Chapter I: Front Matter

CHINA

TRAVELS IN MANY LANDS

CHINA
A Geographical Reader

BY
HARRY A. FRANCK

WITH MANY ILLUSTRATIONS, LARGELY FROM PHOTOGRAPHS BY THE AUTHOR

F.A. OWEN PUBLISHING COMPANY
DANSVILLE, NEW YORK

COPYRIGHT, 1927
F. A. OWEN PUBLISHING COMPANY

_Travels in Many Lands—China_
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

PUBLISHERS’ FOREWORD

The very best way to give boys and girls a clear idea of just what life is to their brothers and sisters of other lands is to take them through those lands. If they cannot go in person (and of course few can), a well-written story of travel will be a valuable substitute for personal experience.

To be of educational value to the reader, a book of travel must first of all be authentic. It must have been written by one who knows at first hand the things about which he writes. A superficial knowledge gained by flitting through a country along its main traveled routes is not sufficient to enable a writer to tell a complete story about it.

Among the notable travelers of our time, probably none has more thoroughly covered many countries than Harry A. Franck, the author of this book. His travels have not been mere sight-seeing tours. He has gone into the out-of-the-way places and lived in the homes of the common people, to study their habits and manner of living. He has visited their temples and schools. He has learned something of their language and talked with them on all manner of subjects so as to become familiar with their views of life.

From boyhood, Harry Franck had a desire to know about the great outside world. In 1900, during his first summer vacation while attending the University of Michigan, he set out, with only $3.18 in his pocket, to see something of Europe. He worked his way across the ocean on a cattle-boat, visited the principal cities of England, then Paris and the Exposition that was being held there. He signed as an able seaman for the return trip and reached Ann Arbor for the fall term, only two weeks late.

Mr. Franck worked his way through college and intended to make teaching his profession, but that first European trip gave him an appetite for more travel. When he was graduated, he started out, with only enough money to buy supplies for his camera, to work his way around the world—which he did in sixteen months. After this trip he wrote “A Vagabond Journey Around the World,” which is regarded as one of the most remarkable books of the kind ever published. Since then he has written many other volumes telling of his experiences.

During more than twenty years of travel, Mr. Franck has covered half a hundred countries. He has journeyed 50,000 miles on foot and at least an equal distance by primitive native methods. In gathering material for this volume and for “The Japanese Empire” (in the same series), he traveled for two and a half years through the Far East. He often endured hardship and faced danger to give the world the truth about the Oriental lands.

This book may be given to children as supplementary geographical reading with the assurance that it is based on actual facts verified by recent travel. The world to-day is not what it was even a decade ago. Conditions, customs, the very people themselves have changed; some greatly, some slightly. A book of this kind, to be really helpful, must reflect these changes. It is no less true, however, that a book of this kind should be concerned chiefly with those characteristics and aspects of a country and its people which have an element of permanence. For this reason, the history and perplexing political problems of China are merely touched upon by Mr. Franck. To do more would be outside the scope of a geographical reader.

Mr. Franck carries equipment for obtaining the best possible pictures. Most of the illustrations in this volume are from photographs taken by him personally, often under conditions that involved difficulty and sometimes peril.

As children read about the land of China, we feel confident that they will be impressed with the fact that the people of the whole world are one great family; that what affects one nation affects all nations to a greater or less extent. They will realize that while certain lands may seem “backward” to us who enjoy the conveniences of Western civilization, we are indebted to them for many things that have made our civilization possible. For example, the compass, which was essential to the development of navigation and which, as improved by the Italians, enabled Columbus to make his great voyage of discovery, was invented by the Chinese nearly 4000 years ago. Children, like adults, must be led to see that people everywhere have their virtues and ambitions, their trials and hardships, and that the misfortune or the prosperity of one country is reflected in other countries far away.

Knowledge of these facts should prompt us to work for the peace and well-being of all peoples, particularly through the channel of our schools. In this connection, Payson Smith, Commissioner of Education for Massachusetts, has aptly said: “Education in all lands should lead the youth to recognize those interests which are common to humankind, to magnify the virtues which all men hold in common, to minimize those differences and distinctions which divide, and to interpret the history of race and nation in those terms that are helpful to world progress as well as to national self-respect.”

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

To the Century Company, New York, publishers of Mr. Franck’s
“Wandering in Northern China” and “Roving Through Southern China,”
grateful acknowledgment is made for permission to use certain of the
author’s photographs which first appeared in one or the other of those
volumes. The illustrations referred to are on the following pages of
this book: 30, 36 (lower), 40, 46, 49, 53, 63, 66, 68, 72, 74, 78, 84,
85, 86, 90, 98, 108, 125, 127, 128, 137, 144, 156, 163, 164, 166, 181,
198, 201, 206, 209, 211, 216, 228, 232, 236, 238.

To the Chinese Consul-General, New York, who gave the proofs of
“China” a critical reading, both the author and the publishers are
indebted for suggestions and comments.

To Miss Lena M. Franck, the author’s sister, who, as an experienced
teacher, was able to give valuable advice, an expression of
appreciation is due.

Area of “China proper” (east and south of heavy line) contrasted with
that of the ancient Chinese Empire which included also Manchuria,
Mongolia, Sinkiang, and Tibet.
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CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE
I CHINA’S PLACE IN THE WORLD 11
II MANCHURIA, THE EASTERN THREE PROVINCES 21
III THROUGH THE GREAT WALL TO PEKING 34
IV OUR HOME IN PEKING 45
V SOME QUEER CHINESE CUSTOMS 58
VI ACROSS MONGOLIA TO URGA 70
VII SHANTUNG, LAND OF CONFUCIUS 81
VIII THROUGH THE HEART OF OLD CHINA 93
IX THE GREAT MOHAMMEDAN PROVINCE 104
X WHERE THE FISH WAGGED ITS TAIL 116
XI CHINA HAS HER OWN WAYS 129
XII THE CHINESE LANGUAGE AND SCHOOLS 141
XIII FOREIGNERS IN CHINA 151
XIV ALONG THE GREAT YANG-TZE KIANG 159
XV DIFFICULT JOURNEYS 175
XVI DOWN THE SOUTHERN COAST 191
XVII IN THE PROVINCE OF KWANGTUNG 203
XVIII A SUMMER IN SOUTHWESTERN CHINA 215
XIX AMONG THE PRIMITIVE TRIBES 227
XX SZECHUAN, LARGEST OF PROVINCES 241
PRONUNCIATION LIST 253

MAPS
THE OLD CHINESE EMPIRE AND PRESENT-DAY CHINA 8
NORTHERN CHINA AND SURROUNDINGS Inside Front Cover
SOUTHERN CHINA AND SURROUNDINGS Inside Back Cover

Keystone View Co., Inc., of N. Y.

The Chinese came very near inventing the skyscraper when they built
the first pagoda of this sort. One sees a great many of them in
China. They have either six or eight sides, and are always an odd
number of stories in height, up to thirteen. Often, as here, they
have graceful veranda roofs. Pagodas are religious structures, and
in form resemble somewhat the Christian spire and the Mohammedan
minaret.
]

CHINA