On a Chinese Screen · Chapter
II: At a Treaty Port explained
The chapter depicts a formal dinner party at a treaty port, where the opulent setting contrasts with the tedious conversation and mutual boredom of the expatriate community.
What happens
The chapter depicts a formal dinner party at a treaty port, where the opulent setting contrasts with the tedious conversation and mutual boredom of the expatriate community. The guests, all business figures and their wives, are trapped in a cycle of repetitive social obligations, avoiding any meaningful discussion about China or abstract topics.
Themes in this chapter
Colonial Ennui and Isolation
The dinner party highlights the boredom and isolation of the expatriate community, trapped in repetitive social rituals and unable to engage with their surroundings.
Hypocrisy and Moral Compromise
The guests wear evening clothes uneasily, as if performing a duty to their country, while avoiding any genuine connection or understanding of China.
Characters to notice
- Jardine
Number one at Jardine's, present at the dinner party with his wife.
Key passages
“There was about the party a splendour which has vanished from the dinner tables of England.”
The dinner party had a grandeur that is no longer seen in English dining rooms.
Sets the scene of opulence and nostalgia for a bygone era.
“They were bored to death with one another.”
They found each other extremely tedious.
Captures the pervasive ennui among the expatriates.