Page:Twentieth Century Impressions of Hongkong, Shanghai, and other Treaty Ports of China.djvu/350

342 forms of entertainment for members and their friends, as well as holding out a helping hand to any distressed fellow countrymen who may he in need of assistance. Excellent performances of well-known plays are presented by the British, French, and German Amateur Dramatic Societies, and a series of classical concerts is contributed by the Konzert Verein. A well-trained band of capable instrumentalists, engaged by the Municipality, renders selections of high-class music in the Town Hall during the winter months, and plays popular music in the public gardens and the recreation ground during the summer.

The Settlement is honeycombed with social and sporting clubs, the most important of those coming within the first-named category being the Shanghai, Concordia, Masonic, Country, and Customs Clubs. Owing to the fact that the foreign population is almost entirely of a mercantile character, the social conditions are much less complex than in India or Hongkong; but, nevertheless, some anomalies have been established. For instance, a clerk in a bank, shipping, or mercantile office will be welcomed with open arms into a circle from which a well-to-do and highly esteemed British resident who has the misfortune to be directly connected with a large retail store will be tabooed.

No fewer than seventeen nationalities have their own Consular representatives at the port, but the British section of the community has always maintained a long lead in both social and mercantile circles, the next in importance being the German section. It is, no doubt, due to this predominance of the British that sport occupies so prominent a place in local life. Hunting, horse-racing, polo, baseball, cricket, hockey, tennis, shooting, rowing, and sailing have each a representative club, which, with the solitary exception of baseball, was originally instituted by the British. During the summer months tennis, swimming, and boating are the most favoured pastimes, but in the winter golf, hockey, and football claim most attention. For those who enjoy a run across country excellent sport is provided by the Paper-hunt Club and the Drag-hunt Club. An Automobile Club has been formed, but little is heard of it, although close upon two hundred motor licences have been issued by the Municipal Council up to date.

The average woman leads a much more luxurious life in Shanghai than at home. For this, thanks are due to the Chinese, who make admirable servants, a good "boy" or cook being quite capable of taking all the responsibility of managing the entire affairs of the household. Social engagements, therefore, claim the major part of every woman's time. For paying calls a carriage can be kept at a cost that would barely suffice to pay the wages of a coachman in England. Ample opportunity for indulgence in the mild excitement of shopping is provided by the many excellent foreign stores, at which it is possible to buy almost anything purchasable in England, and the fascinating pursuit of bargain-hunting may be followed from time to time at one or other of the "annual sales" or autumn sales. When wearied of the daily round, the ladies of Shanghai can find quiet and seclusion at the Empress Club, the only ladies' club in China that can boast its own premises and independent set of rules.