PRELUDE.
FIRST IMPRESSIONS.
PAGE
Arriving in Shanghai.—My First Tea-season.—Inside a Chinese City.—Shanghai Gardens.—In the Romantic East at last! 1
CHAPTER I.
ON THE UPPER YANGTSE.
Boat-travel.—Vegetation.—Trackers.—Terrace of the Sun.—Gold Diamond Mountain.—Meng Liang's Ladder.—Great Szechuan Road.—Steamer Voyage.—Chinese Hades.—Caves 31
CHAPTER II.
A LAND JOURNEY.
Large Farmsteads.—Wedding Party.—Atoning for an Insult.—Rowdy Lichuan.—Old-fashioned Inn.—Dog's Triumphal Progress.—Free Fight.—Wicked Music.—Poppy-fields.—Bamboo Stream 58
CHAPTER III.
LIFE IN A CHINESE CITY.
Arrangement of a Chinese House.—Crowd in Streets.—My First Walk in Chungking City.—Presents.—Cats, Rats, and Eggs.—Paying a Call.—Ladies Affectionate.—Shocked at European Indecency.—Cost of Freight.—Distance by Post.—Children's Pleasures.—Precautions during Drought.—Guild Gardens.—Pretty Environs.—Opium Flowers, and Smokers.—Babble of Schools.—Chinese Girl-child 74vi
CHAPTER IV.
HINDRANCES AND ANNOYANCES.
Sulphur Bath.—Rowdy Behaviour.—Fight in Boat.—Imprisonment for letting to Foreigners.—Book-keeper in Foreign Employ beaten.—Customs Regulations.—Kimberley Legacy.—Happy Consul.—Unjust Likin Charges.—Foreigners massacred.—Official Responsibility 98
CHAPTER V.
CURRENT COIN IN CHINA.
Taels.—Dollars.—Exchange.—Silver Shoes.—Foreign Mints 120
CHAPTER VI.
FOOTBINDING.
Not a Mark of Rank.—Golden Lilies.—Hinds' Feet.—Bandages drawn tighter.—Breaking the Bones.—A Cleft in which to hide Half a Crown.—Mothers sleep with Sticks beside them.—How many die.—How many have all their Toes.—Feet drop off.—Pain till Death.—Typical Cases.—Eczema, Ulceration, Mortification.—General Health affected 134
CHAPTER VII.
ANTI-FOOTBINDING.
Church Mission's Action.—American Mission's Action.—T`ien Tsu Hui.—Chinese Ladies' Drawing-room Meeting.—Suifu Appeal.—Kang, the Modern Sage.—Duke Kung.—Appeal to the Chinese People 145
CHAPTER VIII.
THE POSITION OF WOMEN.
Official Honours to Women.—Modesty.—Conjugal Relations.—Business Knowledge.—Opium-smoking.—Typical Women 164
CHAPTER IX.
BIRTHS, DEATHS, AND MARRIAGES.
Missing Bride.—Wedding Reception.—Proxy Marriage.—Servants' Weddings.—Love for Wives.—Killing a Husband.—Wifely Affection.—Chinese Babies.—Securing a Funeral 184vii
CHAPTER X.
CHINESE MORALS.
How Chinese look upon Shanghai.—A Viceroy's Expedient.—Method of raising Subscriptions.—Deserving Deities.—Trustworthiness.—Hunan Hero.—Marrying English Girls 197
CHAPTER XI.
SUPERSTITIONS.
Fung shui.—Devastating Eggs.—Demon Possession.—Sacred Trees.—Heavenly Silk.—Ladder of Swords.—Preserving only Children.—God of Literature on Ghosts.—God of War.—Reverence for Ancestors 211
CHAPTER XII.
OUR MISSIONARIES.
European Prejudice.—French Fathers.—Italian Sisters.—Prize-giving.—Anti-Christian Tracts.—Chinese Saints and Martyrs 230
CHAPTER XIII.
UP-COUNTRY SHOPPING AND UP-COUNTRY WAYS.
Buying Curios.—Being stoned.—Chinese New Year.—Robbers.—Protesting Innocence.—Doing Penance.—Medicines 253
CHAPTER XIV.
SOLDIERS.
Tiger Soldiers.—Woosung Drill.—General's Gallantry.—Japanese War.—Admiral Ting.—Dominoes with a Sentry.—Viceroy's Review 269
CHAPTER XV.
CHINESE STUDENTS.
Number of Degrees.—Aged Bachelors.—Up for Examination.—Necessary Qualifications.—Crowding.—Scarcity of Posts.—Chinese Dress 292viii
CHAPTER XVI.
A FATHER'S ADVICE TO HIS SON.
Tseng Kuo Fan.—"Neither envious nor fawning."—Repose of Manner.—Cultivation of Land.—Early Rising, Diligence in Business, and Perseverance.—Dignity.—Family Worship.—Reading 317
CHAPTER XVII.
BUDDHIST MONASTERIES.
Monastery near Ichang.—For the Dead.—Near Ningpo.—Buddhist Service.—T`ien Dong.—Omi Temples.—Sai King Shan.—Monastery of the Particoloured Cliff 327
CHAPTER XVIII.
A CHINESE ORDINATION.
Crowd.—Nuns.—Final Shaving.—Woven Paces.—Burning Heads.—Relationships.—A Living Picture 350
CHAPTER XIX.
THE SACRED MOUNTAIN OF OMI.
Luncheon with a Chief Priest.—Tigers.—Mysterious Lights.—The View of a Lifetime.—Pilgrims.—Glory of Buddha.—Unburied Priests 362
CHAPTER XX.
CHINESE SENTIMENT.
In Memory of a Dead Wife.—Of a Dear Friend.—Farewell Verses.—Æsthetic Feeling.—Drinking Song.—Music.—Justice to Rats 383
CHAPTER XXI.
A SUMMER TRIP TO CHINESE TIBET.
Drying Prayerbooks Mountain.—Boys' Paradise.—Lolo Women.—Salt-carriers.—Great Rains.—Brick-tea Carriers.—Suspension Bridge.—Granite Mountains.—Tibetan Bridge.—Lamas.—Tibetan Women.—Caravanserai at Tachienlu.—Beautiful Young Men.—Lamaserai.—Prayers?—Fierce Dogs.—Dress.—Trying for a Boat 396ix
CHAPTER XXII.
ARTS AND INDUSTRIES.
Porcelain.—Bronzes.—Silver-work.—Pictures.—Architecture.—Tea.—Silk.—White Wax.—Grass-cloth.—Ivory Fans.—Embroidery 425
CHAPTER XXIII.
A LITTLE PEKING PUG.
Enjoyment.—Anticipation.—Regret 446

AFFAIRS OF STATE.


PRELUDE.
PART I.—GETTING TO PEKING.
House-boat on the Peiho.—Tientsin.—Chefoo.—A Peking Cart.—Camels.—British Embassy.—Walking on the Walls.—Beautiful Perspectives 457
PART II.—THE SIGHTS OF PEKING.
Tibetan Buddhism.—Yellow Temple.—Confucian Temple.—Hall of the Classics.—Disgraceful Behaviour.—Observatory.—Roman Catholic Cathedral.—Street Sights.—British Embassy.—Bribes.—Shams.—Saviour of Society.—Sir Robert Hart 473
CHAPTER I.
THE CHINESE EMPEROR'S MAGNIFICENCE.
The Emperor at the Temple of Heaven.—Mongol Princes wrestling.—Imperial Porcelain Manufactory.—Imperial Silk Manufactory.—Maids of Honour.—Spring Sacrifices.—Court of Feasting.—Hunting Preserves.—Strikes.—Rowdies.—Young Men to be prayed for 493x
CHAPTER II.
THE EMPRESS, THE EMPEROR, AND THE AUDIENCE.
A Concubine no Empress.—Sudden Deaths.—Suspicions.—Prince Ch`ün.—Emperor's Education.—His Sadness.—His Features.—Foreign Ministers' Audience.—Another Audience.—Crowding of the Rabble.—Peking's Effect on Foreign Representatives 515
CHAPTER III.
SOLIDARITY, CO-OPERATION, AND IMPERIAL FEDERATION.
Everybody guaranteed by Somebody Else.—Buying back Office.—Family Responsibilities.—Guilds.—All Employés Partners.—Antiquity of Chinese Reforms.—To each Province so many Posts.—Laotze's Protest against Unnecessary Laws.—Experiment in Socialism.—College of Censors.—Tribunal of History.—Ideal in Theory 532
CHAPTER IV.
BEGINNINGS OF REFORM.
Reform Club.—Chinese Ladies' Public Dinner.—High School for Girls.—Chinese Lady Doctors insisting on Religious Liberty.—Reformers' Dinner.—The Emperor at the Head of the Reform Party.—Revising Examination Papers.—Unaware of Coming Danger.—Russian Minister's Reported Advice 549
CHAPTER V.
THE COUP D'ÉTAT.
Kang Yü-wei.—China Mail's Interview.—Beheading of Reformers.—Relatives sentenced to Death.—Kang's Indictment of Empress.—Empress's Reprisals.—Emperor's Attempt at Escape.—Cantonese Gratitude to Great Britain.—List of Emperor's Attempted Reforms.—Men now in Power.—Lord Salisbury's Policy in China 570