Communities and Communication: A Study of the Case of Yang Naiwu, 1873-1877

COMMUNITIES AND COMMUNICATION: A STUDY OF THE CASE OF YANG NAIWU, 1873-1877* Madeleine Yue Dong November 28, 1873, appeared to be an uneventful day in the crisis-laden late Qing. In Beijing, the Tongzhi Emperor received his routine memorials: reports on small-scale banditry on the Guangdong-Guangxi boarder, fireprevention strategies for the imperial resort, and the like.1 In Shanghai, the newspaper Shenbao published its regular eight-page edition primarily focusing on issues related to the West. Occupying the first page was an editorial titled "On Manufacture," which argued that China should produce wood, iron, and coal for its own shipyards and arsenals. This editorial was followed by news of Britain's lowering the interest rate on its loans to Chinese merchants and the sinking of a large cargo ship at sea. Four out of the eight pages were advertisements about shipping companies, Western hospitals, banks, English classes, and what items were available at which stores. About 120 miles from Shanghai, fifteen miles west of Hangzhou, lay a small town and county seat, Yuhang. Ge Pinlian, a 29-year-old doufu shop attendant, was walking home. He had been feeling poorly for the last two days. His wife, Bi Xiugu, had suggested that he rest at home but he refused. On the 28th he felt worse and had to leave work in the morning. The town was divided into northern and southern quarters by the Tiao River. The northern part was a walled town housing the magistrate's yamen, which had been shuttled between the northern and the southern parts of the town but had come to settle in the north since the Song dynasty. The circumference of the city wall was only about 1.5 miles, which made the northern part a small *My special thanks go to Joshua Goldstein and Joseph Esherick. I would also like to express my gratitude to Dorothy Ko, Paul Pickowicz, Cynthia Truant, George Lipstiz, David Tucker, two anonymous referees of Late Imperial China, the participants of the UCSD East Asian History program research seminar (1993-94), and the California Chinese History Graduate Student Conference at Stanford (1994). A slightly different version of this article was presented at the 1994 West Coast AAS conference. 1Shenbao, TZ12/11/6 (25 December 1873), 3-4. Late Imperial China Vol. 16, No. 1 (June 1995): 79-119 79 80Madeleine Yue Dong neighborhood; most people lived in the southern part of the town.2 There was no clear pattern of residence, although most people living in the south were artisans, while the north was known for maintaining purer customs.3 The population of Yuhang was reduced by more than fifty percent at the end of the Taiping Rebellion, and was made unstable.4 From the Daoguang reign, many people came and left working seasonal jobs, making charcoal or reclaiming land. In 1898, outsiders made up almost thirty percent of the total population in the county. Most of them came from Wenzhou, Jinhua, Shaoxing , and Ningbo, areas less affected by the Taiping Rebellion.5 This floating population offered Yuhang more contact with other areas. This characteristic of the town was enhanced by the fact that Yuhang was the starting point of the Grand Canal. The boatmen not only transported grain, but also brought information. Yuhang was the place where products from other parts of the Hang-Jia-Hu plain were gathered, which made it an active town.6 When Ge Pinlian was walking toward his home in the north-quarter, he passed by the 50-meter long Tongji Bridge which, as the main link connecting the north and south quarters over the Tiao River, was a bustling commercial area.7 At a teahouse, Ge saw his step-father, carpenter Shen Tiren, who noticed that Ge was walking very slowly and looked as if he had a cold. As he walked on, Ge bought a piece of cake at a bakery, and Wang Lin, the constable in charge of the area in which Ge Pinlian lived, saw him throw up after having eaten it.8 As he continued walking through the town, Ge passed a mixture of newly rebuilt and burned-down buildings. This once had been the...