English: John Thomson: The streets of a Chinese city differ greatly from those of Europe, and are always extremely narrow, except at Nankin and Peking. They are paved crosswise with slabs of stone, usually worn down by the traffic to a hollow in the centre of the path, and this disagreeable substitute for the gutters of European thoroughfares forms the only means by which the rain-water is carried off. The shops in good streets are all nearly uniform in size; a brick party-wall divides each building from its neighbour; all have one apartment, which opens upon the street, and a granite or brick
English: John Thomson: The streets of a Chinese city differ greatly from those of Europe, and are always extremely narrow, except at Nankin and Peking. They are paved crosswise with slabs of stone, usually worn down by the traffic to a hollow in the centre of the path, and this disagreeable substitute for the gutters of European thoroughfares forms the only means by which the rain-water is carried off. The shops in good streets are all nearly uniform in size; a brick party-wall divides each building from its neighbour; all have one apartment, which opens upon the street, and a granite or brick counter for the purpose of displaying their wares. A granite base also supports the upright sign-board, which, as with us in former days, is the indispensable characteristic of every shop in China. Opposite to the sign-board stands a small altar or shrine dedicated to the God who presides over the tradesman and his craft. This Deity is honoured regularly when the shop is opened, and a small incense stick is lit and kept burning in a bronze cup of ashes placed in front of the shrine. The shops within are frequently fitted with a counter of polished wood and finely carved shelves, while at the back is an accountant's room, screened off with an openwork wooden partition, so carved as to resemble a climbing plant. In some conspicuous place stand the brazen scales and weights, ever brightly polished, and adorned with red cloth, which is wound in strips around the beam. These scales are used for weighing the silver currency of the place, for chopped money is but too common among the Chinese. When goods are sold by weight, the purchaser generally brings his own balance, so as to secure his correct portion of the article which he has come to buy. Physic Street, or, more correctly, Tsiang-Lan-Kiai (our Market Street), as the Chinese term it,—is one of the finest streets in Canton, and, with its varied array of brightly coloured sign-boards, presents an appearance no less inter 310 PH
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