China and the Chinese

A concise travel and cultural study combines firsthand journeys with historical and ethnographic sketches to examine imperial institutions, classical thought, popular religion, and everyday customs. It surveys dynastic foundations and large hydraulic works, contrasts Confucian and Taoist teachings, and describes literati examinations, funerary art, and monumental statuary. Travel episodes recount ports, river voyages, and encounters in Canton, Macao, Shanghai, and inland provinces, while chapters analyze tea and silk production, opium cultivation and trade, missionary activity, and the diplomatic and military pressures that shaped Sino-foreign relations.