I. BOYHOOD 1 II. SCHOOL DAYS 13 III. JOURNEY TO AMERICA AND FIRST EXPERIENCES THERE 21 IV. AT MONSON ACADEMY 27 V. MY COLLEGE DAYS 34 VI. RETURN TO CHINA 42 VII. EFFORT TO FIND A POSITION 58 VIII. EXPERIENCES IN BUSINESS 67 IX. MY FIRST TRIP TO THE TEA DISTRICTS 79 X. MY VISIT TO THE TAIPINGS 96 XI. REFLECTIONS ON THE TAIPING REBELLION 113 XII. EXPEDITION TO THE TAIPING TEA DISTRICT 123 XIII. MY INTERVIEWS WITH TSANG KWOH FAN 137 XIV. MY MISSION TO AMERICA TO BUY MACHINERY 154 XV. MY SECOND RETURN TO CHINA 160 XVI. PROPOSAL OF MY EDUCATIONAL SCHEME 170 XVII. THE CHINESE EDUCATIONAL MISSION 180 XVIII. INVESTIGATION OF THE COOLIE TRAFFIC IN PERU 191 XIX. END OF THE EDUCATIONAL MISSION 197 XX. JOURNEY TO PEKING AND DEATH MY WIFE 216 XXI. MY RECALL TO CHINA 224 XXII. THE COUP D’ETAT OF 1898 239 APPENDIX 247 INDEX 275 MY LIFE IN CHINA AND AMERICA CHAPTER I BOYHOOD I was born on the 17th of November, 1828, in the village of Nam Ping (South Screen) which is about four miles southwest of the Portuguese Colony of Macao, and is situated on Pedro Island lying west of Macao, from which it is separated by a channel of half a mile wide. I was one of a family of four children. A brother was the eldest, a sister came next, I was the third, and another brother was the fourth and the youngest of the group. I am the only survivor of them all. As early as 1834, an English lady, Mrs. Gutzlaff, wife of the Rev. Charles Gutzlaff, a missionary to China, came to Macao and, under the auspices of the Ladies’ Association in London for the promotion of female education in India and the East, immediately took up the work of her mission by starting a girls’ school for Chinese girls, which was soon followed by the opening of a school for boys also.