Читать книгу Grand Deceptions - G. S. Willmott - Страница 14

China 1857

Two brothers, Zhang Wei and Wang Wei, lived with their parents and sister in a small village in Guangdong province north of Hong Kong island. The family grew vegetables on a reasonably large scale by Zhuhai standards. Zhuhai was the village they resided in, located on the magnificent Pearl River.

The last two seasons, however, had been very lean due to a drought that had affected the Sze Zap region of which Guangdong was a part.

Wang and Zhang loaded their junk with the produce they were able to grow during the previous two months. It was their intention that Wang would sail the vessel to Hong Kong where he intended to sell the vegetables at the market.

Once they had completed the task, the junk headed down the river in the direction of Hong Kong. Wang was a master sailor, so the journey presented no problem to the young Chinese man.

The trip took a day, and when he tied up at the market wharf and unloaded his produce he was fortunate enough to be able to sell his entire cargo to a wholesaler.

As was his custom when he had finished his day at the market, he would go to his favourite teahouse, the Lotus Flower, where he would not only drink fine tea but also catch up with the latest gossip and news from around the region.

On this day, Wang entered the fine establishment and as usual; it was packed with Chinese merchants plus many men from outlying areas. Once the young man had found a seat, he ordered his tea. The conversations circulating the teahouse were about a land called Australia and how it was made of gold. Wang asked a friend he knew from the market what this gold talk was all about.

‘Li, do you know anything about this land of gold everybody is talking about?’

‘Yes, Wang it’s true! This place called Australia has a mountain of gold! People are going there from all over the world and getting rich and then returning home as rich men.’

‘Is there anyone from China going?’

‘There are thousands; an English ship left Hong Kong this morning bound for a place called Ballarat. It had five hundred Chinese on board.’

‘How can they afford it? It must cost a lot of money.’

‘There are several entrepreneurs who are lending the gold diggers their fare plus living costs when they arrive.’

‘Where’s the catch?’

‘There’s no catch, Wang. They simply take a share of the gold. It’s easy.’

‘Are you going to go?’

‘Yes, I am. I leave in a week’s time.’

‘I wish you well, my friend. I’d better get back to my junk and prepare to return home.’

Wang was thinking the entire journey back about his friend Li and the thousands of his countrymen travelling to this strange place made of gold. When he arrived back in Zhuhai he pulled his brother Zhang aside and told him about Australia and the mountain of gold.

‘If this is correct, Wang, maybe we should go. We would come back to China rich.’

‘That’s what I’ve been thinking, brother. We could look after our family and grow the vegetable business.’

The two brothers decided they would travel to Australia and make their fortunes. They were dubious of the loan system, deciding to fund the adventure from their savings.

The announcement was made to the family next night and although concerned, both parents agreed it was an incredible opportunity.

The two brothers sailed to Hong Kong in the junk, captained by their father Zhao. Upon arrival they said their goodbyes and watched their father as he started his journey back to his home in Zhuhai.

They purchased their tickets for £10 and boarded The Rose of Julpha bound for Port Phillip Bay. Their quarters were commonly known as “steerage”.

Wang and Zhang found a spot where they could store their bags and claim a bed on a three-tier wooden bunk. Their conditions were superior to what the earlier migrants were forced to endure; captains eager to make the most profit from their human cargo overloaded the ships, which resulted in dangerous sailing conditions as well as unsanitary and uncomfortable living conditions for the Chinese passengers.

The government introduced the “British Passenger Act” to guarantee the safety of the passengers. The act stipulated ships could carry only one passenger for every two tonnes of weight. Other conditions included allowing the passengers to exercise on the upper decks, medical staff available to the Chinese, and providing adequate food and water.

The two brothers survived the two-month journey in relatively good condition, landing at a place called Robe in South Australia, not in Port Melbourne as they had been promised. The reason for disembarking in Robe was that the Victorian Government had set a restriction on the number of Chinese migrating to Victoria. The formula they used was one Chinese for every ten tonnes of ship’s cargo.

The government also imposed a £10 per head tax on every Chinese entering any Victorian port. The ship owners advised the Chinese passengers that they could avoid the tax by landing in South Australia and taking a leisurely walk to the Victorian goldfields.

The so-called leisurely walk turned out to be a very difficult three-hundred-and-ten miles. During the first six years of the Victorian gold rush, 16,261 Chinese migrants arrived in the land of plenty to seek their fortune.

A European man offering to guide them overland to the goldfields approached Wang and Zhang. ‘I can show you the way; it’s near impossible to find your way without a reliable guide.’

‘How much would you charge us?’

‘The going rate is £10 a head.’

‘That’s how much it cost to sail all the way from Hong Kong.’

‘Well, my little yellow friend, that’s the fee. Take it or leave it.’

‘I think we’ll try on our own thank you.’

‘Please yourself. Others have tried and died.’

A Chinese man overheard the conversation and approached the two brothers. ‘Hello, my name is Lee. I have a map with instructions in Mandarin which will enable you to conduct the walk in relative safety. It marks where the water wells are along the route and the best places to camp.’

‘How do we know the map is accurate?’

‘I’ve travelled the route myself and I’m now heading back home to China.’

‘Were you successful in finding gold, Lee?’

‘Yes, I was. I’ve transferred the money back to Hong Kong. I will be very comfortable when I arrive back home.’

‘How much for the map?’

‘It’s £1— much cheaper than the £10 a head that fellow was asking.’

Wang and Zhang agreed to buy a copy of the map, which they thought was a much better option; they handed Lee the £1.

The following day they began their epic journey. Their objective was to walk twenty miles a day carrying their provisions.

Other Chinese prospectors followed them on the trek and by the time they reached Ballarat, over a hundred fellow Chinese were part of Wang and Zhang’s group.

When they arrived on the goldfields, Wang and Zhang and the other Chinese from their village worked as a team. They immediately built shelters and slept crowded together as was usual at home in Zhuhai. Teams were organised to mine, to cook and to tend vegetables. Their mining methods proved different to the Europeans’ in that they seldom tackled new ground and usually avoided deep mining, as they feared that the mountain gods would be offended. Instead, they preferred to go over the ground which had been abandoned by European miners. In their haste, the Europeans were often careless as they sifted through the dirt. The Chinese were prepared to take more time, even sweeping the floors of abandoned huts, where they often found gold which earlier Europeans had missed. They soon learnt to keep quiet about this as it made many Europeans angry.

The two brothers from Zhuhai created a market garden not far from their camp and with their vast experience, they were able to not only feed their group but to sell vegetables to the diggers on the goldfields.

After six months in Ballarat, the brothers found they were making more money from their produce than from digging for gold. They erected a large tent where they established a store selling produce grown in their market garden.

‘Wang, I think we should start importing Chinese herbs and medicines to supplement our green groceries. With the number of our countrymen here I’m sure we would do very well.’

‘I think you’re right,’ agreed his brother. ‘Why don’t I travel into Melbourne and speak to the shipping companies? Father could order the goods from a wholesaler in Hong Kong.’

The Wei brothers imported their first shipment in January 1860. They were required to place another larger order in March. The foundation for The Chinese Emporium had been laid, and after twelve months they leased a shop in Ballarat, selling all things needed by the Chinese diggers, including hardware and clothing.

Many Chinese returned to their homeland their pockets filled with gold. This caused resentment amongst the other miners who felt Australia had been plundered.

Wang and Zhang never returned to their village of Zhuhai, however. They continued to grow the business and became two of the wealthiest Chinese citizens in Victoria.