The Painted Veil

The Painted Veil is set in colonial Hong Kong. The British acquired the territory in 1841 following their victory over the Chinese in the First Opium War. The Opium Wars occurred because Britain wanted to force China, which was then ruled by the Qing Dynasty, to open trade with them; as part of this economic project, the British had been trading large quantities of opium in China, disregarding both the rising rates of addiction and the Chinese government’s ban on the trade. Although China was too vast for the British to conquer, Hong Kong became a British crown colony and was ruled as part of the British Empire from 1843 until 1997.

While Maugham’s main narrative centers on the relationships between the white characters, elements of this political backdrop inform the narrative; for example, Waddington mentions that one of his duties is to curtail the opium trade (ironically, given the British involvement in establishing it). There is also a strong Chinese presence in the servants, convent orphans, and cholera victims. These unspeaking Chinese characters are for the most part unnamed and dehumanized, referred to in third-person plural rather than individually. This gives the impression that the white characters do not see the people they are colonizing even as they exploit their services. For example, Kitty’s female maid is referred to not by name but as her amah, and though she accompanies Kitty from Hong Kong to Meitan-fu, she merely performs her ancillary duties and does not emerge fully as a character. The extent of the Chinese characters’ invisibility is nowhere clearer than in their utter irrelevance, as far as Kitty and Townsend are concerned, to the question of their affair. When only Chinese servants and the curio shop-dealer know about Kitty’s relationship with Townsend, it is still a private matter and could continue indefinitely without any consequence. It is only when it becomes known to other British people that the couple must act decisively.

The novel’s most prominent Chinese characters, the Manchu princess and Colonel Yü, are briefly sketched and loyal to British colonists over their own people. This typifies the patronizing attitude of Western colonizers who view themselves as racially superior. Kitty’s desire to see the Manchu princess does indicate a shift in her attitude towards China from one of lofty indifference to one of investment. Still, she is uncomfortable when Colonel Yü, Walter’s accomplice, puts on a better show of mourning him than her, protesting, “[W]hy should that man with his yellow, flat face have tears in his eyes?” (217). This racist statement conveys her incredulity that someone from another race can express appropriate sympathy, while she—a white widow—cannot. This loss of control is inimical to the colonial project, as the colonists justify their rule by maintaining that they are best able to be masters of themselves and, by extension, other people too.