1.2.6 Quiz: Interpreting History
We sailed from Nagasaki and clean, beautiful Japan, the
night of the twentieth of June, passed through the Yellow
Sea, and reached Shanghai, China, on the twenty-third. We
left our steamship, the Doric, some three miles out in the
bay, and with regrets we waved our last good-byes as we
sailed out from under her protection. She had been a home
to us and seemed like a part of our own dear country.
Many times we had gone out into the unknown cities and
back again to her as a refuge. We remained in Shanghai
eight days, but were only in the foreign concession. This
concession is a modification of both the Far East and the
West. I never saw men work before! They do the work of
beasts and are treated like beasts. China is thickly
populated and the people cry out against any device that
takes labor and support from their poor coolie classes.³
Which interpretation might this excerpt support?