CHAPTER FIVE

EMPLOYMENT PROBLEMS OF THE PORTUGUESE IN SHANGHAI

According to the investigation of the Civil Affairs Department of the Shanghai Municipal Government in August 1946, there were 2,255 Portuguese residents of Shanghai (1,171 male and 1,084 females). At that time there were 65,610 foreign residents (33,938 males and 31,672 females), so the Portuguese constituted 3.4 percent of the foreign population. When the report was compiled some 891 Portuguese (610 males and 281 females) were employed, which amounted to 39.5 percent of that nationality’s population. The unemployment rate for the Portuguese was 34.2 percent, which amounted to 770 persons unemployed. Women had the largest percentage of unemployment at 51.2 percent, 555 individuals, while the male unemployment rate was only 18.4 percent. During the year of the report 223 Portuguese lost their jobs. Compared with the other nationalities of the International Settlement, Portuguese unemployment figures were very similar to the Americans but larger than the White Russians as can be seen in Table 5.1.

The main occupations of the Portuguese residents of Shanghai by category of business were the following:

THE LIVING STANDARD OF THE PORTUGUESE IN SHANGHAI

The rapid development and flourishing of modern Shanghai in the 1920s and 1930s suffered repeated setbacks after the outbreak of what was to become the Second World War in 1937. Index numbers from October, 1939, to the close of 1941 indicated that the cost of living of the Portuguese, as well as all other Western foreign salaried employees, rose uninterruptedly throughout a period of over two years. On a 1939 base, the provisional consolidated index for cost of living rose from 149.15 in 1940 to 269.19 in 1941, recording an increase of 79.5 percent. It rose from 191.98 in January to 367.27 in December of 1941, an increase of 80.5 percent. The purchasing power of the Chinese dollar, reduced by 49.9 percent in January, had been further reduced by 72.7 percent in December of that year in comparison with its value at the base period.

Of the general indices by nationality, the Russian index recorded the largest rise of 83.6 percent in 1941 over 1940, and of 92.7 percent in December over January,1941. Figures for various national groups are shown in Table 5.2.

Among the group indices for all nationalities, the percentage increase in December over January 1941, was the largest in the clothing group, followed by the food and fuel groups, see Tables 5.3 and 5.4.

The income range of the families of Western foreign salaried employees in Shanghai varied from $200 to $1,800, in Chinese national currency. Over 87 percent of the families, however, were found to be clustered between $200 and $1,800 and the mode was found in the range of $600 to $800. Families with incomes over $1,800 were those whose salary had been paid in foreign currencies. The items of income for a family included salary and allowances of the principal wage earner, earnings of other members of the family, monies from paying guests and miscellaneous receipts, and other income, including bank drafts, loans, etc.

The percentage of a family’s total income that came from the salary and allowances of the principal wage earner of the family varied considerably by the nationality of the family. In American families the income of the primary wage earner, generally the husband, on the average was about 82.9 percent of the total family income. For British families it was 87.8 percent and for Portuguese families it was 85.2 percent. For White Russian families, hurt by their refugee status in Shanghai, the percentage fell to 58.8 percent. On the expenditure side, the purchased items were grouped under five headings: food; clothing and materials; rent; heat, light, water and refrigeration; and miscellaneous. The percentage of the distribution of expenditures in those five catagories by selected national groups are shown in Table 5.5.

The percentage distribution of the family income of the different national groups was as detailed in Table 5.6.

Detail in Table 5.6.

The Portuguese and other foreign residents lived peacefully in Shanghai for many years, but they had been particularly hard hit by inflation after the start of the War of Resistance Against Japan in 1937. As prices rose higher and higher from the middle of 1940 on, salaried employees were as affected as the workers. They, salaried employees, had a certain amount of elasticity in purchasing, as for example, buying substitutes or postponing the purchase of certain commodities like clothing and household articles. However, because of price increases in substitutes, and the fact that after years of delay, it was no longer possible to refrain from making durable good purchases, by 1941 economic pressure on salaried employees was causing great difficulties. In spite of increased allowances, the earnings of this group lagged further and further behind the climbing prices. The livelihood of all concerned would have been better if prices had fallen rather than the employee having received increases in allowances. In many homes, conditions were even worse, since there would be no earnings because of the closure of industrial and commercial enterprises, following the outbreak of the Pacific War in late 1941.

THE PORTUGUESE DEATH-RATES IN SHANGHAI

The deaths of Portuguese and other foreign residents in Shanghai had been reported in the Annual Report of the Shanghai Municipal Council. It was a regreattable fact that a large number of deaths caused by acute communicable diseases, which, in other circumstances, would have been preventable; namely, smallpox, cholera and typhoid fever.

According to the statistics of the Municipal Council, the death-rate among Shanghai’s foreign residents by nationality from 1923 to 1938 are detailed in Table 5.7.

It is interesting to note that in the 15 years for which figures are available, the Portuguese death rate exceeds that of the general foreign population. In fact, the average death rate for Portuguese Shanghai residents in the period under discussion exceeded that of other individual nationalities. The average Portuguese rate stood at 19.5 percent, while the British rate was 12.1 percent, the American 13.2 percent, and the Russian 16 percent. The average rate for the total foreign population of the city was 16.5 percent. The high Portuguese rate remains unexplained. It is particularly puzzling when compared to that of the Russians, a group which included a large number of utterly destitute refugees.

THE CHARITY ORGANIZATIONS AND THE PORTUGUESE OF SHANGHAI

The Charity Organization, was an umbrella organization that worked with all foreign nationalities in Shanghai, was one of the most important benevolent societies in the city. Its principal work was investigation and disbursement on behalf of the different benevolent societies in Shanghai. It also assisted private individuals and often aided in the finding of employment for foreign residents. The Committee of the Charity Organization even became involved in the distribution of some commodities including milk, butter and eggs.

The yearly work load of the organization amounted to more than 300 cases. The secretary brought, either by personal interview or by correspondence, each case to the attention of the relief agency likely to be interested. As a rule, assistance was given only after investigation, unless the applicant presented a recommendation from a reliable source. In case of emergency, the secretary was able to give assistance from the Down and Out Fund of the King’s Daughters’ Society.

Previous to the end of World War One, out of the more than 300 cases annually, the British and the Portuguese were the largest number of nationals involved. For example , during the year of 1917, the total number of cases handled by the Committee amounted to 213. The breakdown by nationality were as follows: British, 84; Portuguese, 51; Filipino, 27; American, 11; Russian, 16; Roumanian, 7; Norwegian, 5; French, 3; Italian, Swedish and Spanish, 2; and Czech, Swiss and Dutch, 1. The nature of the cases of assistance can be summarized as follows: found work, 62; helped in other ways, 71; assisted to leave Shanghai, 29; still wanting work, 27; and impossible cases, 24.

After the October Revolution in Russia, applicants to the relief organization were more frequent because of the great influx of refugees from Siberia. From 1918, Russians were by far the largest number, compared to all other foreign residents. The increasing number of Russian applicants as compared to the Portuguese and the total foreign residents is illustrated in Table 5.8.

Thus the average percentage of Portuguese applicants in the sixteen years from 1917 to 1933 stood at 5.2 percent, while the average percentage of Russian applicants reached 48.5 percent. Obviously, the economic situation of the Portuguese community in Shanghai was improving relative to that of the Russian refugees.

THE CRIMINAL STATISTICS OF THE PORTUGUESE RESIDENTS OF SHANGHAI

By the 1920s, there were apparently rumors in the foreign community of Shanghai about the "criminality" of the Portuguese population. Those rumors had caused the Consul-General for Portugal at Shanghai, Alfredo Casanova, to address the Chairman of the Shanghai Municipal Council, on May 13, 1923, with a request for statistics covering the years from 1913 to 1923. Casanova had specifically asked for statistics on the criminal actions and/or breaches of municipal regulations on the part of the members of the Portuguese community. He had also asked for names and dates.

The Chairman of the Municipal Council, H.G. Simms, replied that although information about all foreigners charged during the period mentioned was available in the annual report of the council, there was no information available that classified the foreigners by their nationality. In a second letter, Casanova revealed his reasons for the request. He said that he needed the information in order to be able to compare it with the statistics of the Portuguese Consulate-General to enable the Consul-General to show that "amongst the orderly well deserving and honourable communties of Shanghai’s International Settlement--the Portuguese community is beyond any doubt one of the foremost."

Two weeks later, Sims replied. He assured the Portuguese Consul-General that the Municipal Council entirely agreed with his "laudable endeavour." He also told the Consul-General that he and his colleagues of the council would be glad to assist in that endeavour. However, Simms pointed out, since all of the foreign residents of the International Settlement were treated equally, no differentiation had been made as to nationality of the person charged and, therefore, the information Casanova had wanted was not available from the council’s archives. The Chairman assured the Consul-General that the council agreed that the Portuguese residents of the International Settlement "constituted an orderly, well deserving and honorable section of the community."

From statistics available in the annual report of the International Settlement and of the French Concession, it is possible to conclude that Portuguese Consul-General was near the mark in his description of Shanghai’s Portuguese community. The Portuguese residents of both foreign settlements were second to none in their respect for the maintenance of law and order. Two of the following tables, Tables 5.9 and 5.10, clearly indicate that the Portuguese were a very small percentage of the prisoners in the Amoy Road Gao and also of those admitted to the work shelter on Soochow 237 Road. The third table, Table 5.11, shows that the Portuguese were a minor percent of the total arrests in the French Concession from 1898 to 1937.

The following nationalities were admitted during the year

SHANGHAI’S FIRST SCHOOL FOR FOREIGN CHILDREN

It may be said that the true history of the education of foreign children in Shanghai began with the movement inaugurated by the Masons in 1885, whereby the Shanghai Masonic School Fund had been founded. The object of the fund was to provide for the free tuition and maintenance of the children of deceased or indigent Freemasons. The Council of the Fund had in its constitution a school council, comprised of a president, a vice-president and eight other members, including an honorary secretary. The contributors to the fund were classified as vice-patrons, vice-presidents, and life-governors. A general court of Masonic contributors was to be held once in each year to receive the school council’s report and to elect a president and brethren to serve on the council for the ensuring year.

The school had been established in 1886, in accordance with the scheme agreed to by all the Masonic bodies. A prospectus of the school had been issued to 1889, under the title of "The Shanghai Public School under the auspices of the Masonic Fraternity." The subjects of instruction were the ordinary English subjects such as mathematics, science, drawing, languages, music, calisthenics drill, with the addition of Chinese language, a clear recognition of the school’s environment. In the succeeding years the number of pupils grew steadily, though there had to be frequent appeals to the community for funds.

THE ESTABLISHMENT OF MUNICIPAL SCHOOLS

Prior to 1892 there were no municipal schools in the International Settlement, though the Municipal Council exercised a measure of control over a number of private schools, which were assisted by grants-in-aid. Over the years that followed, the Municipal Council tended to take over the private schools which it had aided.

In 1892, the Council took over control of the Shanghai Public School. The Municipal Council had first aided the Masonic school by a grant in 1890. By that time it was not restricted to the children of Masons.

From 1883 to 1890, the Municipal Council contributed to a school designed originally for Eurasian children, for which Mr. Thomas Hanbury had given the building and grounds. In 1890, a trust deed had been executed handing over the control of the property to the Municipal Council, and in 1912 the Council took complete control of the school.

In 1914 the Public School, previously a coed school, had been divided into two sections, the girls remaining in the Boone Road premises, while the boys had been moved to the newly completed building on North Szechuen Road. In 1916 a branch of the Public School for Girls had been opened at 24 Kungping Road, which in 1927 had been transferred to Yu Lin Road and was known as the Public School for Junior Girls. The Thomas Hanbury School had been similarly divided in 1916, when the boys had been transferred to a new building on Haskell Road.

In 1917, the Public School for Girls had been established on Yu Yuan Road, though its building was not erected until 1923. The Junior School for Boys in the Western District of the International Settlement had been established in 1924, but did not occupy its whole premises until 1934. Between 1924 and 1930, therefore, there were in existence six main schools for foreign children together with the small branch schools for foreign girls in the Eastern District of the Settlement.

The Public School for Boys and the Thomas Hanbury School had been amalgamated in 1930, and the Public School became known as the Public and Thomas Hanbury School for Boys. Similarly, in 1935, the Public School for Girls, Boone Road, and the Thomas Hanbury School for Girls were joined. The combined school had been housed in a new building at the corner of Range and Hannen Road and known as the Public and Thomas Hanbury School for Girls.

In June, 1930, the Municipal Council established the Board of Education to take place of the Foreign Education Committee and the Chinese Education Committee. The board had been set up to advise the Council in administering its schools, in determining its educational program and in putting into operation an approved educational policy. In the next year the Board of Education presented the Municipal Council a report on educational policy. The report made two broad recommendations: First that there should an increase in the number of schools maintained by the Municipal Council and, second, that the Municipal Council should start extending grants to existing non-municipal schools that had reached a satisfactory standard of efficiency and be able to demonstrate their need of financial assistance. In regard to foreign schools, the Board further recommended that there should be some changes in distribution but not an increase in number.

In discussions on the educational system of foreign children in Shanghai, it seems to be frequently forgotten that Shanghai was, at that time, an extraterritorial treaty port and not a colony. The Municipal Council had extraterritorial jurisdiction only and nothing beyond that limited power. The Council did all it could within its power to equip the members of the future generation for their careers as citizens of Shanghai. The Council had been justified in spending money for educational purposes because uneducated or partly educated children were detrimental to the community.

According to the report of the Foreign Education Committee of 1911, "there were no foreign children who were debarred by poverty alone from attending some one or other of the schools in Shanghai." That appeared to be the case for many years, although it may be that the committee’s generalization did not apply to the children of White Russian refugees during the 1920s and 1930s.

The 1911 report had divided Portuguese and other foreign children needing education in Shanghai into three classes: children of poor means; children of moderate means; and children of the "well to do professional men and merchants."

The conditions of the third class may have altered considerably after 1911. This particular class merely wanted an elementary education for their children during their early childhood in Shanghai. When they became of sufficient age to go to school in their home country, they were then sent to public or other schools in that country to complete their education. Considering the cost of living in Shanghai at the time, the increased price of conveyance to and from distant countries, the increase of school fees in the home countries and the depression in trade caused by the war, there is cause to think that the conditions of the third class altered considerably. The other two classes remained practically as they were in 1911, except for the children of refugees who flooded into Shanghai as a result of the disruption cause by World War One and the revolutions that followed.

By the second decade of the 20^th century, the system of education of foreign children by the Municipal Council appeared to be working in a satisfactory way. The standard of education and quality of the schools received recognition by the Registrar of the Hong Kong University. He stated with regard to the Public Schools for Boys: "The whole tone of the school and standard of education which it presents, is equal to that of my secondary school at home, the famous public schools excepted." With regard to the Thomas Hanbury School for Boys, he added: "The scholastic side of the school is of a very high order, while the discipline, organization and general tone is in every way excellent."

THE QUESTION OF NATIONAL SCHOOLS

The purpose of the Municipal Council was to aid education by means of grants of money voted annually for schools within the International Settlement. To qualify for a grant, a school had to comply with the conditions and requirements to the satisfaction of the Council. The requirements of the Council were specific and detailed. The Council required that the schools should have a governing board responsible for the conduct and the finances of the school. It was the duty of the governing board to see that the admission and attendance of the pupils, were carefully regulated by or were under the supervision of the head teacher or principal, who was also responsible for accurate records of accounts, which were to be audited. The governing board had to furnish with an "Annual Return" form which be completed at the end of the school year and returned to the Municipal Council no later than September 1, of each year. Any other information requested by the Council had to be supplied by the governing board. Notice to the Council was required for every date the school was not in session or any other time the ordinary work of the school was suspended.

The Council required that schools making application, should have sufficient and healthy premises that which was reasonably safe from fire and had sufficient sanitary accommodations for both students and teachers, sufficient meant adequate lighting, ventilation, furnishings and equipment for instruction. Proper maintenance had also been required.

The duties of the head teacher or principal were spelled out. They included that the principal was responsible for the general control of the school as well as the supervision of instruction. In requiring that the staff be adequate, the Council specified that the premises be of the proper arrangement for teaching, that the number of children be appropriate and that the work assigned to each of the staff members be appropriate to their qualifications. It also required that the organization, proficiency and nature of the approved course of instruction be appropriate to each class.

The instruction had to be in accordance with a suitable curriculum and syllabus framed with the circumstances and organization of the school. Most importantly it had to conform to the educational standards of the country whose nationals formed the majority of its pupils. "Patriotism and good citizenship should be encouraged in all schools, and no instruction likely to offend national susceptibilities or to create interracial animosity should be permitted," the Council said. A time table had to be posted in a conspicuous place in the school. "Kindergartens" would be recognized only if they were suitably equipped.

The awarding of the grants was based on three criteria: the quality of the work done, the financial needs of the school and the number of pupils in regular attendance. The grants were for one year only and no school was eligible until it had been in existence for one year. The grants were paid quarterly and could be discontinued for any sufficient reason. Unquestionably, the Council’s rules effected the largest number of foreign children being educated in Shanghai; the total number of foreign children being educated in the municipal and other foreign schools exceeded 5,000.

The long discussion on the future of the educational policy of the Municipal Council eventually gave rise to the questions of national schools, that were, if nationally exclusive schools should be instituted and if Council grants should be given to those schools. The report of the Educational Commission argued that there was no duty on the part of the Council to institute or maintain national schools, but the Council "should regard them sympathetically." Apart from the question of whether it was right to use public money for the support of national schools, the Council envisioned many impediments to a national school policy in Shanghai. Not the least of which was the fact that Shanghai was not a colony, nor an independent republic, nor a protectorate. Given Shanghai’s unusual situation, the jurisdiction of the Municipal Council was extremely limited. Language presented another drawback to a national school system. English was undoubtedly the prevalent foreign language in Shanghai before the end of the 1940s, since it served as the major language of instruction in all the municipal schools and most of the mission schools. Further the Council reasoned that there would be no power by which the Municipal Council could compel a nationality to continue to maintain its school. Furthermore, some nations, including Portugal, had refused or were unable to even consider starting its own school. If either a school was not started or if it ceased to operate, for whatever reason, the Council would be faced with having to maintain a system of municipal schools anyway, if the Council desired to continue the educational policy as set forth in the 1911 Annual Report of the Shanghai Municipal Council, which was that there would be "no children who are debarred by poverty alone from attending some one or other of the schools in Shanghai." Finally, the potential for differences of opinion between the Municipal Council and the nationals in regard to the conduct, policy, inspection and maintenance of their schools were just too great. The only power that the Municipal Council was to withdraw the grant-in-aid.

It is also worthy of consideration that before World War II, only three nations had carried on schools in Shanghai without grants from the Municipal Council: the American, the Japanese and the British Cathedral Schools. One of the arguments in favor of a national school which was placed before the Education Commission, was that the foreign educational system in the Shanghai International Settlement was an extravagant one, but on comparing the cost per pupil per annum in Shanghai with the cost per pupil in England it was found, taking into consideration the extra amounts which had to be paid for teachers, rents and cost of living in Shanghai, that the cost to the Council per pupil compared very favorably with that in England.

But it still appeared that the raising of school fees did in some cases produce the unfortunate result of pupils being compelled to leave school before completing the course and did reduce the number of those taking the work of the two highest forms. The school fees fell heavily on the large majority of parents and in many cases were a great hardship. Very few parents were able to pay higher fees than those had already been charged and in many cases parents found that it was a hard struggle to give their children a good education. There were doubtless many cases where parents of small means found it difficult to spare sufficient funds to meet the school fees of their children, especially in the larger families. However, no one could shut his eyes to the fact that there were also a large number of parents who were obtaining a most excellent education for their children at a far lower rate than they would have to pay for the same class of education in the home countries.

This made it rather a difficult problem to deal with. It was certain that there were many parents who found it difficult, in varying degrees, to provide education to their children. The Education Commission always expressed its opinion that there should be no further increase in school fees, and suggested that some arrangements might be made, by which deserving pupils whose parents could not afford to keep them in school long enough to complete the course, might have the opportunity to obtain financial aid. Such scholarships might be funded by the municipality or by national and philanthropic societies. The scholarships assisted in solving one of the difficulties with which the Education Commission met in dealing with the question of school fees, by enabling pupils who otherwise would not be able to do so, to finish their education without paying full fees, or perhaps in some cases without paying fees at all.

Throughout the period under study the Roman Catholic Schools actively participated in the education of foreign children in Shanghai. Given the religion of the home country, they played a very important role in the educating of Portuguese children. In 1922, for example, there were 471 foreign children in attendance at St. Francis Xavier’s College. Table 6.1 below gives the details of the nationalities represented in that student body. The school filled a great need among the exceedingly poor Portuguese children, of whom many received a free education.

In the foreign schools, like the Public School for Boys, candidates of eligible age were entered for the Cambridge Local Examinations as a matter of course. No exceptions would be permitted unless parents made a special request because of medical or other acceptance reasons. The Cambridge local syllabus was drawn up on the basis of two years work for each of the three stages, preliminary, junior and senior. The term "University Locals" connoted both the Cambridge Locals and the Hong Kong Locals. The Cambridge Locals were intended for English boys. The colonial candidates lacked the same papers as those set in England. The Hong Kong Locals were intended principally for Chinese students and the scope of work and standard of the examination were correspondingly different.

To determine how a school functioned in respect of the standard of work represented by the Cambridge Locals, it was important to consider the classification of the scholars, having regard to their age. In the case of the Cambridge Locals, a boy should work for the preliminary for two years, and sit for it when nearly 14 years of age, for the Junior when nearly 16 and for the Senior before turning 18. Boys whose standard in English or other attainments was too low to permit their entering for the examination with any possibility of success, had to be reckoned as a part of the whole. Their influence was to lower the general standard, but in considering the school as a whole, they as a section must not be omitted, for to omit them would mean that the school was not being considered but only certain selected parts of it.

The age range of 13 to 18 years was taken as that covering the ages of all boys eligible for one or another of the three stages. To gauge accurately the standard of a school in respect to the Cambridge Local Examination requirements, it was necessary to measure the number of boys who were working for the Cambridge Locals. Then only about one half of that number would be entering in a given year, the other half would be in the intermediate forms, preparing for the following year. The difference between the number of boys in a form and the number actually entering from a Cambridge Form was made up of the few boys who were either too old or too young, those who had not meet the form’s standard, those who had been exempted for medical or other reasons, and those who had joined the form too late, or who would be leaving school before the examination. Those differences and the number of boys passing the Cambridge Locals for the years 1918 to 1921 are illustrated in Table 6.2 below.

Thomas Hambury School for Boys