LIFE IN CHINA.

BY

REV. WILLIAM C. MILNE, M.A.

FOR MANY YEARS MISSIONARY AMONG THE CHINESE.

With Four Original Maps.

OTHE

LONDON:

G. ROUTLEDGE & CO. FARRINGDON STREET;

NEW YORK: 18, BEEKMAN STREET.

1857.

203.d.119.

PREFACE.

PLEDGED to the cause of Protestant missions in China by the earliest associations, the Writer embarked for that country in the summer of 1839; and, with the exception of an absence of two years, continued to labour there till near the beginning of 1854, under the auspices of the London Missionary Society.

In prosecuting his mission, it was his lot to visit various places in China, e. g. Macao, Hong-Kong, Canton, Choosan, Ningpo, Shanghai, and to travel through the heart of three of her provinces, Chihkiang, Kiangse, and Canton. A partial result of the observations during this long-timed period made upon the Chinese as they are, is given in the following pages,-arranged under four parts. The first part discusses the common notions current in Europe and America about China and the Chinese, some of them really untrue and very.unjust to the inhabitants of that empire; and in the other parts there is presented a variety of positive information regarding Chinese life and habits, which had been collected during a long