The Face of China by Emily Georgiana Kemp

After a couple of days' halt we started for the capital, with new coolies for the most part -- fine, strong men -- who had arranged to do the twelve days' stages at four taels per man, with the additional inducement of a pork-feast on New Year's Day. The first day we passed through somewhat uninteresting country, but then we climbed up amongst the mountains and reached one specially fine point of view, from which we saw five ranges, one beyond the other, and to the west a lovely snow range. From there we made our way down a most precipitous slope to the bottom of a valley, where a noisy brook was spanned by one of the fascinating iron suspension-bridges. This bridge is composed of eight parallel thick iron chains with connecting links, and the masonry at each end is very fine. The hand-rails were decorated with graphic carvings of monkeys and other apocryphal beasts at each end. The little village was eminently picturesque, and the willows were already in their delicate spring green, contrasting well with the stiff blue-green prickly pears. Coming down the slope, our eyes had feasted on the sight of pink fruit blossom, and on the farther side of the stream we came next day to dazzling white pear-trees. Certain shrubs blossom even while snow is on the ground, and this is a favourite _motif_ both in Chinese and in Japanese art.

All the trees were beginning to bud, and the birds to sing and mate, although it was only the end of January. As we neared Tungchwan Yun we saw various new species of birds, and especially large numbers of cranes, mainly grey, but some white, and one solitary black one standing alone on the edge of the stream, as their habit is. The first view of the city is picturesque, as it is seen from the high hills overlooking the plain full of rice-fields. The city nestles under the farther hillside and looks as if it could be reached in an hour or so, whereas it takes at least three times as long. In a village at the foot of the hill the preparations for the New Year were in full swing. Every door was being cleaned for the new gods to be pasted up together with mottoes and other decorations. Great washing was going on in a large puddle in the middle of the village; clothes, bowls, cooking utensils, fowls for the feast, vegetables, &c. Close by were large flocks of wild ducks, teal, and other birds, which made one's mouth water to see, now that we had reached a part of the country where the residents can rarely get anything except pork and fowls in the way of meat. Tungchwan is quite pretty, owing both to its situation and to the number of trees in it. Also it looked remarkably clean and bright with its decorations, red, orange, blue, and gold, on all the doors; but that may have been merely because it was New Year's Eve (January 31st).