Great Cities Through Travelers' Eyes Read online

  But it is a pageant no one can stop to watch, except the gatekeeper at the Boboli who sits calmly in his chair at the portal, passing the time of day. In his safe harbour, he appears indifferent to the din, which is truly infernal, demonic. Horns howl, blare, shriek; gears rasp, brakes squeal, Vespas sputter and fart, tyres sing. No human voice, not even the voice of a radio, can be distinguished in this mechanical babel, which is magnified as it rings against the rough stone of the palaces. If the Arno valley is a natural oven, the palaces are natural amplifiers. The noise is ubiquitous and goes on all day and night. Far out in the suburbs, the explosive chatter of a Vespa mingles with the cock’s crow at four in the morning; in the city an early worker, warming up his scooter, awakens the whole street.

  GUANGZHOU

  (CANTON)

  The Chinese coastal city of Guangzhou (formerly romanized as Canton) was an important port under the Song (960–1279) and Ming (1368–1644) dynasties, and was one of the main points of contact for European traders in China from the 17th century.

  In the 19th century the British used Canton for importing opium to China, and a Chinese protest against this led to the First Opium War (1839–42), after which the port was forcibly ‘opened’ as a British (later American and French) treaty port. In the later 19th century Canton’s prosperity declined somewhat following decades of internecine bloodshed (the leader of the Taiping rebellion against the Qing dynasty of 1850–64 came from the Canton region) and in the face of competition from Shanghai and Hong Kong as Western entry points to China’s interior.

  Guangzhou was deeply involved in the modernizing, nationalist and Communist conflicts of the first half of the 20th century, but it did not become an industrial centre until the late 1950s.

  1655 PETER DE GOYER AND JAKOB DE KEYZER

  The Dutch East India Company (VOC) was active in the city in the 17th century; its representatives de Goyer and de Keyzer (see page 53) visited in 1655.

  Canton, the first chief city of this kingdom, lies upon the height of twenty-three degrees northern latitude, and is surrounded toward the east, west and north with very fruitful and delightful hills, and borders toward the south so very much upon the sea that on that side there is no part of all China so commodious to harbour shipping, where they likewise arrive daily from all quarters of their world, with all manner of goods, wherewith they make a considerable gain. It lies likewise upon the right side of the river Ta, where it grows somewhat narrow; but lower toward the sea it spreads such a breadth that it seems more like an ocean than a stream. For three miles upon this river is this city of Canton walled in, and some places adorned with rich and populous suburbs which are not much inferior to the ordinary cities both in bigness and number of inhabitants.

  On the water side, the city is defended with two rows of high and thick walls which are strengthened with several bulwarks, watchtowers and other forts; though besides these works there are two other strong water castles which are built in the middle of the river which render this city invincible.…

  The city is likewise defended and surrounded on the land side with a strong wall, and five strong castles, whereof some are within the walls and others without upon the tops of steep hills so that this city is sufficiently both by land and sea defended against all the invasions of any enemy whatsoever, and in the opinion of some seems invincible.

  1853 BAYARD TAYLOR

  The American poet and man of letters Bayard Taylor (1825–1878) undertook a journey from Britain to South and East Asia in 1853; like many Westerners, he was fascinated with the lore surrounding opium usage. In the 1860s he served as a US diplomat in St Petersburg.

  In spite of the penalties attached to it by Chinese law, the smoking of opium is scarcely a concealed practice at present. I have seen it carried on in open shops in Shanghai, where there are some streets which are never free from the sickening smell. It had always been my intention to make a trial of the practice, in order to learn its effects by personal experience, and being now on the eve of leaving China, I applied to a gentleman residing in Canton, to put me in the way of enjoying a pipe or two. He was well acquainted with a Chinaman who was addicted to the practice, and by an agreement with him, took me to his house one evening. We were ushered into a long room, with a divan, or platform about three feet high, at the further end. Several Chinamen were in the room, and one, stretched out on the platform, was preparing his pipe at a lamp. The host invited me to stretch myself opposite to him, and place my head upon one of those cane head-stools which serve the Chinese in lieu of pillows.

  The opium pipe is a bamboo stick, about two feet long, having a small drum inserted near the end, with an aperture in its center. A piece of opium, about twice the size of a pin’s head, is taken up on a slender wire and held in the flame of the lamp until it boils or bubbles up, when it is rolled into a cylindrical shape on the drum, by the aid of the wire. It loses its dark color by the heating and becomes pale and soft. Having been sufficiently rolled, it is placed over the aperture, and the wire, after being thrust through its center, to allow the air to pass into the pipe, is withdrawn. The pipe is then held to the flame, and as the opium burns, its fumes are drawn into the lungs by a strong and long-continued inspiration. In about half a minute the portion is exhausted, and the smoker is ready for a second pipe.

  To my surprise I found the taste of the drug as delicious as its smell is disagreeable. It leaves a sweet, rich flavor, like the finest liquorice, upon the palate, and the gentle stimulus it communicates to the blood in the lungs, fills the whole body with a sensation of warmth and strength. The fumes of the opium are no more irritating to the windpipe or bronchial tubes than common air, while they seem imbued with a richness of vitality far beyond our diluted oxygen. I had supposed that opium was smoked entirely for the purpose of mental exhilaration, and that to the smokers, as to many who intoxicate themselves with ardent spirits, there was no sensual gratification in the mere taste of the article. The reverse is undoubtedly the truth, and the practice, therefore, is doubly dangerous. Its victim becomes hopelessly involved in its fascinating illusions, and an awful death, such as I had witnessed not long before, is sure, sooner or later, to overtake him who indulges to excess. I have a pretty strong confidence in my own powers of resistance, but do not desire to make the experiment a second time.

  Beyond the feeling of warmth, vigor and increased vitality, softened by a happy consciousness of repose, there was no effect until after finishing the sixth pipe. My spirits then became joyously excited, with a constant disposition to laugh; brilliant colors floated before my eyes, but in a confused and cloudy way, sometimes converging into spots like the eyes in a peacock’s tail, but oftenest melting into and through each other, like the hues of changeable silk.… I went home feeling rather giddy and became so drowsy, with slight qualms at the stomach, that I went to bed at an early hour.

  I had made an arrangement to walk around the walls of Canton the next morning, with Mr Bonney, and felt some doubt as to whether I should be able to undertake it; but, after a deep and refreshing sleep, I arose at sunrise, feeling stronger and brighter than I had done for weeks.

  1879 ISABELLA BIRD

  The British explorer and photographer Isabella Bird (1831–1904) was one of the most distinguished female travel writers of the 19th century. Her extensive journeys, including those in North America, Oceania and South, East and Central Asia, did not begin until she was in her forties, when she was advised to travel for her health, but continued up to her death.

  4 January Viewing Canton from the ‘five-storeyed pagoda’, or from the dignified elevation of a pawn tower, it is apparent that it is surrounded by a high wall, beyond which here and there are suburban villages, some wealthy and wood-embosomed, others mean and mangy. The river divides it from a very populous and important suburb. Within the city lies the kernel of the whole, the Tartar city, occupied by the garrison and a military colony numbering about twenty thousand persons. This interesting area is walled round, and conta
ins the residence of the Tartar General, and the consulates of the great European powers. It is well wooded and less closely built than the rest of Canton. Descending from any elevation one finds oneself at once involved at any and every point in a maze of narrow, crowded streets of high brick and stone houses, mostly from five to eight feet wide. These streets are covered in at the height of the house roofs by screens of canvas matting, or thin boards, which afford a pleasant shade, and at the same time let the sunbeams glance and trickle among the long, pendant signboards and banners which swing aloft, and upon the busy, many-coloured, jostling throng below.…

  There are heavy and ancient gates or barricades which enclose each street, and which are locked at night, only to be opened by favour of the watchmen who guard them. Their closing brings to an end the busy street life, and at 10 p.m. Canton, cut up into small sections, barred out from each other, is like a city of the dead. Each gate watchman is appointed and paid by the ‘vestry’ of the street in which he keeps guard. They wear uniform, but are miserable dilapidated-looking creatures, and I have twice seen one fast asleep.… These men are on the look-out for armed bands of robbers, but specially for fire. They are provided with tom-toms and small gongs on which to proclaim the hours of the night, but, should fire arise, a loud, rapid, and incessant beating of the gong gives the alarm to all the elevated brotherhood in turn, who at the same time, by concerted signals, inform the citizens below of the ward and street in which the fire has originated. In each principal street there is a very large well, covered with granite slabs, with its exact position denoted on a granite slab on the adjoining wall. These wells, which are abundant reservoirs, are never opened except in case of fire.…

  In the streets the roofs of the houses and shops are rarely, if ever, regular, nor are the houses themselves arranged in a direct line. This queer effect results from queer causes. Every Chinese house is built on the principles of geomancy, which do not admit of straight lines, and were these to be disregarded the astrologers and soothsayers under whose auspices all houses are erected, predict fearful evils to the impious builders….

  The public buildings and temples, though they bear magnificent names, are extremely ugly, and are the subjects of slow but manifest decay, while the streets of shops exceed in picturesqueness everything I have ever seen. Much of this is given by the perpendicular signboards, fixed or hanging, upon which are painted on an appropriate background immense Chinese characters in gold, vermilion or black. Two or three of these belong to each shop, and set forth its name and the nature of the goods which are to be purchased at it. The effect of these boards as the sun’s rays fall upon them here and there is fascinating. The interiors of the shops are lofty, glass lamps hang from the ceilings and large lanterns above every door, and both are painted in bright colours, with the characters signifying happiness, or with birds, butterflies, flowers or landscapes. The shop wall which faces the door invariably has upon it a gigantic fresco or portrait of the tutelary god of the building, or a sheet of red paper on which the characters forming his name are placed, or the character Shan, which implies all gods, and these and the altars below are seen from the street. There is a recess outside each shop, and at dusk the joss sticks burning in these fill the city with the fragrance of incense.…

  This is a meagre outline of what may be called the anatomy of this ancient city.… At this date it has probably greater importance than it ever had, and no city but London impresses me so much with the idea of solid wealth and increasing prosperity.

  My admiration and amazement never cease. I grudge the hours that I am obliged to spend in sleep; a week has gone like half a day, each hour heightening my impressions of the fascination and interest of Canton, and of the singular force and importance of the Chinese. Canton is intoxicating from its picturesqueness, colour, novelty and movement. Today I have been carried eighteen miles through and round it, revelling the whole time in its enchantments, and drinking for the first time of that water of which it may truly be said that who so drinks ‘shall thirst again’ – true Orientalism.

  1955 SIMONE DE BEAUVOIR

  When the French writer and philosopher Simone de Beauvoir (1908–1986) visited in 1955, Canton appeared more traditional than modern; most of the traditional city was destroyed during the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s.

  Between 1911 and 1927 Canton spearheaded the revolutionary movement. Today however the ‘march towards socialism’ is much less apparent than in the rest of China. Late to be liberated, possessing almost no industry, virtually no proletariat, twelve hundred miles by air from Peking, this city of small shopkeepers and small artisans had yet to feel the transforming impact of the regime…. For me, coming from Peking and Shanghai, it is like sliding back into the old semifeudal world.

  My hotel is fourteen storeys high, the main skyscraper in the city. It is greyish, squat, quite awful, but it dominates the ‘Long Quay’ and from my window I look out upon a considerable strip of river.… The river is literally surfaced by boats beating upstream, and coasting down with the current; enormous rafts freighted with logs edge softly in the direction of the sea while junks sail for inland destinations. There are sampans whose deckhouses seem roofed with some sort of raffia – woven bamboo perhaps, greyish at any rate, and sloping downwards towards the prow. I love the great paddle-wheel boats, some of which transport passengers and goods seaward, still more of which head for the hinterlands. They are wooden, painted in fine green and gold tints; they have two decks astern, one deck amidships; the stern, boxlike, perpendicular and with windows, resembles a house front, a kind of ledge painted yellow is sandwiched between the two decks and above it runs an inscription in Chinese; the overall effect recalls Columbus’ caravels. On the wharf crates and bales are being loaded and unloaded. An entire system of streams and canals connects the river with the inland country. Traffic slackens little if at all at night. The river then becomes alive with little red lamps: candles, lanterns are lit on the small craft where as many as 60,000 Cantonese have their permanent dwellings.…

  I especially remark the number of teahouses and their lavishness; plenty of tea is drunk in the South, not only because the heat breeds thirst but because people like to get together in public places. The salons are so big that one will often take up what would be an entire block of houses. The tables are of dark wood, in the middle a stairway leads up to a second floor, and on the farther side a window gives out upon another street. There are also ice-cream parlours where seated at a marble-top table you are served all sorts of flavours: vanilla, pineapple, banana, red pea. I lunch in one Canton restaurant.… I am brought fried shrimp, duck pates, breast of chicken, vol-au-vents, puffs, little stuffed rolls, rissoles, little thumb-sized bits of bread accompanying morsels of pickled pork, a dessert made of cookies and ample whipped cream.

  HAVANA

  Havana (originally San Cristóbal de la Habana) was founded by the Spaniards in the early 16th century on an excellent natural harbour in Cuba, and it became the base for further conquests; later in the century it became the collecting point for treasure fleets returning to Spain. After being held by the British briefly in the 1760s, it was heavily fortified by Spain. From 1800 increasing numbers of visitors came to Havana, and after Cuba won its independence from Spain in 1898, it became the capital of the new republic. Treated as a playground — and centre of gangsterism — by many Americans in the first half of the century, Havana and Cuba underwent a Marxist revolution led by Fidel Castro in 1959 and were subjected to an embargo by the United States until the 2000s.

  1800 ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT

  The Prussian naturalist and explorer Humboldt (1769–1859) became the first person to popularize Havana following a three-month-long visit in 1800–1, writing about the island’s human society and natural history (and even measuring its latitude and longitude more accurately than ever before). For this he is often described as the ‘second discoverer’ of Cuba (after Columbus).

  The view of Havana from the entrance to
the port is one of the most picturesque and pleasing on the northern equinoctial shores of America. This view, so justly celebrated by travellers of all nations, does not possess the luxury of vegetation that adorned the banks of the Guayaquil, nor the wild majesty of the rocky coasts of Rio de Janeiro…but the beauty that in our climate adorns the scenes of cultivated nature, unites here with the majesty of the vegetable creation, and with the organic vigour that characterizes the torrid zone. The European who experiences this union of pleasing impressions, forgets the danger that menaces him in the midst of the populous cities of the Antilles, and strives to comprehend the different elements of so vast a country, gazing upon the fortresses crowning the rocks east of the port, the opening arm of the sea surrounded with villages and farmhouses, the tall palms, and the city itself half hidden by a forest of spars and sails of shipping.

  The principal edifices of Havana, the cathedral, the Government House, the residence of the Comandante of Marine, the navy yard, the post office and the Royal Tobacco factory, are less notable for their beauty than for the solidity of their construction. The streets are generally narrow, and many of them not paved. As the paving stone is brought from Vera Cruz, and its transportation is costly, the singular idea had been entertained, shortly before my arrival, of supplying its place with great trunks of trees, as is done in Germany and Russia, in the construction of dykes across swampy places. This project was speedily abandoned; but travellers who arrived subsequently to the making of the experiment, were surprised to see beautiful trunks of mahogany buried in the ruts of Havana.