Published by I.B.Tauris
Henry Lansdell was one of the great travellers of the Victorian age.
Henry Lansdell was one of the great travellers of the Victorian age. Unlike many explorers of the time he refused to see these remote lands as simply regions of thrills and barbarity. His cultural openness and scrupulous attention to detail combined to provide detailed accounts free from the usual racial and religious prejudices found in the works of the day. As a result his writing is of immense value. Chinese Central Asia details Lansdell's journey across the Tian Shan Mountains and into Western China, a journey of some 9,000 miles in all. He offers detailed descriptions of the people, their history and religion, their crafts and customs, modes of dress, natural history, trade and medicine. The two volumes provide the first account of Chinese Turkestan and contain an extensive bibliography of more than 750 books on Central Asia. With a new introduction by Irina Kantarbaeva-Bill.
Table of contents:
ContentsVolume 1 New Introduction Preface Introduction 1. From London to Moscow 2. From Moscow to the Caspian 3. From the Caspian to Merv 4. From Merv to Oxus 5. Bokhara 6. Samarkand 7. Tashkend 8. From Tashkend to Issik-Kul 9. From Issik-Kul to Vierny10. Vierny after an Earthquake11. From Vierny to the Chinese Frontier12. Manchuria, Mongolia, Sungaria13. Chinese Official Preliminaries14. Preparations at Kuldja15. From Kuldja to the Pass of Chapchal16. The Tekes Valley17. Up the Muz-Tag Mountains18. Over the Muz-Davan or Ice Pass19. Down the Muzart Valley20. From Muzart-Kurgan to Aksu21. Chinese Turkistan22. Our Stay at Aksu23. The Sources of our Knowledge of Chinese Central Asia24. From Aksu to Maralbashi25. The Inhabitants of Chinese Turkistan26. From Maralbashi to Kashgar27. Our Stay at Kashgar Appendix: Chronology of Chinese Central AsiaVolume 228. The Pamirs and Regions Adjoining29. On Sundries Zoological30. From Kashgar to Yengi Hissar31. The History of Chinese Turkistan32. From Yengi Hissar to Yarkand33. Buddhism and Other Early Religions in Chinese Turkistan34. Our Stay in Yarkand35. Early Christianity in Chinese Central Asia36. From Yarkand to Karghalik 37. From Karghalik to Khotan38.The Kingdom of Khotan39. Our Stay in Khotan40. Muhammadanism and the Present religious Condition of Chinese Turkistan41. From Khotan to Kilian42. Some Remarks on the Political Condition of Chinese Turkistan43. From Kilian to Shahidula44. Concerning Great Tibet45. Our Knowledge of, and Relations with, Tibet46. A Journey in Little Tibet47. A Missionary View of Chinese Turkistan48. Plans Concerning Lassa49. The Journey Homewards50. A Successful Failure Index to the volumes
Henry Lansdell (1841-1919) was an explorer, missionary, geographer and philanthropist. He travelled extensively throughout his life, in particular undertaking arduous journeys of up to 12,000 miles to little known regions of Asia. His expeditions made him a key figure in opening up many hitherto unknown areas of China, Russia and Central Asia and led to his election to the Royal Asiatic Society, the Royal Geographical Society and the British Association for the Advancement of Science.Irina Kantarbaeva-Bill, is Associate Lecturer, Department of Foreign Languages, University of Toulouse-Le Mirail. Her research focuses on British History and Literature in the Victorian period, the Great Game, Orientalism, Colonialism and Postcolonialism, Russian Imperial History.