Travels on Horseback in Mantchu Tartary
Being a Summer's Ride Beyond the Great Wall of China

A monument of Victorian travel literature and a source for understanding nineteenth-century English perceptions of China and Chinese culture.

George Fleming (Author)

9781108014267, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 3 June 2010

608 pages, 54 b/w illus. 1 colour illus. 1 map
22.9 x 15.2 x 3.4 cm, 0.88 kg

First published in 1863, this is the enchanting account of the travels of George Fleming (1833–1901) in the far north of China. Fleming began his epic journey in Tien-tsin, where he was stationed as an army doctor at a British military garrison; there he was granted special permission to travel almost 700 miles as far as Moukden and to Manchu Tartary, the birth place of the Manchu dynasty. Fleming's route took him through many regions that had been inaccessible to western travellers until the Treaty of Tien-tsin (1858–1859). His vivid account describes the people and customs he met; the landscape; the climate; the language and dialects; the agricultural practices of the various regions; and the struggles and hardships he faced during his journey. Fleming's work is a monument of Victorian travel literature and an important source in understanding Victorian perceptions of China and of Chinese culture.

Preface
1. Summer at Tien-tsin
2. Fugitive Sinologues
3. Story of the General Choo
4. Long bills
5. The hundred-spirited bird
6. [No chapter with this number]
7. Village of Tchung-sah-kow
8. The town of Fung-tai
9. Cultivation of indigo
10. An uncivil and extortionate landlord
11. The town of lanchow
12. Superstitious fancies
13. A miserable morning
14. Old-fashioned town
15. Early rising in Chinese inns
16. Bird slaughtering
17. The spy system
18. History of the Great Wall of China
19. Accommodation gratis
20. Pastoral life
21. Sunday morning
22. Rabid curiosity
23. Early hours
24. Pastoral country
25. A welcome halt
26. Our new attendants
27. Elevation of the land
28. History of Moukden
29. A brief narrative of a journey beyond Peking, to the coal-mines
Index.

Subject Areas: Asian history [HBJF]