BOOK: LING-NAM: Hong Kong, Canton and Hainan Island in the 1880s

No. 3 in the China Revisited series 

China Revisited: a bundle of three books- view here

Benjamin Couch “BC” Henry was a missionary in Hong Kong and southern China in the second half of the 19th century. Yet he was much more too – a keen observer, a skilled naturalist and an intrepid explorer. The bulk of his career in China was spent in what was then commonly known as “Ling-nam”, the Pearl River Delta and environs of Guangzhou. These excerpts of LING-NAM, published in 1886, contain one of the most detailed walking tours of Guangzhou that has survived. Similarly so his travels through the silk, tea and market garden regions adjoining the metropolis.

Henry’s expeditions around Hainan Island in 1882 were then the most extensive undertaken by a foreigner. Henry’s travelogue provides one of the most in-depth looks at southern Chinese life – from the growth of Hong Kong, to the bustling streets of Guangzhou, to Hainan’s “Island of Palms”.

China Revisited is a series of extracted reprints of mid-nineteenth to early-twentieth century Western impressions of Hong Kong, Macao and China. The series comprises excerpts from travelogues or memoirs written by missionaries, diplomats, military personnel, journalists, tourists and temporary sojourners.
They came to China from Europe or the United States, some to work or to serve the interests of their country, others out of curiosity. Each excerpt is fully annotated to best provide relevant explications of Hong Kong, Macao and China at the time, to illuminate encounters with historically interesting characters or notable events