Across China on Foot

Across China on Foot

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Title: Across China on Foot
Author: Edwin Dingle
Release Date: September 10, 2004 [EBook #13420]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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ACROSS CHINA ON FOOT
By EDWIN JOHN DINGLE
1911
IN GRATEFUL ESTEEM
DURING MY TRAVELS IN INTERIOR CHINA I ONCE LAY AT THE POINT OF DEATH. FOR THEIR UNREMITTING KINDNESS DURING A LONG ILLNESS, I NOW AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBE THIS VOLUME TO MY FRIENDS, MR. AND MRS. A. EVANS, OF TONG-CH'UAN-FU, Y��N-NAN, SOUTH-WEST CHINA, TO WHOSE DEVOTED NURSING AND UNTIRING CARE I OWE MY LIFE.

CONTENTS
BOOK I.
FROM THE STRAITS TO SHANGHAI--INTRODUCTORY
FIRST JOURNEY.


CHAPTER I.
FROM SHANGHAI UP THE LOWER YANGTZE TO ICHANG
SECOND JOURNEY--ICHANG TO CHUNG-KING THROUGH THE YANGTZE GORGES.


CHAPTER II.
THE ICHANG GORGE

CHAPTER III.
THE YANGTZE RAPIDS

CHAPTER IV.
THE YEH T'AN RAPID. ARRIVAL AT KWEIEU
THIRD JOURNEY--CHUNG-KING TO SUI-FU (VIA LUCHOW).


CHAPTER V.
BEGINNING OF THE OVERLAND JOURNEY

CHAPTER VI.
THE PEOPLE OF SZECH'WAN
FOURTH JOURNEY--SUI-FU TO CHAO-T'ONG-FU (VIA LAO-WA-T'AN).


CHAPTER VII.
DESCRIPTION OF JOURNEY FROM SUI-FU

CHAPTER VIII.
SZECH'WAN AND Y��N-NAN
THE CHAO-T'ONG REBELLION OF 1910.


CHAPTER IX.
THE TRIBES OF NORTH-EAST Y��N-NAN, AND MISSION WORK AMONG THEM.


CHAPTER X.
FIFTH JOURNEY--CHAO-T'ONG-FU TO TONG-CH'UAN-FU.


CHAPTER XI.
AUTHOR MEETS WITH ACCIDENT

CHAPTER XII.
Y��N-NAN'S CHECKERED CAREER. ILLNESS OF AUTHOR
BOOK II.
FIRST JOURNEY--TONG-CH'UAN-FU TO THE CAPITAL.


CHAPTER XIII.
DEPARTURE FOR BURMA. DISCOMFORTS OF TRAVEL

CHAPTER XIV.
Y��N-NAN-FU, THE CAPITAL
SECOND JOURNEY--Y��N-NAN-FU TO TALI-FU (VIA CH'U-HSIONG-FU).


CHAPTER XV.
DOES CHINA WANT THE FOREIGNER?

CHAPTER XVI.
LU-FENG-HSIEN. MOUNTAINOUS COUNTRY. CHINESE UNTRUTHFULNESS

CHAPTER XVII.
KWANG-TUNG-HSIEN TO SHACHIAO-KA

CHAPTER XVIII.
STORM IN THE MOUNTAINS. AT HUNGAY

CHAPTER XIX.
THE REFORM MOVEMENT IN Y��N-NAN. ARRIVAL AT TALI-FU
THIRD JOURNEY--TALI-FU TO THE MEKONG VALLEY.


CHAPTER XX.
HARDEST PART OF THE JOURNEY.HWAN-LIEN-P'U

CHAPTER XXI.
THE MOUNTAINS OF Y��N-NAN. SHAYUNG. OPIUM SMOKING
FOURTH JOURNEY--THE MEKONG VALLEY TO TENGYUEH.


CHAPTER XXII.
THE RIVER MEKONG

CHAPTER XXIII.
THROUGH THE SALWEN VALLEY TO TENGYUEH

CHAPTER XXIV.
THE LI-SU TRIBE OF THE SALWEN VALLEY
FIFTH JOURNEY--TENGYUEH (MOMIEN) TO BHAMO IN UPPER BURMA.


CHAPTER XXV.
SHANS AND KACHINS

CHAPTER XXVI.
END OF LONG JOURNEY. ARRIVAL IN BURMA

_To travel in China is easy. To walk across China, over roads acknowledgedly worse than are met with in any civilized country in the two hemispheres, and having accommodation unequalled for crudeness and insanitation, is not easy. In deciding to travel in China, I determined to cross overland from the head of the Yangtze Gorges to British Burma on foot; and, although the strain nearly cost me my life, no conveyance was used in any part of my journey other than at two points described in the course of the narrative. For several days during my travels I lay at the point of death. The arduousness of constant mountaineering_--_for such is ordinary travel in most parts of Western China_--_laid the foundation of a long illness, rendering it impossible for me to continue my walking, and as a consequence I resided in the interior of China during a period of convalescence of several months duration, at the end of which I continued my cross-country tramp. Subsequently I returned into Y��n-nan from Burma, lived again in Tong-ch'uan-fu and Chao-t'ong-fu, and traveled in the wilds of the surrounding country. Whilst traveling I lived on Chinese food, and in the Miao country, where rice could not be got, subsisted for many days on maize only.
My sole object in going to China was a personal desire to see China from the inside. My trip was undertaken for no other purpose. I carried no instruments (with the exception of an aneroid), and did not even make a single survey of the untrodden country through which I occasionally passed. So far as I know, I am the only traveler, apart from members of the missionary community, who has ever resided far away in the interior of the Celestial Empire for so long a time.
Most of the manuscript for this book was written as I went along>--a good deal of it actually by the roadside in rural China. When my journey was completed, the following news paragraph in the North China Daily News (of Shanghai) was brought 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