Intimate China: The Chinese as I Have Seen ThemPart memoir, part travelogue, part crusade, Intimate China details the exploits of Alicia Little (Mrs Archibald Little), who first arrived in China as a new bride in 1887. Little was already a prolific writer before her marriage, and this narrative is both compelling and refreshingly frank. Published in 1899, her account of life in late nineteenth-century China is arranged eclectically, with chapters on 'Superstitions', 'Current coin in China' and 'Hindrances and annoyances' interlaced with descriptions of trips to Tibet and up the Yangtze. The latter third of the book is devoted entirely to politics. Fuelled with a determination to represent the Chinese 'as I have seen them', Little spares no details, supplying descriptions of the complications arising from foot-binding, a practice she found abhorrent and against which she actively campaigned. Extending to over six hundred pages and lavishly illustrated with maps and photographs, this is an extraordinary book. |
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Contents
PRELUDE | 1 |
CHAPTER I | 31 |
CHAPTER II | 58 |
CHAPTER III | 74 |
Sulphur Bath Rowdy Behaviour Fight in Boat Imprisonment | 98 |
CHAPTER V | 120 |
CHAPTER VI | 134 |
CHAPTER VII | 145 |
CHAPTER XVII | 327 |
CHAPTER XVIII | 350 |
CHAPTER XIX | 362 |
CHAPTER XX | 383 |
CHAPTER XXI | 396 |
CHAPTER XXIII | 446 |
AFFAIRS OF STATE | 457 |
THE SIGHTS OF PEKING | 473 |
CHAPTER VIII | 164 |
CHAPTER IX | 184 |
CHAPTER XI | 211 |
CHAPTER XII | 230 |
CHAPTER XIII | 253 |
CHAPTER XIV | 269 |
CHAPTER XV | 292 |
CHAPTER I | 493 |
A Concubine no Empress Sudden Deaths Suspicions PrinceChiin | 515 |
CHAPTER III | 532 |
CHAPTER IV | 549 |
CHAPTER V | 570 |
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