Becoming Urban: Mendicancy And Vagrants In Modern Shanghai

Journal of Social History, Fall, 1999 by Hanchao Lu

The begging strategies of the late imperial period continued into the twentieth century. From 1917 to 1935, social investigators of Shanghai's beggars counted up the various popular begging tactics in the city: depending on who did the counting, the number varied from seven to twenty-five. Each tactic or technique had a name in the beggar's argot. Still, none of these investigations was inclusive of all begging methods in the city. Many begging tactics in Shanghai were universal in China and could be found elsewhere in the country for centuries, such as (in the beggar's jargons) "ground petition," "snake playing," "sing the lotus songs," "deformed devils," "opening sky windows," "silence," and so on.(60) The prevalence of these traditional begging methods in Shanghai, of which even the terminology was identical or akin to those in other cities, suggests that begging was a well established and highly consistent profession in China, and modern Shanghai, in spite of an all powerful western cultural presence, was not immune to the contagion of the culture of an indigenous underclass.

All of the begging appeals and tactics or "social terrorism" were made effective, if not possible, only by an urban environment. The prosperity of Shanghai created a favorable environment for begging, and made the city into a "beggars' paradise."(61) The most popular or frequently employed begging tactics in Shanghai were, in particular, based on two key elements: population density and prosperity. In 1935, population density in the International Settlement was 51,317 per square kilometer, and 48,747 in the French Concession. By the early 1940s, population density in these areas had increased to 70,162 and 83,599 respectively. The 1953 census found that the average population density per square kilometer in the city proper was 46,500, and seven out of the city's twenty-one districts had an average population density over 100,000. Population densities in Nanshi (the old city) and the downtown area around Nanjing Road were as high as 159,000 and 148,000.(62) The begging methods discussed below are a few examples of how beggars took advantage of Shanghai's population density and prosperity.

Midnight Beggars

For its bustling night life Shanghai was nicknamed "the city without night." Numerous theaters, cinemas, and other places of entertainment that spread over the city often remained open until midnight or early morning. Among the crowd that always congregated in front of the theaters were beggars. Their targets were fairly clear: rich courtesans and young dating people. Usually, rich women in Shanghai only carried silver coins in their purses since copper coins were often seen by them as filthy. This, of course, was good for the beggars. Writing in the early 191 Os, an author described the so-called midnight beggars in Shanghai:

It is a great opportunity for the [midnight] beggars when a theater empties after a show. On that occasion, as long as the beggars follow the courtesans' rickshaws most closely, they can get a considerable amount of income. In most cases, courtesans go to the show to seek a date and to be in the limelight. When they are not lucky enough to meet a favorite young man, they are surrounded by dirty and smelly monsters who are always reluctant to leave. For the sake of the 'limelight' and for the sake of dating, these courtesans would generously give one or two silver coins in order to get the beggars to leave as quick as possible. Some courtesans, who are afraid that the beggars would not leave quickly enough and want to make them leave immediately, give a good amount of money. The beggar who gets the money heads away to 'take care' of other people.(63)