The places of amusement were more numerous, but not entertaining. The circus, a permanent show, was the chief attraction. At the Chinese theatre there were performances in Russian occasionally; the music-halls, variety shows, tingle-tangles, and sailors’ grog shops were always open. Bands played most evenings during the summer; in winter there was an ice-rink, frequented chiefly by foreigners, and Port Arthur through their enterprise had its race meeting also. As there were few such societies as one finds in Siberian towns, life at Port Arthur would have been insufferably dull but for the lavish private entertainments by the inhabitants. Russian residents, without exception, were very fond of Port Arthur, and all Russians, and many foreigners, regard the place with affection. It was symbolic of Russian expansion, of Russian dominion of the Pacific. The navy revered it; it was their only ice-free port: the soldiers were proud of it; as an impregnable fortress it appealed to their sense of power--and the Russian army officer is always conscious of the military might of the empire. Notwithstanding its violent wind-storms, its bleakness, cheerlessness, its dusty streets, dingy houses, and the rugged barren aspect of its hill-fortresses, Port Arthur was endurable--many found a sojourn there agreeable. All classes preferred Port Arthur to any other spot in Russian Asia. The life there resembled that of Vladivostok, but had greater gaiety, and more noise. A more equable climate permitted of the round of social pleasures being continued more comfortably throughout the four seasons. Life at Port Arthur combined the lavish hospitality, generous toleration and practical _bon-homie_ of Russian custom with the luxury, freedom, and pervading spirit of ease which characterize the orient. It was not Russian life run to riot, as some imagine; nor yet was it purely a combination of Russian and Chinese elements acting and re-acting upon each other. There was a little that was truly cosmopolitan about life in Port Arthur, and the asperities of Russian autocratic rule were tempered by the indomitable insouciance of the former residents in China treaty ports. There were many British subjects and American citizens at Port Arthur, whose ideas of making the best of this life were borrowed from the fashionable _monde_ of Shanghai. They expected the conveniences of life; they wanted ease and pleasure, and time in which to enjoy both. Shanghai is the wonder of the world, and the admiration of every Russian who has travelled the orient. Russians were ready to copy the methods of those who had taken any part in building up or maintaining that great settlement of the British on alien soil, and the Shanghailanders quickly adapted themselves to the peculiarities of the Russian state metropolis, and their influence was soon manifested. These privileged settlers had a unique position, and enjoyed a certain social status pleasing to themselves.