The face of China

My first voyage to China was unspeakably distasteful, and as we neared Hong Kong we were suddenly caught up in the tail of a typhoon and carried for forty-eight hours wherever i...

We left Shanghai by steamer on October 2nd, and reached Tsingtao (the port of Kiaochow) at about 8 P.M. on the 3rd. We were grateful to be allowed to stop on board for the night...

Days in early October are perfect for visiting the country. The thermometer stands at 70° to 80°. We set out one clear, fresh morning at about eight o’clock. I went in a sedan-c...

The next morning we pursued our railway journey as far as Chowtsun, but we had great difficulty in getting tickets. Before leaving Shanghai we inquired at the bank what sort of...

The capital of Shantung is a large city, containing a population of about 150,000 inhabitants. Tsinan is a city of real beauty, owing to the fact that there are bubbling streams...

Shantung is the most interesting (historically) of all the provinces in the Empire, and we determined to visit two particularly sacred spots which were not far from the capital-...

The next morning we were just about to start, when the magistrate of the city was announced (imagine a ceremonious call at 7 A.M.!), and he was ushered in, together with his pre...

We had little difficulty in deciding which route to take from Tsinan to Tientsin, as the railway journey to Tsingtao and by ship thence were both equally disliked by us. We dete...

I now must go back to my first coming to Tientsin in 1893. From Shanghai I came in a coasting steamer, and it was after starting that I made the rather disconcerting discovery t...

Taiyüan is surrounded by a lofty wall, with a gateway at each of the four points of the compass. The Chinese always use these terms when we should use “right” and “left”: they s...

We reached Peking after dark, which was fortunate, as the glamour of all one’s youthful dreams was not at once dispelled by being brought face to face with the prosaic European...

This line extends a distance of 700 English miles from Peking to Hankow. The railway was constructed by a Belgian syndicate, but it is really a combination of French, Belgian, a...

We reached Ichang on Sunday afternoon, and were glad to be in time for a service in the Presbyterian church, the last really homelike church we attended till we reached Burma. I...

Some friends who preceded us up the Yangtze had arranged for sedan-chairs to be made in readiness for our arrival, so we were able to start on Monday morning at 7.45 on our jour...

Chengtu is unquestionably the cleanest city in China, and probably is the most progressive and enlightened of any purely native city. The streets are broad and well kept, and th...

We reached the riverside--it looked merely a stream--and found our boat, with the luggage already aboard, looking most unpromising, despite the efforts of our men. It was a smal...

We reached Kiating in the morning, and set to work at once on our preparations for the next day. The people there considered us very extraordinary for wishing to make the ascent...

The boat in which we continued our journey down the Min River was rather larger than the one we had previously, but still we could not stand upright in it. It is not always easy...

After a couple of days’ halt we started for the capital, with new coolies for the most part--fine, strong men--who had arranged to do the twelve days’ stages at four taels per m...

The approach to Yünnan Fu is really lovely, and pagodas and tall temples surmounting the walls give it an imposing air. It is much the most important city in the province, and i...

The first glimpse of the Tali lake with snow-capped mountains running along its western bank is very beautiful. It is a typical Chinese landscape, namely, a “mountain and water...

We left Tali Fu on a stormy-looking morning, accompanied by the usual windy gusts, and after about a couple of miles we reached the famous temple of the goddess of mercy, the Bu...

Gradually the scenery changed as we approached British territory, and then, quite suddenly, the vegetation became tropical within a day’s march of the frontier. The trees are mu...

Since the preceding chapters were written great changes have taken place in the Chinese Empire, and a new reign has begun. The sudden, simultaneous death of the Emperor and the...