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In: Travel Writing·History - Early Modern (c. 1450-1750)
Public-domain ebook sourced from Project Gutenberg #28729.
Sir John Barrow’s Travels in China is a sprawling travelogue that records the author’s observations during a short residence at the Imperial Palace of Yuen‑Min‑Yuen and his subsequent trek from Pekin to Canton. The work opens with a dense catalogue of topics, women’s condition, court amusements, language, law, religion, and the geography of the journey, each followed by detailed chapter headings that promise exhaustive commentary on Chinese society, its institutions, and the author’s own judgments. Barrow frames his narrative as a corrective to earlier embassy accounts, insisting that his “unbiased conclusions” will illuminate the true character of the empire beyond missionary propaganda and diplomatic reports.
Written in the early nineteenth‑century British prose of a gentleman‑scholar, the book blends meticulous description with moral appraisal, reflecting the period’s penchant for comparative ethnography and imperial curiosity. Its tone is formal, often digressive, and its style assumes a reader comfortable with long sentences and extensive footnote‑like asides. Those who relish historic travel literature, scholars of early Sino‑Western encounters, and readers interested in the Victorian mindset toward distant cultures will find Barrow’s exhaustive, if occasionally polemical, portrait of China a rewarding window into the era’s diplomatic and intellectual world.
The opening · free to read
CHAP. V.
Manners and Amusements of the Court--Reception of Embassadors.--Character and private Life of the Emperor--His Eunuchs and Women.
_General Character of the Court--Of the buildings about the Palace_--Lord Macartney's Account of his Introduction--Of the Celebration of the Emperor's Anniversary Festival--Of a Puppet-Shew--Comedy and Pantomime--Wrestling--Conjuring and Fire-Works--Reception and Entertainment of the Dutch Embassadors from a Manuscript Journal--Observations on the State of the Chinese Stage--Extraordinary Scene in one of their Dramas--Gross and indelicate Exhibitions--Sketch of Kien-Long's Life and Character--Kills his Son by an unlucky Blow--conceives himself immortal--Influence of the Eunuchs at the Tartar Conquest--their present State and Offices--Emperor's Wife, Queens, and Concubines--How disposed of at his Death. 191
CHAP. VI.
Language.--Literature, and the fine Arts.--Sciences.--Mechanics, and Medicine.
Opinion of the Chinese Language being hieroglyphical erroneous.--Doctor Hager's mistakes.--Etymological Comparisons fallacious.--Examples of.--Nature of the Chinese written Character.--Difficulty and Ambiguity of.--Curious Mistake of an eminent Antiquarian.--Mode of acquiring the Character.--Oral Language.--Mantchoo Tartar Alphabet.--Chinese Literature.--Astronomy.--Chronology.--Cycle of sixty Years.--Geography.--Arithmetic.--Chemical Arts.--Cannon and Gunpowder.--Distillation.--Potteries.--Silk Manufactures.--Ivory.--Bamboo.--Paper.--Ink.--Printing.--Mechanics. --Music.--Painting.--Sculpture.--Architecture.--Hotel of the English Embassador in Pekin.--The Great Wall.--The Grand Canal.--Bridges.--Cemeteries.--Natural Philosophy.--Medicine.--Chinese Pharmacopoeia.--Quacks.--Contagious Fevers.--Small-pox.--Opthalmia. --Venereal Disease.--Midwifery.--Surgery.--Doctor Gregory's Opinion of their Medical Knowledge.--Sir William Jones's Opinion of their general Character. 236
CHAP. VII.
Government--Laws--Tenures of Land and Taxes--Revenues--Civil and Military Ranks, and Establishments.
Opinions on which the Executive Authority is grounded.--Principle on which an Emperor of China seldom appears in public.--The Censorate.--Public Departments.--Laws.--Scale of Crimes and Punishments.--Laws regarding Homicide.--Curious Law Case.--No Appeal from Civil Suits.--Defects in the Executive Government.--Duty of Obedience and Power of personal Correction.--Russia and China compared.--Fate of the Prime Minister Ho-chang-tong.--_Yearly Calendar and Pekin Gazette, engines of Government.--Freedom of the Press.--Duration of the Government attempted to be explained.--Precautions of Government to prevent Insurrections.--Taxes and Revenues.--Civil and Military Establishments.--Chinese Army, its Numbers and Appointments.--Conduct of the Tartar Government at the Conquest.--Impolitic Change of late Years, and the probable Consequences of it._ 357
CHAP. VIII.
Conjectures on the Origin of the Chinese.--Their Religious Sects,--Tenets,--and Ceremonies.
Embassy departs from Pekin, and is lodged in a Temple.--Colony from Egypt not necessary to be supposed, in order to account for Egyptian Mythology in China.--Opinions concerning Chinese Origin.--Observations on the Heights of Tartary.--Probably the Resting-place of the Ark of Noah.--Ancients ignorant of the Chinese.--Seres.--First known Intercourse of Foreigners with China.--Jews.--Budhists.--Nestorians.--Mahomedans.--Roman Catholics.--Quarrels of the Jesuits and Dominicans.--Religion of Confucius.--Attached to the Prediction of future Events.--Notions entertained by him of a future State.--Of the Deity.--Doctrine not unlike that of the Stoics.--Ceremonies in Honour of his Memory led to Idolatry.--Misrepresentations of the Missionaries with regard to the Religion of the Chinese.--The Tao-tze or Sons of Immortals.--_Their Beverage of Life.--The Disciples of_ Fo or Budhists.--Comparison of some of the Hindu, Greek, Egyptian, and Chinese Deities.--The Lotos or Nelumbium.--_Story of_ Osiris and Isis, and the Isia compared with the Imperial Ceremony of Ploughing.--Women visit the Temples.--Practical Part of Chinese Religion.--Funeral Obsequies.--Feast of Lanterns.--Obeisance to the Emperor performed in Temples leads to Idolatry.--Primitive Religion lost or corrupted.--Summary of Chinese Religion. 418
CHAP. IX.
Journey from Tong-choo-foo to the Province of Canton.--Face of the Country, and its Productions.--Buildings and other Public Works.--Condition of the People.--State of Agriculture.--Population.
Attentions paid to the Embassy.--Observations on the Climate and Plains of Pe-tche-lee.--_Plants of.--Diet and Condition of the People.--Burying-place.--Observation on Chinese Cities.--Trackers of the Yachts.--Entrance of the Grand Canal. The Fishing Corvorant.--Approach to the_ Yellow River.--_Ceremony of crossing this River.--Observations on Canals and Roads.--Improvements of the Country in advancing to the Southward.--Beauty of, near_ Sau-choo-foo.--_Bridge of ninety-one Arches.--Country near_ Hang-choo-foo.--_City of.--Appearance of the Country near the_ Po-yang Lake.--Observations in Proceeding through Kiang-see.--_The_ Camellia Sesanqua.--_Retrospective View of the Climate and Produce, Diet and Condition of the People, of_ Pe-tche-lee.--_Some Observations on the Capital of China.--Province of_ Shan-tung.--_Of_ Kiang-nan.--_Observations on the State of Agriculture in China.--Rice Mills.--Province of_ Tche-kiang.--_Of_ Kiang-see.--_Population of China compared with that of England.--Erroneous Opinions entertained on this Subject.--Comparative Population of a City in China and in England.--Famines accounted for.--Means of Prevention.--Causes of the Populousness of China._ 488
CHAP. X.
Journey through the Province of Canton.--Situation of Foreigners trading to this Port.--Conclusion.
_Visible Change in the Character of the People.--Rugged Mountains.--Collieries.--Temple in a Cavern.--Stone Quarries.--Various Plants for Use and Ornament.--Arrive at Canton.--Expence of the Embassy to the Chinese Government.--To the British Nation.--Nature and Inconveniences of the Trade to Canton.--The Armenian and his Pearl.--Impositions of the Officers of Government instanced.--Principal Cause of them is the Ignorance of the Language.--Case of Chinese trading to London.--A Chinese killed by a Seaman of His Majesty's Ship Madras.--Delinquent saved from an ignominious Death, by a proper Mode of Communication with the Government._--Conclusion. 591
LIST OF PLATES.
_Portrait of Van-ta-gin_--the Frontispiece. (v. p. 184)
Trading Vessel and Rice Mill to face page 37.
Portraits of a Chinese and a Hottentot to face page 50.
View in the Imperial Park at Gehol to face page 128.
Artillery, between pages 302 and 303 with a guard.
Musical Instruments between pages 314 and 315 with a guard.
Arch of a Bridge to face page 338.
Chinese Village, and Mandarin's Dwelling, to face page 545.
ERRATA.
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ADVERTISEMENT.
The sentiments advanced in the present Work, and the point of view in which some of the facts are considered, being so very different from the almost universally received opinion, and some of them from the opinion of those to whose friendship the Author is particularly indebted for various literary communications, he thinks it right to declare, that they are the unbiassed conclusions of his own mind, founded altogether on his own observations; and he trusts that the Public, in considering him alone responsible, will receive them with its usual candour.
Introduction.--General View of what Travellers are likely to meet with in China.--Mistaken Notions entertained with regard to the British Embassy--corrected by the Reception and Treatment of the subsequent Dutch Embassy.--Supposed Points of Failure in the former, as stated by a French Missionary from Pekin, refuted.--Kien Long's Letter to the King of Holland.--Difference of Treatment experienced by the two Embassies explained.--Intrigues of Missionaries in foreign Countries.--Pride and Self-Importance of the Chinese Court.--List of European Embassies, and the Time of their Abode in Pekin.--Conclusion of Preliminary Subject.
It is hardly necessary to observe that, after the able and interesting account of the proceedings and result of the British Embassy to the court of China, by the late Sir George Staunton (who was no less amiable for liberality of sentiment, than remarkable for vigour of intellect) it would be an idle, and, indeed, a superfluous undertaking, in any other person who accompanied the embassy, to dwell on those subjects which have been treated by him in so masterly a manner; or to recapitulate those incidents and transactions, which he has detailed with equal elegance and accuracy.
But, as it will readily occur to every one, there are still many interesting subjects, on which Sir George, from the nature of his work, could only barely touch, and others that did not come within his plan, one great object of which was to unfold the views of the embassy, and to shew that every thing, which could be done, was done, for promoting the interests of the British nation, and supporting the dignity of the British character; the Author of the present work has ventured, though with extreme diffidence, and with the consciousness of the disadvantage under which he must appear after that "Account of the Embassy," to lay before the public the point of view in which he saw the Chinese empire, and the Chinese character. In doing this, the same facts will sometimes necessarily occur, that have already been published, for reasons that it would be needless to mention; but whenever that happens to be the case, they will briefly be repeated, for the purpose of illustrating some position, or for deducing some general inference. Thus, for instance, the document given to the Embassador of the population of China will be noticed, not however under the colour of its being an unquestionably accurate statement, but, on the contrary, to shew that it neither is, nor can be, correct; yet at the same time to endeavour to prove, by facts and analogy, that, contrary to the received opinion, the country is capable of supporting not only three hundred and thirty-three millions of people, but that it might actually afford the means of subsistence to twice that number. The confirmation, indeed, of new and important facts, though very different conclusions be drawn from them, cannot be entirely unacceptable to the reader; for as different persons will generally see the same things in different points of view, so, perhaps, by combining and comparing the different descriptions and colouring that may be given of the same objects, the public is enabled to obtain the most correct notions of such matters as can be learned only from the report of travellers.
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