Benjamin Couch "BC" Henry was a missionary in Hong Kong and southern China in the late 19th century. Yet he was also a keen observer, a skilled naturalist and an intrepid explorer. The bulk of his career was spent in what was then known as "Ling-nam", the Pearl River Delta and environs of Guangzhou (Canton). These excerpts of Henry's travelogue LING-NAM, published in 1886, contain one of the most detailed walking tours of Guangzhou that has survived.
As a young American, Harry Hervey dreamt of traveling to Asia. In 1923, he arrived to see Hong Kong, Macao and Guangzhou. His impressions of southern China are lyrical and detailed, atmospheric and informative. From the basement "dives" of Kennedy Town to the private dining rooms of Queen's Road, Macao's Praia Grande to its fan-tan houses, Hervey is a fascinating flaneur. So too in Guangzhou, where Hervey encounters those fleeing warlord violence and receives an audience with Sun Yat-sen.
Victorian traveler Constance Gordon-Cumming roamed far and wide, from the Scottish Highlands to the American West, the islands of Hawaii to southern China. Her trip to Hong Kong was momentous: she arrived just before Christmas 1878 to inadvertently witness the terrible "Great Fire". She moved on to explore the streets, temples and Chinese New Year festivities in Guangzhou. She is that rare travel writer who, while plunging into the crowds, manages to observe the minutiae of life around her.
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