My Chinese Notebook

Book excerpt: Originally published in 1904. The following 'Notes' were not penned in the presumptuous hope of adding materially to the existing knowledge of the subjects with which they deal. The first part of this book was the result of much reading, while the account of the author's various experiences at the Chinese Court were undertaken with a view to faithfully putting on record the manner of those receptions in which, after so long and rigorous a seclusion, the reigning Son of Heaven and his Imperial Mother at last condescended (driven no doubt by foreign pressure) to put aside the veil which for centuries had shrouded the faces of majesty in China.