[VOL I] THEATRE AT TIEN SIN

THEATRE AT TIEN SIN

Cover Image: Theatre at Tien-Sin / TianJin China / Drawn by T.Allom Engraved by R.Sands – ALAMY Image ID:2WXT7D8

*As one of the birthplaces of northern Chinese opera, Tianjin is known as the “big stage where northern and southern opera converge.” In the world of Peking opera, there was a customary saying that goes, “Learn the art in Beijing, gain fame in Tianjin, and make money in Shanghai.”.

“Alas! that Vice’s brand should stamp the stage –
Life’s picture, and resuscitated page!
There might our unschool’d crowds delighted stand,
Each acted lesson view, and understand.
Some read to learn; to listen some prefer;
To teach beholders rose the theatre.”

C. J. C.

“THERE is one city in the metropolitan province of Petche-le, that has a greater trade, is much more populous, and richer than most others, though it is not of the first order, and has no jurisdiction; it is called Tien-tching-ouei; and since the map was made, it is placed in the rank of tcheou, or cities of the second order. It is situated at the place where the imperial canal which comes from Lin-tchien-tchou joins to the river of Peking. A great mandarin resides here, and is a principal of the officers who preside over the salt-works along the sea-coast of the provinces of Pe-tche-le and Chan-tong; all the vessels bringing timber from East Tartary, after they have crossed the bay of Leao-tung, come to unload in this port, which is but twenty leagues from Peking.”

Such is the pithy account of the Citta Celeste of Marco Polo left us by the Jesuits, who surveyed every locality of the empire with a penetration never exceeded by any European traveller; and, although their topographical description is insufficient to satisfy modern inquiry, it includes the principal points that then deserved attention at this city, while the stationary condition of the Chinese people ever since, renders it as applicable to-day as when it was originally written.

The conflux of the rivers Pei-ho and Eu-ho, the former opening a communication with the capital, eighty miles distant, and with the sea, fifty miles; the latter, by means of the imperial canal, with all the southern provinces, conferred an early commercial importance upon Tien-sin. There is a bar at the entrance of the river, and the depth of water above the city is but imperfectly known to foreigners; so that sailing-vessels, or ships of large burden, should not venture upon it without a native pilot; but from their light draught, and facility of direct and retrograde movements, steamers may navigate its whole course with safety. His imperial majesty, Taou-kwang, (Reason’s Glory), is probably still ignorant of the bold enterprise, lately meditated against his capital by the captain of a British man-of-war cruising off the mouth of the Pei-ho—

“Had the Chinese turned restive,” writes Lord Jocelyn, “eight hours would have taken the steamer and corvette, filled with seamen, marines, and field-pieces, to the town of Tien-sin, at the head of the great canal, the depot of all their northern trade and supplies. Their fleet of junks being then burnt, an event which would have crippled their means of sending reinforcements to the mouth of the river, and the town being set on fire, nearly within sight of the imperial city, must have caused a panic and distress that would have shaken the empire to its very base. They seemed to be aware that this was feasible, and dreaded it themselves.”

In the most busy and populous commercial towns, where labour appears only to be suspended from an apprehension of exhausting the physical powers of the labourer, the greatest variety of public shows and entertainments, the largest number of coffee-houses, restaurateurs, assembly-rooms, and theatres, are always found; a sufficient evidence that in such localities they receive the largest share of patronage. This remark applies with more than common appropriateness to Tien-sin, which has long been celebrated as the chief place of trade in the province, as well as for its everlasting scenes of recreation and gaiety.

Many Europeans have visited this Chinese Liverpool; and the courtesies which commercial intercourse engenders, have here procured for them a more liberal reception, and a less fastidiously restrained society, than they must have met with in other parts of China. Buildings, wharfs, manufactures, warehouses, and dockyards, extend along the banks of the Pei-ho, for upwards of two miles and a half; and the surface of the water, during all that length, is so closely covered with junks, that a narrow passage-way only is reserved by the river-police.

The multitudes that crowd the decks of this countless fleet, are not devoted wholly to navigation; they include whole families, who lead a sort of amphibious life—“every shore to them is foreign, and the earth an element on which they venture but occasionally.” Twice have our embassies passed and repassed this great promenade; and the description of the spectacle which it presented on these occasions is calculated to give a very imposing idea of Chinese enterprise, wealth, discipline, and civilization. During one of these transits, the pageant was witnessed by such a multitude as, even in China, was rarely seen. The decks of the vessels were completely occupied, numbers stood in the shallow water between them and the shore, while a dense and continuous crowd lined the sloping banks from the houses to the water’s edge. The gradual descent of the ground on each side gave the spectacle the appearance of some vast amphitheatre. The enormous diameter of the unbrageous heat rendering it a perfect nuisance, on an oceanic soil where heads were jammed as closely as if they were screwed together, the array of so many thousand bare bald pates so situated, and exposed to the influence of a meridian sun, when the thermometer stood at ninety, must have been truly astonishing. Along the banks of the river, large bags of salt are generally piled up in a conical form, and covered carefully with matting. During the passing of the ambassadorial procession, these heaps of salt were also tenanted, presenting the appearance of so many pyramids of heads.（* A calculation was made by Mr. Barrow of the quantity of salt contained in the pyramids of bags standing on the quays of Tien-sin when he passed by them, and it was found to be sufficient for the consumption of thirty millions of people for one whole year. A considerable revenue is derived from the gabelle, or salt-duty, and the situation of collector at this place is one of the most lucrative appointments in the imperial gift.）In all the ardour of curiosity which evidently existed on this public demonstration, it was remarkable that no disturbance occurred; a sense of mutual accommodation pervaded the multitudinous assembly, nor were police or military permitted to appear, or mingle with the crowd. It was while the state-barges lay moored before the viceroy’s palace, that a temporary theatre was erected on the quay, with a fanciful orchestra behind it, in which a dramatic entertainment, after the national manner, was represented, for the gratification of the embassy. The exterior of the building was decorated with a variety of brilliant and lively colours, by the proper distribution, as well as contrast of which, the Chinese are able to produce the most pleasing effects. The front was left completely open towards the river, and the interior adorned with the same elegance and success. The performance was continued without interruption during a whole day, pantomime and historic dramas taking alternate possession of the boards. Strict attention was paid to costume, the actors being uniformly habited in the ancient dresses of the age in which the personages represented were supposed to have lived. A kind of recitative supplied the place of dialogue, accompanied by a variety of musical instruments, in which the gong, kettle-drum, and trumpet were conspicuous, each pause being filled up by a loud crash, such as our “brass bands” sometimes introduce. Every actor announced on his first entrance the part he was about to perform,—where the scene was laid, and other explanatory circumstances; but this precaution they observed when the audience were foreigners, or imperfectly acquainted with the language of China.

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