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 3 Sailing up the Yangtze River to Hankow Back in the mists of time, when the gods were maneuvering for power over the Celestial Kingdom, Emperor Yu Wang seized control of the rivers. —sen li-fu, from the chinese myth “son of the ocean” Protect us oh Lord from the wrath of the Norseman. —english book of pr ayer The stay in Shanghai was short. The following evening at dusk the three American missionaries, along with the Norwegian missionary Sigvald Netland and the Chinese evangelist Sen Li-fu, set off from the China Inland Mission compound to Foochow wharf, where they boarded a wobbly tender to reach the Ta-tung, a British steamboat anchored in the Huangpu River. The squat double-decker was due to sail at dawn from the Huangpu River to where it joined the chocolate waters at the mouth of the Yangtze and proceed seven hundred miles up the great river to Hankow, in Hubei Province, where Reverend Ronning planned to open his mission. The December air was cold and bitter. The missionaries were obliged to outmaneuver hundreds of agile Chinese passengers scrambling up a rickety wooden gangplank. But when they stood exhausted on deck looking at the dazzling array of lantern lights glittering from the streets of Shanghai, they forgot everything except the wonder of the Orient. Hannah looked expectantly upriver toward their unknown destiny but saw only a wide expanse of purple mystery. The Yangtze rises from the perpetual melting snows of the Tibetan Mountains and cascades downward through awesome canyons of its own carving. It twists and brawls its way through deep valleys until it finally spreads wings and gracefully sweeps across the alluvial plains of central China to the sprawling city of Shanghai, which is built entirely on the silt brought down over the centuries by the Huangpu and Yangtze and deposited at the mouth of the river. Sen Li-fu had paid in advance for reserved comfortable cabins near the observation saloon. When they arrived on the top deck and tried to claim their cabins, sailing up the yangtze river to hankow  29 however, the British captain told them that all the first-class cabins, indeed, the whole upper deck, had been commandeered by a pompous Manchu magistrate from Peking. When Halvor objected, the British captain apologized, saying he had orders from Peking, and suggested the missionaries take another steamer next week. Mr. Netland was outraged. The captain pointed out that foreigners did not have extraterritorial privileges at sea and offered them two cabins on the lower deck. Their protests were interrupted by the figure of the Manchu magistrate walking toward them leading a full entourage. Hannah and Thea were fascinated by the procession. The Manchu’s portly body was draped in a dark-blue, padded silk gown, and on his head perched a black satin cap with a wide, turned-up brim, crowned with a red button of rank. Directly behind him marched his two Manchu wives and six Manchu concubines looking like wax dolls in long satin robes and short brocade jackets. On their puffed, lacquered hair they wore the Manchu headdress, an enormous butterfly of black stiffened gauze anchored with pins of gold inlaid with a mix of jade, lapis lazuli, kingfisher feathers, cinnabar, and pearls. Their faces, except for bright red circles on their high cheekbones, had been painted and powdered stark white with rice flour. Their embroidered shoes with thick cloth soles were raised by a square wooden heel in the middle of the sole. The Manchu women were not crippled by bound feet like the upper-class Chinese women. Behind the women came some Chinese servant girls with natural feet and then a retinue of Chinese eunuchs with long pigtails wearing flashy robes embroidered with gold dragons. The Manchus had ruled that all servants and eunuchs must be Chinese and all concubines Manchu. They were followed by aides, sycophants, and small slave girls. The Chinese men were easily distinguished from the Manchus by their long queues and semi-shaven heads. When the magistrate saw the foreigners, he put his hands together in the Chinese greeting. The Americans did the same. At the sight of the fair-haired, blue-eyed ladies in Western clothing, the Manchu women erupted into giggles and high-pitched chatter. The captain bowed to the Manchu and ushered him into the main cabin. His entourage occupied all the other first-class cabins. Two massive eunuchs, with sabers hanging from their satin...

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