章节是本书关键,但不是写的主角,第二章后基本上就是以主角为中心叙事。ps:新书《边缘掌控者》,宇宙科技与魔幻结合的世界,这本书的后续故事!
  • 太古最强血脉

    太古最强血脉

    封神大陆强者为尊。叶落继承太古一族最强血脉,以无敌之势强势崛起。诸天万界,唯太古一族最强。炼器、阵法、炼丹、铭文太古一族无所不能!!