Part 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, andthis 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 andannoyances’ interlaced with descriptions of trips to Tibet and up the Yangtze. The latter third of the book is devoted entirely to politics. Fuelled with adetermination 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. INDICE: First impressions; 1. On the Upper Yangtse; 2. A land journey; 3. Life in a Chinese city; 4. Hindrances and annoyances; 5. Current coin in China; 6. Footbinding; 7. Anti-footbinding; 8. The position of women; 9. Births, deaths, and marriages; 10. Chinese morals; 11. Superstitions; 12. Our missionaries; 13. Up-country shopping and up-country ways; 14. Soldiers; 15. Chinese students; 16. A father's advice to his son; 17. Buddhist monasteries; 18. A Chinese ordination; 19. The sacred mountain of Omi; 20. Chinese sentiment; 21. A summer trip to Chinese Tibet; 22. Arts and industries; 23. A little Peking pug; Affairs of State: Prelude: Part I. Getting to Peking; Part II. The Sights of Peking; 1. The Chinese Emperor's magnificence; 2. The Empress, the Emperor, andthe audience; 3. Solidarity, co-operation, and imperial federation; 4. Beginnings of reform; 5. The coup d'état.
- ISBN: 978-1-108-01427-4
- Editorial: Cambridge University
- Encuadernacion: Rústica
- Páginas: 636
- Fecha Publicación: 10/06/2010
- Nº Volúmenes: 1
- Idioma: Inglés