Page:Brinkley - China - Volume 2.djvu/303

Note 16.—As the loans were contracted in gold (with one exception) and are redeemable in gold, they are here stated in sterling.

Note 17.—Hong means a "row" or "series." It alludes to the fact that a Chinese warehouse consists of a succession of rooms. Hence, as the original foreign factories at Canton were built in that style, the Chinese gave to each block the name hong, which ultimately came to be applied to mercantile houses of every kind.

Note 18.—They were known in China as T'iao-chin-chiao, or the "sect of persons that extract the sinew."

Note 19.—This is another evidence of the fact that the Jews in Europe were driven to adopt the trade of money-lenders, not of deliberate choice, but because all other means of earning a livelihood were denied to them.

Note 20.—Literally, "knocking the head." The salute before the Throne required three kneelings and nine knockings of the head.

Note 21.—This old story makes a striking preface to the Berlin incident of 1901, when the Kaiser sought to insist that the Chinese Ambassador of apology should "kowtow" before him. The Chinaman declined.

Note 22.—"Different" or "strange" is the exact significance of this ideograph which has roused so much wrath and produced so much misunderstanding. It has scarcely a profounder meaning than the English word "foreign," and is certainly not more offensive than "alien."

Note 23.—A corruption of the Portuguese boca tigre, which is a translation of the Chinese name ("Tiger's Gate"). The same place is often spoken of as the "Bogue."

Note 24.—Sir John Davis, "The Chinese."

Vol. X—18