A French commercial mission (Mission Lyonnaise d’Exploration Commerciale en Chine), consisting of a dozen members, and including several experts, has recently overrun Western China from Tonquin to the borders of Tibet, part of the mission remaining at Ch’ung-k’ing for some considerable time. A Japanese Commercial Mission visited Ch’ung-k’ing in December, 1895, and returned in January, 1896, and the United States Mission, which left Tien-tsin overland for Chêng-tu to arrange a settlement, so far as American missionaries were concerned, of the anti-missionary outrages which occurred there and in other parts of the Province of Ssŭ-ch’uan in May and June, 1895, returned by way of Ch’ung-k’ing and the Yang-tsze in January, 1896. At the present moment the Blackburn Commercial Mission, headed by Mr. Bourne, of the British Consular Service in China, my successor as Consular Agent at Ch’ung-k’ing in 1884, is traversing the Western Provinces of China; and it is certain that all these missions have collected, and are collecting, information which cannot fail to be of great assistance in developing foreign trade with the West of China.
Western China and the interest attaching to it--The way thither--An unsuccessful attempt to reach Ichang--Ichang at last--Difficulties of navigation--Commercial importance of Ichang--My native passenger-boat, opium-smoking skipper, and crew--The navigability of the Upper Yang-tsze by steamers--Dangers and difficulties of the Ching T’an Rapid--Up and down the rapid--The poppy--Ch’ung-k’ing. 1
CH’UNG-K’ING TO THE CAPITAL OF KUEI-CHOW.
My overland caravan--Harvesting opium--Field-fishing--Wood-oil--The manufacture of paper--Salt carriers--Silkworms and their food--Rice or Pith paper, and its manufacture--The Kuei-chow frontier--Minerals--First meeting with Miao-tzŭ--Poetical description of Chinese inns--T’ung-tzŭ, its poppy valley and tunnelling--Ingenious bamboo water-wheels--Scant population amid ruins of fine houses--Coal-dust as fuel--The Wu Chiang River--Destruction of the iron suspension bridge--Northern Kuei-chow, a Miao-tzŭ graveyard--Opium-sodden inhabitants--The capital of the Province--An interview with the Governor of Kuei-chow 14
White wax insects--Terrific hailstorm and its effects--Miao-tzŭ houses and women--An-shun Fu--Limestone cave--Pai-shui waterfall--Reception at Lang-t’ai T’ing--Lang-wang Mountain and the “Cave of the Spirits”--Caught in a thunderstorm--The pebbly strand of the Mao-k’ou River--Pack-animals and their treatment--The Yün-nan frontier--A cart at last--Exploring a cave--Underground rivers--Exceptional courtesy--Goître--Breeding ground of the Yün-nan pony--Trade route to Tonquin--Marching knee-deep in mud and water--Poverty of inhabitants--Queen’s Birthday dinner in a back yard--Chinese inquisitiveness--The Sung-ming Lake--A local escort--A glorious view--Yün-nan Fu. 35