Travels in North and Central China

This travel journal by John Grant Birch documents his business journeys throughout north and central China in 1899. After the end of the Opium Wars between the British and Chinese, there was a rush by European nations to claim both land and spheres of influence within China. This resulted in European explorations into remote parts of China, as well as records of those journeys, as seen in the publication of travel journals, maps, photographs, and artistic renderings. Birch was a businessman and entrepreneur interested in taking advantage of the favorable economic opportunities afforded to foreigners, and his journal revolves around his desire to establish a government contract that would give him rights to railway construction and control in China. -Written by Celia Bugno