Page:Kidnapped in London.djvu/37

 almost half-past ten, I was walking towards Devonshire Street, hoping to be in time to go to church with the doctor and his family, when a Chinaman approached in a surreptitious manner from behind and asked, in English, whether I was Japanese or Chinese. I replied, "I am Chinese." He then inquired from what province I came, and when I told him I was from Canton he said, "We are countrymen, and speak the same language; I am from Canton." It should be observed that English or "Pidgin," that is "business" English, is the common language between Chinamen from different localities. A Swatow and a Cantonese merchant, although their towns are but 180 miles apart (less than the distance between London and Liverpool), may be entirely ignorant of each other's spoken language. The written language is the same all over China, but the written and spoken languages are totally different, and the