by Bangqing Han
After greetings had been exchanged, everyone could sit down again. For casual conversation, there was no seating order, but for dinner a strict etiquette was normally observed. A courtesan called to a party had to sit slightly behind her client rather than shoulder to shoulder with him. The seat of honor faced the door, and the right-hand side was considered the honored side. Seating order was determined by such usual considerations as status, age, and generation. One rule was given precedence over other considerations, however: a first-time acquaintance was always honored above others and would occupy the seat of honor even if he were younger than the rest. The same rules applied to walking in and out of a house or a room.
When in the presence of seniors and figures of authority, it was a sign of respect to approach them with one’s body turned slightly away instead of facing them directly. Similarly, when withdrawing it was rude to turn one’s back to them, hence the expression “walking sideways” in this novel. This was of course not required among peers and friends.
Readers will notice that “smile” is one of the most heavily recurrent words in this novel. Since it was considered bad manners for women to laugh out loud, a smile was a much more proper expression. Showing one’s teeth in laughter was decidedly bad manners. That was why women covered their mouths with their hands, a handkerchief, or their sleeves when they laughed; even men often did the same.
The End of an Era
A study of historical sources, be they biographical, journalistic, or anecdotal, clearly shows that the world of the Shanghai courtesans had a certain allure for its patrons as well as chroniclers. In a society where men and women occupied distinct spheres and marriage had little to do with personal feelings, for educated men the courtesan was both an embodiment of romantic possibilities and a channel for sexual gratification. For clients of the high-class brothels, sex was not necessarily their top priority. The etiquette of the sing-song houses demanded that the client go through a gradual, well-charted process before he could establish an intimate relationship with the courtesan of his choice. This, in some ways, was like a courtship process and carried with it a sense of excitement, longing, and uncertainty that was in itself as enticing as the final gratification of desire. As social norms changed, however, the nonsexual aspects of the courtesan’s service became less and less relevant.
Among the patrons of the sing-song houses, the weakening of the leisurely scholar class (the main support for the romantic myths associated with the courtesan) and the rise of those associated with a trade economy (including merchants and administrators) were a reflection of the changing times. The continuing expansion of the prostitution trade, both in numbers and modes of service, also quickened the demise of the nonsexual aspects of the courtesan’s work. The result was a leveling off of the prostitution field, what Henriot sums up as the sexualization and commercialization of the high end of the trade.24 Meanwhile, a revolution in social attitudes and practices in relation to women was brewing. This was to result gradually in the breakdown of many of the former boundaries between men and women. High on the agenda of the New Culture Movement that swept through China in the second and third decades of the twentieth century was autonomy in love and marriage. This completely changed the emotional landscape and expectations of the average educated young man, thus eliminating the courtesan’s role as a romantic figure. Within the first quarter of the twentieth century, the world of the Shanghai courtesan as described in this novel was to become little more than a faded dream.
Notes
1. At this time, the local Chinese population, living in the walled city and its vicinity, was around twenty-five hundred.
2. This small creek, which gave its name to the pidgin English spoken in Shanghai, was filled in in 1914 and became the Avenue Edouard VII (present-day Yan’an E. Road).
3. The Chinese walled city, measuring approximately three-and-a-half miles in circumference, was administered by a magistrate.
4. Sedan chairs, rickshas (introduced from Japan in 1874), and horse-drawn carriages were the only means of transport in Shanghai until 1902, when motorcars and trams were introduced.
5. The unequal treaty resulting from the Sino-Japanese War in 1895 allowed the Japanese to build factories and mills in Shanghai. As a result, other treaty powers also followed suit, and the cityscape of Shanghai changed considerably.
6. Statistics immediately after the First World War showed that Shanghai was the city with the largest number of legal prostitutes on a pro rata basis. The second was Beijing and the third Tokyo. According to a map showing the distribution of various categories of prostitutes in 1860 in Christian Henriot, Belles de Shanghai. Prostitution and Sexuality in Shanghai: A Social History, 1849–1949, trans. Noel Castelino (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001), p. 208, most flowered opium dens were in the French Concession, while common prostitutes worked in the Chinese walled city as well as the International Settlement and sing-song houses and Cantonese brothels were located in the International Settlement.
7. Shikumen is a form of terrace house developed during and after the Taiping Rebellion as a result of an influx of well-to-do refugees from the countryside. It is an architectural form local to Shanghai, and a small number can still be seen there. These houses have extremely strong stone portals and a thick wooden front door that lead onto a small courtyard—a reflection of the concern for security in the early days. The house itself is of Chinese design and layout, with the kitchen and service area in the back. These houses, compact in design, suited the purposes of unlicensed prostitutes.
8. For more details about the categories of brothels and courtesans, their modes of operation, and changes that occurred in Republican China, see Gail Hershatter, Dangerous Pleasures: Prostitution and Modernity in Twentieth-Century Shanghai (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997).
9. Unlike the second-class houses, the first-class ones did not charge customers for dropping in for tea. This was done on the understanding that clients who did so would give regular dinner parties at the house.
10. In this novel, Constance, Lotuson Wang’s new flame, is thought to have belonged to this category, though her rival Little Rouge claims that she was originally a streetwalker. Incidentally, while it was not unusual for streetwalkers to set up as first-class courtesans with the backing of a wealthy client, the chances of a second-class girl being promoted to a first-class house were said to be slim.
11. If the girl was sold to the house, all the gifts she received in fact belonged to the brothel though she was the one who actually wore them.
12. It was the fashion to wear what looked like a thin headband studded with jewels just above the forehead.
13. Henriot, Belles de Shanghai, p. 30.
14. The reader will notice that many of the courtesans in this novel are in debt, a fairly accurate reflection of the real situation. The reasons for courtesans going into debt were various. Some became addicted to opium, while others gave money to their lovers (it was very fashionable for courtesans to take up with actors). Many prostitutes, however, were cheated by clients who just disappeared after running up huge bills.
15. This must have been a well-known practice, as there was a technical term for it: “waiting by the city gate.” This saying probably originated with the curfew laws. The Chinese walled city closed its gates after curfew, during which time the gates were only opened when government officials needed to go through. Commoners who wanted to pass during the night therefore waited by a gate and rushed through when it was opened for an official.
16. It was also considered bad form for her regular clients to show feelings of jealousy.
17. See, for example, chapter 22, in which Green Phoenix goes to bed with Vigor Qian in his home so that he will only be billed for a party call.
18. Goldie, who works for Little Rouge, is perhaps the best example of an effective maid in this novel.
19. Thus we have the episode in chapter 23 when Clever complains about brothel clients “horsing aro
und” with servant girls.
20. Normally, dinner parties were held in the courtesans’ rooms.
21. Tobacco was smoked through small water pipes, made of silver in the sing-song houses and of a yellowish copper alloy in other establishments. The body of the pipe, containing the water compartment and the tobacco bowl, could fit into the palm of the hand.
22. Opium divans were wide enough for two people. Normally, the client lay on one side and the courtesan on the other. Besides an opium lamp used for roasting the raw paste into pellets, other equipment for opium smoking included a pick, an opium pipe, and a box for roasted pellets.
23. Given this arrangement, it was very upsetting for a courtesan to be moved to a downstairs room, as is illustrated in the case of Twin Jewel in this novel.
24. Henriot, Belles de Shanghai, p. 354.
Selected References
Chen Boxi. Shanghai yishi daguan (Panorama of Shanghai anecdotes). Shanghai: Shanghai shudian, 2000.
Cusack, Dymphna. Chinese Women Speak. Sydney: Halstead, 1958.
Dong, Stella. Shanghai: Gateway to the Celestial Empire. Hong Kong: FormAsia, 2003.
Henriot, Christian. Belles de Shanghai. Prostitution and Sexuality in Shanghai: A Social History, 1849–1949. Trans. Noel Castelino. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001.
Hershatter, Gail. Dangerous Pleasures: Prostitution and Modernity in Twentieth Century Shanghai. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997.
Hu Shi. “Haishang hua liezhuan xu.” (Preface to Haishang hua liezhuan), in Haishang hua, ed. Wang Yuanfang, pp. 1–36. Shanghai: Yadong tushuguan, 1935.
Huang Jun. Hua sui rensheng an zhiyi (Memories of the hut of flowers and figurines). Shanghai: Shanghai shudian, 1998.
Liu Fu. “Du Haishang hua liezhuan’ (On reading Haishang hua liezhuan), in Haishang hua, ed. Wang Yuanfang, pp. 1–34. Shanghai: Yadong tushuguan, 1935.
Pott, F. L. Hawks. A Short History of Shanghai, Being an Account of the Growth and Development of the International Settlement. Shanghai: Kelly and Walsh, 1928.
Sargent, Harriet. Shanghai: Collision Point of Cultures, 1918–1939. New York: Crown, 1990.
Tang, Zhenchang. Xiandai Shanghai fanhua lu (Records of the prosperity of modern Shanghai). Taipei: Commercial, 1993.
Wang Zhongxian. Shanghai suyu tushuo (Illustrated book of Shanghai slang). Illus. Xi Xiaoxia. Shanghai: Shanghai shudian, 1999.
Zhang Wei et al. Lao Shanghai ditu (Maps of old Shanghai). Shanghai: Shanghai huabao chubanshe, 2001.
WEATHERHEAD BOOKS ON ASIA
Columbia University
Literature
David Der-wei Wang, Editor
Ye Zhaoyan, Nanjing 1937: A Love Story, translated by Michael Berry
Makoto Oda, The Breaking Jewel, translated by Donald Keene
Han Shaogong, A Dictionary of Maqiao, translated by Julia Lovell
Takahashi Takako, Lonely Woman, translated by Maryellen Toman Mori
Chen Ran, A Private Life, translated by John Howard-Gibbon
Eileen Chang, Written on Water, translated by Andrew F. Jones
Amy D. Dooling, editor, Writing Women in Modern China: The Revolutionary Years, 1936–1976
History, Society, and Culture
Carol Gluck, Editor
Michael K. Bourdaghs, The Dawn That Never Comes: Sihimazaki Tōson and Japanese Nationalism
Takeuchi Yoshimi, What Is Modernity? Writings of Takeuchi Yoshimi, translated by Richard Calichman
Richard Calichman, editor, Contemporary Japanese Thought
