Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Note on the Illustrations
- Introduction
- CHAP. I A VILLAGE DISTRICT IN LIGHT AND SHADE
- CHAP. II RURAL SCENES AND SOUNDS
- CHAP. III THE MANDARIN IN EMBRYO
- CHAP. IV RED LETTER DAYS
- CHAP. V COMPENSATIONS
- CHAP. VI RECORDS OF AN ANCIENT CITY
- CHAP. VII CAN ANY PATHOS COME OUT OF CHINA?
- CHAP. VIII AN HISTORICAL ROMANCE
- CHAP. IX PROBLEMS DOMESTIC AND NATIONAL
- CHAP. X GODS MANY AND LORDS MANY
- CHAP. XI A TAIPING CAMP
- CHAP. XII THE LONGHAIRED HAVE COME
- CHAP. XIII SUFFERING BY DEPUTY
- CHAP. XIV AN OLD, OLD STORY IN A NEW EDITION
- CHAP. XV IMPERIAL POP-GUNS
- CHAP. XVI THE MART OF CENTRAL CHINA
- CHAP. XVII FOUR MILES OF FLAME
- CHAP. XVIII IMPERIALISTS TO THE FRONT
- CHAP. XIX ART AND ARTISTS
- CHAP. XX HOW TO BECOME A DEMIGOD
- CHAP. XXI CHANGING SCENES
- CHAP. XXII FATHER AND DAUGHTER
- CHAP. XXIII RESURRECTION
- CHAP. XXIV FOR BETTER, FOR WORSE
- Appendix
- Plate section
CHAP. I - A VILLAGE DISTRICT IN LIGHT AND SHADE
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 March 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Note on the Illustrations
- Introduction
- CHAP. I A VILLAGE DISTRICT IN LIGHT AND SHADE
- CHAP. II RURAL SCENES AND SOUNDS
- CHAP. III THE MANDARIN IN EMBRYO
- CHAP. IV RED LETTER DAYS
- CHAP. V COMPENSATIONS
- CHAP. VI RECORDS OF AN ANCIENT CITY
- CHAP. VII CAN ANY PATHOS COME OUT OF CHINA?
- CHAP. VIII AN HISTORICAL ROMANCE
- CHAP. IX PROBLEMS DOMESTIC AND NATIONAL
- CHAP. X GODS MANY AND LORDS MANY
- CHAP. XI A TAIPING CAMP
- CHAP. XII THE LONGHAIRED HAVE COME
- CHAP. XIII SUFFERING BY DEPUTY
- CHAP. XIV AN OLD, OLD STORY IN A NEW EDITION
- CHAP. XV IMPERIAL POP-GUNS
- CHAP. XVI THE MART OF CENTRAL CHINA
- CHAP. XVII FOUR MILES OF FLAME
- CHAP. XVIII IMPERIALISTS TO THE FRONT
- CHAP. XIX ART AND ARTISTS
- CHAP. XX HOW TO BECOME A DEMIGOD
- CHAP. XXI CHANGING SCENES
- CHAP. XXII FATHER AND DAUGHTER
- CHAP. XXIII RESURRECTION
- CHAP. XXIV FOR BETTER, FOR WORSE
- Appendix
- Plate section
Summary
“Rain torrents have ceased, flood waters subside;
Clouds chased to the westward, behind the hills hide;
The lake one wide mirror, all heaven shining there,
The trees autumn tinted, autumnal the air.
The fishermen's boats like wild geese return,
And oh, with the wild fowl for cloudland I yearn!
The wavelets beyond, where are hills higher still,
By storm billows circled, each wave crest a hill.
But look, here are yellow flowers laughing with glee,
Like thousands of wine cups proffered to me;
The wine is as golden, as fragrant, I ween,
As ever of yore in yon ruin was seen.”
With some such words as these, a visitor to the Hill of the Nine Recluses recorded his impressions of the scenery therefrom, some two hundred years ago, little thinking that from over the “storm billows” could come by and by an “ocean man,” to stand on the spot where he stood; still less that he would offer his Western readers some sort of a translation of the officially preserved poem he there indited.
As yet, the hill in question has hardly had more than one foreign visitor, if the priest-monk on the hill-top is to be believed; but that countryside well repays a visit. It is an almost lovely neighbourhood; the lake waters ever blue, the banks ever fertile; the towering hill peaks, the highest in the Hanyang county, shutting in the scene from the sounds and distractions of the outer world.
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- A String of Chinese Peach-Stones , pp. 1 - 19Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010First published in: 1895