Q, I can honestly say that would never have occurred to me; I would've thought you'd be feeding the cats, not feeding them TO anyone. My apologies.

The porkpies sprang to mind simply because "yucky" items just appeal to little ones; it had nothing to do with presumed tastes in Shanghai. "Rusty teaspoon" was extrapolated from "rusty razors" in Hugill's version (the one on the DT). In fact, many of the items in the Hugill are second-rate, in their way -- but I'd never assume that was because the intended receiving port had low standards; I'd assume it was because the ship carrying the goods (or the owner of said ship) was kind of sleazy.

At any rate, you do have good points. But it needn't damn the original idea:

We're bound away for Kowloon, blown by a tropic typhoon?

We're bound away for Shanghai with a load of potted cacti?

(I do have to give up on Qingdao, though; with no railing on our port bow is all I could think of and it's WAY too contrived)

Claire