Archibald Little was a man of marked individuality and force of character. The eldest son of a physician, whose name is still honoured throughout Europe and America for his original work in certain branches of surgery and pathology, he was born in the city of London in 1838. After a few years at Saint Paul's School, he had the good fortune to be rescued from the purely classical education to which all public schools then condemned their scholars, and was sent when fourteen years old to Berlin. There he not only learnt German thoroughly, but also received a sound general education and acquired methodical habits which stood him in good stead all his life.
During the close on fifty years spent in China, varied by frequent visits to England, the following pages were written. The two Plays have not before been published, nor two other chapters, that on Missionaries, and the other largely dealing with the same subject, but entitled Confucimiism. Of the others several have appeared in the North-China Herald and other periodicals in China, whilst Western China, Ex Orienie Lux, Two Cities, The Value of Tibet, The Partition of China, The Dangers of the Upper Yangtse, and The Chitiese Drama have appeared respectively in the Quarterly and North American Reviews, the Fortnightly, Spectator, Asiatic Quarterly, Geographical Journal and Nineteenth Century. To the Editors of all these periodicals I tender hearty thanks for the permission so cordially given to reproduce them, and for the kind help they afforded me in tracing them. To some it may seem lowering the writer's literary reputation to include the earlier papers, Yachting in the Chusan Archipelago and the Retrospect of Events in China for the year 1873, but to this day I have come across no other account of that Archipelago, and the lighthearted enjoyment of this paper, together with its keen appreciation of the beauties of Nature, made me unwilling to set it aside ; while the latter article may easily be useful to those compilers of books who seek contemporary light upon past events, shewing also such a determined effort to do the very best for his Society as characterised Archibald Little to the last, when, although already too ill for the effort, he wrote the chapter on Confucianism that concludes the volume, to help a cousin charged with providing a paper on the subject for a clerical society.
阿奇博爾德·李德爾（Archibald Little）是一位擁有鮮明個性和堅強性格的人。他的父親是一位著名的醫生，因在外科和病理學某些領域的原創性工作而在歐洲和美國受到廣泛尊敬。李德爾於1838年出生於倫敦市，早年在聖保羅學校就讀。十四歲時，他幸運地擺脫了當時所有公立學校都強加於學生的純粹古典教育，並被送往柏林學習。在那裡，他不僅徹底學會了德語，還接受了良好的普通教育，並養成了終生受益的有條理習慣。
在中國度過的近五十年中，李德爾多次返回英國，並在此期間撰寫了本書中的各篇文章。書中的兩部戲劇及關於傳教士和儒學的兩個章節之前未曾發表過。其他幾篇文章曾發表於中國的《北華捷報》（North-China Herald）及其他刊物，《西部中國》（Western China）、《東方之光》（Ex Oriente Lux）、《兩座城市》（Two Cities）、《西藏的價值》（The Value of Tibet）、《中國的瓜分》（The Partition of China）、《長江上游的危險》（The Dangers of the Upper Yangtse）、《中國戲劇》（The Chinese Drama）等則分別刊載於《季刊評論》（Quarterly）、《北美評論》（North American Reviews）、《雙周評論》（Fortnightly）、《旁觀者》（Spectator）、《亞洲季刊》（Asiatic Quarterly）、《地理學報》（Geographical Journal）及《十九世紀》（Nineteenth Century）等刊物。在此，我由衷感謝這些期刊的編輯，他們熱情允許重印這些文章，並幫助我追蹤文章的原稿。
對某些人來說，將早期的文章如《在舟山群島遊艇航行》（Yachting in the Chusan Archipelago）和《1873年中國事件回顧》（Retrospect of Events in China for the Year 1873）納入本書，可能會被認為有損作者的文學聲譽，但至今我尚未見過其他對舟山群島的描述。而這篇文章中的輕鬆愉悅與對自然之美的敏銳欣賞，讓我不忍將其擱置。此外，後一篇文章對於那些尋求歷史事件當代光亮的書籍編纂者也可能具有實用價值，它同時展現了李德爾始終不渝的努力，即使在健康狀況已經不佳的時候，他仍然撰寫了關於儒學的最後一章，幫助一位堂兄為神職人員協會提供一篇關於該主題的論文。
Borrowing Boots, the ancient Chinese farce, translated for home acting in 1880, and in later years once performed at the Queen's Hall for the benefit of the Anti-Footbinding Society of China, well illustrates the article written years afterwards for the Nineteenth Centurv, and both that and the other translation, The Rat's Plaint, originally issued by Mr. Hasegawa, of Tokyo, in a highly illustrated edition on crepe paper, cast much light upon Chinese manners and customs, as may also be said of Plot and Counterplot, an attempt at producing an original play in the Chinese style, when his mind was already saturated with Chinese lore. Reviewers may object to the varied nature of the contents of this volume. In truth it was hard to hit upon any subject in which the author was not vividly interested, and thus in the loneliness of life up country in China he would be absorbed first in one subject, then in another ; at one time hoping to establish steam communication with the West of China — which has never ceased since he led the way in his own little steamer, Lee-chuen ; at another discovering a coal mine, and hoping almost to the last to get it worked as a model business and great regenerating centre, where men should be paid for their business work, and, if they could, purify and elevate the people around them; without any thought of salaries therefor, as also without any interferences from home Mission Boards — generally quite incapable of appreciating either the conditions of the workers in China or of those worked for.
《借靴》（Borrowing Boots）這部古老的中國喜劇在1880年被翻譯成為家庭演出劇本，後來還曾在女王音樂廳（Queen's Hall）為中國反纏足會籌款而演出。這部作品很好地反映了李德爾先生多年後為《十九世紀》（Nineteenth Century）撰寫的文章的主題。同樣，另一部翻譯作品《老鼠的訴苦》（The Rat's Plaint），最初由東京的長谷川（Mr. Hasegawa）出版，採用高插圖版，並印刷在絹紗紙上。這兩部作品都為了解中國風俗習慣提供了豐富的資料，與《計謀與反計謀》（Plot and Counterplot）一樣，後者是他試圖以中國風格創作的原創劇本，當時他的思想已經深深浸染於中國文化之中。
評論家可能會對本書內容的多樣性提出異議，因為李德爾先生幾乎對任何主題都充滿了濃厚的興趣。實際上，這是因為他在中國內地孤獨的生活中，往往會沉迷於不同的話題。某一時期，他希望建立與中國西部的蒸汽船聯絡，這條航線自他駕駛自己的小蒸汽船「麗川號」（Lee-chuen）開創以來，便從未停止過。另一時期，他發現了一個煤礦，並幾乎到生命最後都懷著希望，期望將其建成一個模範企業和偉大的再生中心，在那裡人們可以通過工作賺取報酬，並且在可能的情況下，淨化和提升周圍的民眾；而這一切的目標都沒有薪水的考慮，也不需要來自本國傳教會的干涉——這些傳教會通常無法理解在中國的工作環境，也無法理解那些為之工作的人的處境。
EDITORIAL NOTE xiii
The writer's life, during the twenty-two years that it was shared by me, was beset with troubles and anxieties ; to some indeed it may seem a long series of disappointments, even of failures. But he was the first to run steamers between Hankow and Ichang in winter, and the first to put a steamer upon the waters of the Upper Yangtse, thus opening out this long stretch of inland navigation and adding immensely to the amenities as also to the safety of residence in the Far West of China ; he discovered, obtained a concession for and worked for a while the best coal-mine in the world after Cardiff, until petty and faithless obstruction on the part of the Chinese Government made it impossible to continue. He would never carry on business in any but the very best articles, and that he succeeded in this was shewn by the constant counterfeiting of his trade mark in later years.
The general anti-footbinding movement of China owed its inception to him. He had grieved over the agonies of footbinding, years before I ever saw China. He inspired and stimulated all my hesitating efforts ; he first suggested my interviewing Chinese Viceroys on the subject, then facilitated the interviews and always readily spared me for any work the movement entailed. Indeed, from the moment I became his wife, he always insisted that I must fear nothing, neither danger nor fatigue, whilst by his side, never finding fault with, but always applauding every humblest effort. Can we arty of us do more for one another ?
在與我共同生活的二十二年間，李德爾先生的生活充滿了困難和焦慮。對某些人來說，這可能看作是一系列的失望，甚至是失敗。然而，他是第一個在冬季期間在漢口和宜昌之間運行蒸汽船的人，也是第一個在長江上游水域上運行蒸汽船的人，從而開闢了這段長長的內陸航道，極大地改善了中國西部偏遠地區的生活條件，並增強了那裡居住的安全性。他還發現並獲得了世界上繼加的夫（Cardiff）之後最好的煤礦的特許權，並曾經營了一段時間，直到中國政府的種種卑鄙和失信的阻撓使得繼續經營成為不可能。他在經商方面也有極高的標準，始終堅持只經營最優質的產品，而他在這方面的成功，從後來不斷有人冒用他的商標就可見一斑。
中國的反纏足運動可以說是由他倡導的。早在我到中國之前，他就為纏足的痛苦感到深深的悲哀。他激勵並鼓舞了我所有猶豫不決的努力；他首先建議我與中國的總督們面談這一問題，並且促成了這些會面，並且總是樂意讓我從事這項運動所需要的任何工作。實際上，從我成為他妻子的那一刻起，他總是堅持我不應該懼怕任何危險或疲憊，並且在他身邊時從不批評，而是鼓勵我每一個微小的努力。我們彼此之間，難道還能做得更多嗎？
His books speak for themselves. Future writers may improve upon The Far East, here a little and there a little ; no other man could probably have written the original book when he did, shewing how the history of the Far East had been influenced by its geography and geology as was the method of Mr. Mackinder's Kingdoms of the World series. The Yangtse Gorges is still the standard work upon the subject, and Mount Omi and Beyond one of the most delightful books of travel. If Across Yunnan is less so, it is from missing the author's final touches and additions. They are the full-eared sheaves garnered into volumes. These pages are the gleanings from a long life spent with Chinese among Chinese, a life that to the last he said had been a happy Hfe, nothing to complain of, and very much to enjoy. Even at seventy he retained the hopeful, joyous character of the boy, to the last guileless and unsuspecting, though with the added kindliness of years. The lack of his intellectual and always inspiring companionship has made it all the greater effort to coUect these pages and write these few lines.
A. E. N. L.
xiv EDITORIAL NOTE
李德爾先生的著作本身已經足夠說明一切。未來的作家或許能在《遠東》這本書上有所改進，在這裡增加一點，在哪裡修飾一點；然而，可能沒有其他人在當時能寫出這樣的原創作品，展示了遠東的歷史如何受到其地理和地質的影響，這種方法類似於馬金德（Mackinder）所編撰的《世界王國》系列。李德爾的《長江三峽》（The Yangtse Gorges）仍然是該主題的經典之作，而《峨眉山及其以遠》（Mount Omi and Beyond）則是最迷人的旅行書之一。若說《穿越雲南》（Across Yunnan）稍遜一些，那是因為它缺少了作者的最終潤色和補充。這些書籍如同豐滿的麥穗，被收集成卷。而本書中的這些篇章，則是他與中國人共同度過的漫長人生中的拾穗之作。李德爾先生曾說，這一生是快樂的，沒有什麼可抱怨的，有很多可以享受的。即便到了七十歲，他仍保留著那種少年般的希望與喜悅，依然純真、不設防，並增添了歲月的慈愛。
失去他那充滿智慧且不斷啟迪的陪伴，使得收集這些篇章並撰寫這幾行文字變得更加艱難。
A. E. N. L.
編者注