Poyang Lake, 157, 165, 246
Princess Jeannie (ship), 91
Printing house, 389–91
Prosperous Kingdom Guest House, 65–6
Prostitution, 72–4, 78–9, 146
Pu Lan Tian. See Plant, Cornell
Pu Ping, 312
Pu Yi, 21, 130, 206, 211
Public Security Bureau, 28, 304, 330, 372
Putonghua (common speech), 26
Qamdo, 389, 393, 395, 397
Qemo Ho Lake, 351, 352–3
Qian Shan Po, 277
Qianlong, Emperor, 155
Qiatou, 346, 356
Qin dynasty, 158
Qing dynasty, 15, 95, 121, 143, 174, 209, 276, 360, 375, 376, 379
Qingdao, 220
Qinghai province, 33, 245, 333, 343, 374, 393
Qiyang, 143
Qumar stream, 351
Qutang Gorge, 271
Rabe, John, 133
Rafting expeditions, 353–9
Railway Protection Movement, 207, 209
Railways, 57–61, 129, 205–10, 370
Rainfall, 151–53, 158
Ransomes and Rapier, 59
Rape of Nanking, 131, 134
Rapids, 305–6, 345–9, 357
Red Army, 306, 313–14
Red Basin, 225, 265, 294, 295, 375
Red Guards, 201, 275, 340, 383
Red River, 3, 366, 367
Red tea, 180
Regal China Company, 258
Renmin Wenbao, 169
Retention basins, 158
Rice industry, 184
Riding the Dragon's Back (Bangs & Kallen), 412–13
River of Golden Sand, 295, 299, 350, 352, 353, 358
River pilots, 36
River to Heaven, 345, 350–52, 353
Rock, Joseph, 127, 302, 332–34, 338, 340, 412
Rocks 271
Rolls-Royce cars, 136–7
Rose Island, 107
Russell & Co., 177
Rustomjee, Heerjeebhoy, 177
Sailing Through China (Theroux), 408
Salween River, 364, 373, 393
Sampans (small boats), 47, 300, 306
Sand Pebbles, The (McKenna), 286, 410
Sandouping, 229, 231, 232–3, 245
Sanxia, 169
Satellite communications, 309–10
Savage, John L, 227, 229
Schistosomes, 195
Science and Civilisation in China (Needham), 410
Second Opium War, 204
Seeds of Change (Hobhouse), 412
Sexual morals, 145–6, 320, 332, 334–5, 378
Sexually transmitted diseases, 334–5
Shadwell, Charles, 50
Shamanism, 329, 367, 406
Shanghai Club, 36, 75, 84
Shanghai Down Express, 12
Shashi, 244
Shen-nung, Emperor, 363
Shennong Stream, 289, 290, 291
Shenyang, 216
Shigatse, 401
Shigu, 3–4, 20, 359, 362, 365, 373
Shimantan Dam, 240
Ship locks, 255–6
Shipai, 232
Shippee, David, 354, 358
Shippee, Margit, 355
Shipwrecks, 44–5
Shun, Emperor, 363
Shutung (ship), 269
Sichuan Basin, 225, 237, 375
Sichuan Corporation for International Cultural Development, 371
Sichuan province, 213, 226, 295, 297, 313, 314, 371, 377
Signal stations, 272–3,299–300
Sikhs, 72, 76
Sikkim 383
Silk industry, 123, 283
Silk Road, 313
Single Pebble, A (Hersey), 230, 254, 408
Singsong girls, 139–40
Sixteen Points for the Cultural Revolution, 201
Smedley, Agnes, 215
Snowmelts, 151, 153, 158
Soochow Creek, 72
Sourcewaters, 349–53, 404–6
South China Sea, 54
South Manchurian Railway, 129
Space programme, 309–10
Sperling, E., 134
Spratly Islands, 53
Standard Guide Book to Shanghai, 412
Star TV, 309
Steepness, 344, 349
Stilwell, ‘Vinegar Joe’, 287
Su, Mr, 67–9
Subways, 81
Suez Canal, 179
Sui dynasty, 100
Suicides, 319–20, 332
Suifu, 295
Sun Yat-sen, 51, 125, 211, 215, 225, 228
Sun Ziming, 330
Sung dynasty, 100
Swimmers, 194–203
‘Swimming' (poem), 218, 231
Szechuan province, 284
Taco Bell, 213
Tactical Pilot Charts (TPCs), 30–31, 409
Taipan (company chief), 63, 65, 75, 86, 89
Taiping Rebellion, 121n, 134n, 142
Taipings, 121
Taipingxi, 232
Tang dynasty, 100, 114, 254, 330
Tang, Mr, 370–71, 374, 396, 397, 400
Tanggula Range, 398, 399, 405
Tanggula township, 402–3
Tannu-Tuva, 381
Taoists, 224, 330, 338–9, 341
Taotai (city official) 597183
TCBY store, 212–13
Tea clippers, 175, 205
Tea industry, 166–7, 170, 173–86, 380–81
Tea-making process, 181–2
Tectonics, 367
Telegraph cable, 58n
Television, 309
Tempe, Arizona, 116
Ten thousand li Yangtze (painting), 10, 14–23
Tennyson, Alfred Lord, 48
Theacea plants, 174
Theroux, Paul, 408
Thistle and the Jade, The (Keswick), 412
Three Gorges, 25, 26, 29, 97, 225, 226n, 228, 235, 243–4, 266, 287–9, 345, 366
Three Gorges Dam, 19, 164, 169, 219, 223, 225, 226–46, 249–53, 255, 257–62, 276–7, 371
Three Gorges Hotel, 247–8
Three Gorges Project Corporation, 249, 259
Through the Yangtze Gorges or, Trade and Travel in Western China (Little), 411
Tiananmen Square, 235, 239, 379
Tianjin, 131
Tibet, 322, 356, 369–70, 373–6, 379–407
Tibetan foothills, 303
Tibetan people, 278–9, 322–3, 325, 383–91
Tibetan Plateau, 150, 225, 295, 345, 351, 382, 396, 406
Tides, 124–5, 160
Tientsin, 95
Tiger Leaping Gorge, 327, 330, 346–9, 356, 366
Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal, 132, 134
Tolley, Admiral Kemp, 410–11
Tongtian He, 345, 350–52, 354
Topographical maps, 30–31
Trackers, 267, 268, 277, 279, 289–90
Travel Survival Guide to China, 409
Treaty of Nanking, 142–5, 270
Trobriand Islanders, 334
Tsampa (Tibetan food), 380, 396
Tsingtao beer, 220, 311
Tuotuo stream, 322, 340–41, 374
Tuotuoheyan, 403, 405
Tuotuoheyan bridge, 404, 406–7
U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, 236, 241
Upper Hutiao Shoal, 349, 356
ur-Chinese, 25
Ürümqi, 216
Van Slyke, Lyman, 408
Vietnam, 53, 264, 366
Vinegar industry, 97–9
Wahnsien Incident of 1926, 283–5
Walker, Caroline, 411
Walker, Frank, 316–17, 322
Wallich, Nathaniel, 178
Wang Hui, 10, 14, 15–16, 20, 325, 352, 405
Wang, Mr, 312, 316
Wang-ching, 95
Wanxian, 234, 274, 282, 283–6
War Crimes Tribunal, 132, 134
Warlords, 284–5
Warren, Ken, 354–5, 358
Water snakes, 194–5
Weale, Putnam, 85n
Wen Li Chang Jiang (paintin
g), 10, 14–23
Wen Zi-jian, 171, 191–2
Weng, Wan-go, 14–23, 25
Whangpoo Park, 85
Whangpoo River, 48–9, 52, 56, 66, 78, 84, 91, 94
Whangpoo River Tide Gauge, 48
Whirlpools, 271, 345
White water, 346, 348
Widgeon, HMS, 285
Williams-Ellis, Clough, 63
Wilson, Ernest, 337
Wind Moving Pagoda of Anqing, 154–60
Wong How Man, 351
Woodcock, HMS, 268
Woodlark, HMS, 268
Woosung, 57–9, 61
Woosung Bar, 48–53, 58, 205, 226, 407
Woosung Fort, 110
Woosung Road Co. Ltd, 59
Worcester, George, 270, 301, 409
World Bank, 165, 233, 241, 251
Wu De Yin, 148–9,162–3, 167
Wu Han, 189–91, 191n
Wu Wei, 322–6, 355, 370
Wuchang, 203, 209
Wuhan, 26, 130, 154, 155, 157, 191, 195, 196, 198n, 199, 201, 202–5, 209, 211–17, 221, 237, 245, 267, 281, 287, 366
Wuhu, 124
Wuliangye distillery, 297–8
Wupans (small boats), 47
Wusong Kou, 45, 48
Xiamen, 216
Xian, 209, 313
Xiang River, 198, 217–18
Xiao-an, 79
Xichang, 306, 309–10
Xikang province, 375, 377, 379
Xiling Gorge, 229, 257n, 268, 272, 273
Xing Guo Hotel, 65
Xinjiang province, 245
Xintan, 273, 274–9
Xishuangbanna, 327
Xu Xiake, 350
Xu Xiaoyang, 370–74
Xuan Ke, 329–30
Xuan-tong. See Pu Yi
Ya‘an, 378
Yaks, 382, 403
Yalong Jiang, 306, 316
Yang Sen, 284–5
Yang Shangkun, 91, 198, 199–200
Yangshuo, 327
Yangtze – Nature History and the River (Van Slyke), 408
Yangtze Dam. See Three Gorges Dam
Yangtze Entrance Large Automatic Navigation Buoy, 33, 35
Yangtze First Bridge, 122–4, 202, 281
Yangtze furnaces, 281
Yangtze Patrol (Tolley), 410–11
Yangtze Reminiscences (Torrible), 411
Yangtze Valley and Beyond, The (Bird), 411
Yangtze Valley Planning Office, 245
Yangtze, Yangtze (Dai Qing), 239, 411
Yangzhou, 113–14, 116, 122
Yangzi River, The (Bonavia), 409
Yanshiping, 403
Yao Mao-shu, 352–3, 355, 358
Ye, Dr, 183–6
Yellow Emperor, 362–3
Yellow River, 3, 11, 25, 101, 150, 152, 244n, 293
Yen-yu Stone, 271
Yi people, 301, 303–5, 307–8, 325
Yibin, 295, 313, 344, 350, 358
Yichang, 19, 29, 220, 226, 229, 229, 237, 244, 247–9, 253, 262, 265, 274, 281
Yongning, 303
Young Pioneers 360
Younghusband, Sir Francis, 375–6, 376, 377
Yu Kehua, 97–9
Yu Shan Mountain, 287
Yü the Great, 4, 158, 214, 263–4, 287, 363–5, 366, 367
Yuan Mei, 98, 99
Yuelong Xueshan, 326–7
Yunnan province, 213, 228, 295, 313, 314, 322, 325, 327, 337, 340, 365
Yushu, 350, 353, 356, 377
Zhang Zu Long, 56–7
Zhao Erfang, 377
Zhengjiang, 94, 96–117, 131, 143
Zhengjiang Museum, 104, 111–12
Zhong Sha light, 38, 53
Zhong Shan roads, 125
Zhongbao Island, 231, 258, 261
Zhou Enlai, 148, 257, 313, 314
Zhou Peiyuan, 239
Zhu, Captain, 41, 44
Zhu De, 107, 108, 109
* Myself a Mandarin, required reading for anyone bound for Hong Kong.
* The phrase ‘ten thousand li’ is widely used in China to describe an entity – most notably the Great Wall – that is known for its extreme length. The phrase is not meant to be taken literally – just as well considering the li's notorious flexibility as a unit of measure: an uphill li being longer than a downhill li, a Shanghai li being shorter than a Chengdu li. But the Yangtze benefits from a happy arithmetical accident: the early western railway builders in China fixed a firm definition onto the unit, making one li equivalent to precisely 25/58ths of an English mile. Since the Yangtze measures 3964 miles from source to sea, Wang Hui might consider his fancy vindicated: his ten-thousand-li river is 9200 li from end to end – near enough.
* Yellow, the quintessential Chinese Imperial colour, was only allowed to be worn by the Emperor and Princes of the Blood Royal.
* There had been all kinds of problems. The ships owned by the company had all been built in East Germany for the Volga trade and drew three feet more than was permissible in this unusually low-water autumn. So a journey that normally took three days took five, and involved two boats and a day-long bus journey. The following day the same bus, performing the same portage, crashed, killing three passengers.
* Bunds – waterfront roads – exist in the foreign settlements all along the Yangtze, as well as in Calcutta. But in Hong Kong the road was named the Praya, a linguistic infection prompted by the closeness of Macau, which was run by the Portuguese.
* The efforts of foreign hydrographers were once memorialized along the entire Chinese coastline, from Charlotte Point (near the frontier with today's North Korea) via Shovel-Nosed Shark Island and the Bear and Cubs (outside what was then called Ningpo), Crocodile Island and the Three Chimneys (by the former Foochow), the Cape of Good Hope and the Asses Ears (near the former Amoy), Cape Bastion (China's most southerly point) to Nightingale or Merryman's Island, in the Gulf of Tonkin. But since the 1950s these names have generally vanished. They went not only because of Communism's crusading zeal: the admiralties in London and Washington realized quite quickly that the Chinese had already named everything, and had inscribed the names on their own charts, hundreds of years before any foreign nation had even started to build ships.
* He was released in 1975 but was never allowed to publish his poems again and died in 1980. His daughter insists his heart was broken.
* And excessively bulky pigs at that: Chongming Dao pig farmers were once notorious through all China for injecting their market-bound carcasses with water, to increase the weight and the market price.
* Given that bars are created whenever one moving body of water meets another – when a river meets the ocean, or a lake, or when a river meets another river – it should be added that there is technically a second Yangtze bar, at the place where the river meets the sea, and which Victorian hydrographers named the Fairy Flats. It is two miles wide, and at one time it limited river traffic to ships drawing less than eighteen feet. On a stormy day it can be a furious place – Tennyson would have loved it. But nowadays it no longer really exists – not as a hazard to navigation. In 1935 the Whangpoo Conservancy Board embarked on a scheme to dredge five million tons of mud away from it each year: a channel through Fairy Flats, twenty-seven feet deep at least, is now permanently guaranteed.
* They already had the deck of an old Australian carrier, stripped off the hull and bolted onto an aerodrome runway near Beijing, where it was used for practice.
* Much the same atmosphere of suspicion and secrecy surrounded the construction of the first telegraph cable, which also came into China via Woosung. A Danish company built it, but was told that the infernal cable could not touch any part of the Celestial Empire, but had to be landed on a hulk, moored out in the river. The Danes ignored this and paid the cable secretly out along the Whangpoo, bringing it ashore at night, in a hut. It was some while before the Court found out, by which time the telegraph's value had been indisputably proven.
* The Prisoner, with Patrick McGoohan.
* When funds ran low the
city government created a private company to run the tower, and floated shares on the Shanghai Stock Exchange. Hotel rooms inside the larger pearls will produce, the owners trust, enough of a profit to keep the investors – the Shanghai public – at least happy enough not to want to storm the structure and tear it down.
* It was actually the American Henry Wolcott's Stars and Stripes that flew first in Shanghai, because the British took a while to acquire a flagpole.
* It commemorates the second great campaign of the 1949 revolution, when Mao's soldiers advanced from the Huai River to the sea, and were thus poised to take Shanghai.
* The old man was deluded. Official, but unpublished, figures say that there were 300,000 unemployed in the city in 1996.
* Academics continue to pore over the saga. A study in the China Quarterly showed that in 1903 Regulation Number 1 on the notice board of what was then called the Recreation Ground said ‘No dogs or bicycles are admitted’, and Regulation Number 5, several inches below, read ‘No Chinese are admitted, except servants in attendance upon foreigners.’ That was as close as dog ever came to Chinaman – close enough, though, for the mythmakers (the first of whom was an American journalist named Putnam Weale, who wrote a novel in 1914 mentioning the supposed sign).
* Mao's revolutionary troops entered, on Wednesday 25 May 1949 without any break in the city routine, except that an insomniac radio listener noted that Beethoven's Fifth Symphony was played over and over again during the night. When morning came the Communists were in firm control.
* The trip (in 1986), the first to China by a reigning British monarch, had not been a success, and there was much fodder for the tabloid press. Prince Philip, the Queen's prickly consort, had remarked tactlessly to a Scottish student in Xian that if he stayed much longer he would risk getting ‘slitty eyes’. One paper thereafter referred to him as ‘The Great Wally of China’.
* His position was wrong by about seventy-five miles. But he can hardly be blamed: his charts were torn to pieces and soaked in officers' blood.
* So named by George Orwell, only four years before.
* At one time the project's overseer was a peculiarly cruel man named Ma Shumou, better known as Mahu, the Barbarous One. He was said to have eaten a steamed two-year-old child each day he worked on the Canal – and to this day naughty children are warned by their mothers to behave, ‘or else Mahu will get you!’
The River at the Centre of the World Page 45
