Through Hidden Shensi

New York: Charles Scribner's Son, 1902. Hardcover. Good +. Hardcover. Francis H. Nichols (1868-1904) traveled to China as the agent for a famine relief fund raised by the Christian Herald of New York to assist the population of Shensi (now Shaanxi) province. Shensi was considered the birthplace of Chinese civilization, but at this time it was a very isolated area of northwest China cut off by mountain ranges. As Nichols writes, "It is old and isolated; so old that no one in China knows the story of its beginnings, and so isolated that the Pekinese speak of it as though it were a foreign country." Sian (now Xi'an) was the capital of Shensi and the terminus of the Silk Road. It was also the city of refuge of the Qing dynasty rulers, the Empress Dowager Cixi and Emperor Kwang Su. Nichols claims that very few white men had entered Shensi before his visit. Shaanxi has clearly changed since that time (when Nichols estimated the total population as 8 million). The province now has an estimated population of about 37 million, with a high technology and manufacturing economy. Nichols details his journey starting in Pekin (Beijing) and provides information not only about his travels, but also about Chinese history, the economic situation, culture, and the populations of China, especially the Han. On his return he traveled a separate southern route along the Han and Yangtze rivers back to Shanghai. A fold-out map of his route is provided at the end of the text section. Multiple black-and-white illustrations, some drawings and some photograph taken by Nichols. This is a very interesting historical perspective on the middle of China before the age of industrialization and shortly before the fall of the Qing dynasty (China's last) in 1911. Probable first edition, though not stated. Octavo. Green cloth-covered boards with orange cloth spine. Title in gilt to front cover and spine. Gilt decorative motifs to front cover. Covers are smudged and show signs of handling, with bumping to edges. Spine is faded and smudged. Front and rear free endpapers have been detached, damaged, and repasted. Front and rear hinges are starting. Pages are mostly clean and bright, with stains from an apparent spill at the tops of some pages in the middle of the text block. At least one note in ink on a page. 333 pages, including index. CHINA/072325.