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A. D. BLUE
Shanghai, travelled by junk from Yochow to Pingsan on the Yunnan border, 1800 miles from the mouth of the river; but were then forced to turn back because of the unsettled state of the country.
In 1894, the Australian A. G. Morrison,15 successfully completed a somewhat similar journey. Travelling alone and by the customary methods, Morrison went up the Yangtse from Shanghai to Chungking, and then across Western China and the Shan States into Burma, a total distance of 3,000 miles. Morrison was unable to speak Chinese, but travelled in Chinese dress, and experienced nothing but kindness and hospitality all the way. He went from Shanghai to Hankow as a deck passenger on the Jardine steamer Taiwo, paying a dollar a day extra to the steward for foreign 'chow'. From Hankow to Ichang he again travelled as a deck passenger on the China Merchants steamer Kweili, then the only triple screw steamer on the river. At that time Ichang was the last open port on the river, and no foreign ships went past there. For the next stage to Chungking, therefore, Morrison hired a small sampan called a "weipan", with a captain and crew of four. This stage of nearly 400 miles through the Yangtse Gorges took 15 days, which was a record at the time, and cost him the equivalent of £2-16-0 in copper cash.
In his journey up the river Morrison noticed that many of the largest trading junks flew foreign flags, thus avoiding paying “likin” at the various provincial and regional boundaries. Under treaty regulations they only paid an ad valorem duty of 5% on their cargo, which was collected by the Chinese Maritime Customs at Ichang or Chungking. Morrison left the river soon after Chungking, and travelled overland for the remainder of his journey. He found food plentiful and cheap everywhere, and opium growing all along the Chinese section of his route. The total cost of his whole journey from Shanghai to Bhamo was under £20.
Sir Reginald Johnston, a British consular official, followed fairly closely in Morrison's footsteps in 1906. He started from Peking, going from there to Hankow by rail, and then up beyond Chungking by steamer and junk, finally going overland to Mandalay.
15 Later to become famous as "Chinese Morrison" of the Times.