CHINESE PICTURES, Notes on Photographs Made in China

Introduction.


This little book is the outcome of talks with Mrs. Bishop over some of the photographs which were taken by her in one or other of her journeys into and across China. Some of the photographs have already appeared in her published works, “The Yangtze Valley and Beyond” and “Korea and Her Neighbourhood” (2 vols., Murray). The notes were, in substance, dictated by Mrs. Bishop. It is hoped they contain some real information on the people, their surroundings, and habits which”, though slight in form, may be helpful to a better understanding of a very difficult problem.

According to our newspaper press today*, the Chinese are simply cruel barbarians. According to Mrs. Bishop, when you know them they are a likeable people — and she has formed this opinion in spite of the fact that, in their deeply-rooted hatred of the foreigners, they twice attacked her with violence. A real understanding of the people is for us, with our different modes of thought, most difficult to arrive at; but we shall not advance towards it by accepting all the evil reports and shutting our ears to the good ones. That the problem of China is, and will for some time continue to be, the most interesting question to the rest of the world is certain. The future of its people is all unknown, but there are in it possibilities which make it a terror to all other nations.

* The year, 1900
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CONTENTS.


The Private Entrance to the Imperial Palace, Peking
The Entrance to the British Legation
Entrance to the College of the Student Interpreters
The State Carriage of the British Legation
The Great Imperial Stone Road from Peking to Chengtu, Capital of Sze Chuan
A Mule Cart
A Manchurian Family Travelling
Carriage by Bearers
A Traveller Arriving at an Inn in Manchuria
Carriage of Merchandise
The Mode of Carrying Oil and Wine
Wheelbarrow Traffic on the Chengtu Plain
The Wheelbarrow of North China
A Small Houseboat on the Yangtze Kiang
A Foot Boat Found in Central China
Hsin Tan Rapid on the Yangtze River
A Boat on the Min River, Used for Running the Rapids
Part of a Fringe of Junks or River Boats at Wan Hsien
The Bridge of Ten Thousand Ages, Foochow
A Bridge at Wan Hsien of the Single Arch Type
The Bridge of Mien Chuh Sze Chuan
A Simple Country Bridge
A Dragon Bridge
The Zig-Zag Bridge of Shanghai
The Garden of the Guild of Benevolence, Chung King
A Burial Charity
A Baby Tower, Foochow
Bottle Seller and Hospital Patient
The Dying Coolie
The Mode of Sepulchre throughout Southern China
Coffins Kept Above Ground
The Temple of the God of Literature at Mukden
The Temple of the Fox, Mukden
Wayside Shrines
The Ficus Religiosa
The Altar of Heaven
The Tablet of Confucius
A Porcelain-fronted Temple on the Yangtze
Child Eating Rice with Chopsticks
Fort on the Peking Wall
Another Fort on the Wall of Peking
Colossal Astronomical Instruments on the Peking Wall
Chien Mun Gate
The Gate of Victory, Mukden
The West Gate of Kialing Fu
The West Gate of Hangchow
The Gate of a Forbidden City
Silk Reeling
A Typical Entrance to a House
The Guest Hall in a Chinese House, Wan Hsien, Sze Chuan
A Chinese Village
A Farmhouse in the Hakka Country, Southern China
A Market Place or Market Street in Sze Chuan
The Cobbler
Carrying Liquid Manure to the Fields
The Marriage Chaik
Mode of Carrying Cash and Babies
A Pai-fang, or Widow’s Arch
Two Soldiers of Sze Chuan
Opium Culture Encroaching on the Rice Lands, Sze Chuan