BOOK REVIEWS
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Nonetheless, despite these flaws in relating earlier scholarship on this subject and related studies, the real value of this book is that it is the first written in English and devoted to the chu-kung-tiao among Chinese folk literature.
University of Hong Kong, 1975.
CHUANG SHEN
THE NINE SACRED MOUNTAINS OF CHINA, AN ILLUSTRATED RECORD OF PILGRIMAGES MADE IN THE YEARS 1935-36, by Mary Augusta Mullikin and Anna M. Hotchkis. Vetch and Lee Ltd., Hong Kong 1973, 155 pages, 22 coloured reproductions, 56 black and white reproductions, including 3 drawn maps, 10 vignette drawings and 13 pages of valuable index, where the Chinese characters are added to the Wade-Giles romanizations.
The book carries a short epilogue in which these two intelligent and enterprising ladies phrase the quintessence of their travelogue: by telling a story with the meaning that happiness is to have just enough for the most simple daily needs, to be free from worldly cares and to have the freedom to wander through the world at will. It was this view of life that gave them the stamina to visit, in just one year, the nine sacred mountains which are spread all over China under the prevailing, most adverse, conditions.
Their being able to artistically record their fresh impressions enables the reader to get a first-hand information through ink-sketches. Moods are conveyed by ink and wash, water-colour or pastel techniques. A. M. Hotchkis has produced 76 of the 88 illustrations. The other 12 are by M. A. Mullikin, including the sketch-maps. These illustrations depict with great skill the landscapes they travelled through, the various means of travelling they used, the mountains and the shapes of their trees, the monastic buildings in their surrounding scenery and their atmosphere and architectural details, temple interiors, and those who live and travel there, the monks and pilgrims.
The text is kept in the form of a diary which lets the reader closely follow each step in the realistic proportions of time and space, adding vivid descriptions of sights and sounds. The text transmits precise information by giving all the proper names in