Library

The book is a China trip written by Paul Goldmann, the China correspondent of the German Frankfurter Zeitung, from April to October 1898. It traveled from Europe to the Gulf of Aden, to the Red Sea, Hong Kong, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Tianjin, and Beijing. The book contains detailed sea travel scenery, as well as the layout and customs of Chinese cities at that time. At the same time, he visited local officials in Guangdong and Shanghai, as well as Zhang Zhidong, Li Hongzhang and other important officials in the late Qing Dynasty, recording China in the late Qing Dynasty from a foreigner's perspective. The book is beautifully written and has detailed descriptions. It combines the journalist's objectivity in paying attention to what he sees and hears, and the dramatist's ability to observe and write down the details of life. This is a fragment of China's modern history in the world structure, and it is also a genre painting of coastal cities and Beijing in the late Qing Dynasty. Its publication can not only supplement the historical materials for the study of modern Chinese history, but also open another window for China's exchanges with the world. In terms of historical value, the book ranks alongside the works of Marco Polo and Edgar Snow.