WOMEN TRAVELLERS IN CHINA.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

Honeymoon diary of Constance Bell Wolfe-Barry (née Cree, 1908-1978). A lively account of a young woman's first encounters with China, with descriptions of the sights and sounds of Swatow, Fuzhou, Weihaiwei, Tianjin, and Beijing. On 23 December 1930, she married Lieutenant John Gerald Wolfe-Barry (1906-1991), Royal Artillery, at the cathedral in Hong Kong, where he was stationed. The Wolfe-Barry family had connections to the colony via their engineering firm, Sir John Wolfe Barry and Partners. The pair honeymooned the following May.This volume, one of two kept by Wolfe-Barry during the trip (the other has not survived), covers the journey northward. Swatow and Fuzhou made particular impressions, Fuzhou being great for shopping but also full of "violently bolshie" students (in the opinion of a European local, the city is "an absolute death-trap"). Also appearing in the narrative is the captain's dog, Buster, who helped onboard ship by "devouring such morsels as on the rougher nights we find unpalatable" (p. 30). Tianjin was memorable for the number of Russians then in the city, and in Beijing they visited the legation quarter, the Forbidden City, and other popular haunts.Accompanying the diary is another volume, which includes Wolfe-Barry's diary from 25 February to 26 March 1930 and a few later remarks by her husband on their wedding day, honeymoon, and family history.

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