Chinese Maritime Customs Service - Life in The Customs

Life in The Customs

Even higher level 'Indoor staff' could have their difficulties in the nineteenth century, as the buying power of their salaries varied with the price of silver, and the extra year's pay every seven years which Hart had negotiated for them in place of a pension did not always allow for adequate saving for retirement. Family travel costs were at the officer's expense, so not all took punctually their due of foreign leave of two years on half pay after the first seven years, and subsequently every ten years. They were subject to all the usual hazards of life in China from illness and civil disruption and difficulties in providing for the education of their children, which often involved family separations. To some extent this was compensated by the strong esprit de corps. A network of friends was sustained across changes of post by letter-writing, quite frequently the duty of their wives. Sir Robert Hart could be a sympathetic boss, but he insisted on high standards of efficiency and honesty, and, for those aspiring to the highest rank of Commissioner, a thorough knowledge of written and spoken Chinese. His most likely young men spent a year or more in Peking learning Chinese under his eye, which enabled him also to evaluate other characteristics that would enable them to act sensibly and rapidly in crisis situations demanding immediate response without referral back to him. The compensations included a short working day, which meant the later afternoon could be spent in exercising and socialising, going to the races, playing tennis, amateur dramatics and musical performances, and later at dinner parties which might include 'absurd games', or a musical interlude. This life is depicted in a recent book www.tiffaniabooks.com