Across China on Foot | Page 2

to my notice:--
"All the Legations (at Peking) have received anonymous letters from
alleged revolutionaries in Shanghai, containing the warning that an

extensive anti-dynastic uprising is imminent. If they do not assist the
Manchus, foreigners will not be harmed; otherwise, they will be
destroyed in a general massacre.
"The missives were delivered mysteriously, bearing obliterated
postmarks.
"In view of the recent similar warnings received by the Consuls,
uneasiness has been created."
The above appeared in the journal quoted on June 3rd, 1910. The
reader, in perusing my previously written remarks on the spirit of
reform and how far it has penetrated into the innermost corners of the
empire, should bear this paragraph in mind, for there is more Boxerism
and unrest in China than we know of. My account of the Hankow riots
of January, 1911, through which I myself went, will, with my
experience of rebellions in Yün-nan, justify my assertion.
I should like to thank all those missionaries who entertained me as I
proceeded through China, especially Mr. John Graham and Mr. C.A.
Fleischmann, of the China Inland Mission, who transacted a good deal
of business for me and took all trouble uncomplainingly. I am also
indebted to Dr. Clark, of Tali-fu, and to the Revs. H. Parsons and S.
Pollard, for several photographs illustrating that section of this book
dealing with the tribes of Yün-nan.
I wish to express my acknowledgments to several well-known writers
on far Eastern topics, notably to Dr. G.E. Morrison, of Peking, the Rev.
Sidney L. Hulick, M.A., D.D., and Mr. H.B. Morse, whose works are
quoted. Much information was also gleaned from other sources.
My thanks are due also to Mr. W. Brayton Slater and to my brother, Mr.
W.R. Dingle, for their kindness in having negotiated with my
publishers in my absence in Inland China; and to the latter, for
unfailing courtesy and patience, I am under considerable obligation.
"Across China on Foot" would have appeared in the autumn of 1910
had the printers' proofs, which were several times sent to me to
different addresses in China, but which dodged me repeatedly, come
sooner to hand_.
[Signature: Edwin Dingle]
HANKOW, HUPEH, CHINA.

Across China on Foot

From the Straits to Shanghai

INTRODUCTORY
The scheme. Why I am walking across Interior China. Leaving
Singapore. Ignorance of life and travel in China. _The "China for the
Chinese" cry_. The New China and the determination of the
Government. The voice of the people. _The province of Yün-nan and
the forward movement_. A prophecy. Impressions of Saigon.
Comparison of French and English methods. _At Hong-Kong_. _Cold
sail up the Whang-poo_. Disembarkation. Foreign population of
Shanghai. Congestion in the city. _Wonderful Shanghai._
Through China from end to end. From Shanghai, 1,500 miles by river
and 1,600 miles walking overland, from the greatest port of the Chinese
Empire to the frontier of British Burma.
That is my scheme.
* * * * *
I am a journalist, one of the army of the hard-worked who go down
early to the Valley. I state this because I would that the truth be told;
for whilst engaged in the project with which this book has mainly to
deal I was subjected to peculiar designations, such as "explorer" and
other newspaper extravagances, and it were well, perhaps, for my
reader to know once for all that the writer is merely a newspaper man,
at the time on holiday.
The rather extreme idea of walking across this Flowery Land came to
me early in the year 1909, although for many years I had cherished the
hope of seeing Interior China ere modernity had robbed her and her
wonderful people of their isolation and antediluvianism, and ever since
childhood my interest in China has always been considerable. A little
prior to the Chinese New Year, a friend of mine dined with me at my
rooms in Singapore, in the Straits Settlements, and the conversation
about China resulted in our decision then and there to travel through the

Empire on holiday. He, because at the time he had little else to do; the
author, because he thought that a few months' travel in mid-China
would, from a journalistic standpoint, be passed profitably, the
intention being to arrive home in dear old England late in the summer
of the same year.
We agreed to cross China on foot, and accordingly on February 22,
1909, just as the sun was sinking over the beautiful harbor of
Singapore--that most valuable strategic Gate of the Far East, where
Crown Colonial administration, however, is allowed by a lethargic
British Government to become more and more bungled every year--we
settled down on board the French mail steamer Nera, bound for
Shanghai. My friends, good fellows, in reluctantly speeding me on my
way, prophesied that this would prove to be my