Henry Lansdell was one of the great travellers of the Victorian age. Unlike many explorers of the time he refused to see these remote lands as simply regions of thrills and barbarity. His cultural openness and scrupulous attention to detail combined to provide detailed accounts free from the usual racial and religious prejudices found in the works of the day. As a result his writing is of immense value. Chinese Central Asia details Lansdell's journey across the Tian Shan Mountains and into Western China, a journey of some 9,000 miles in all. He offers detailed descriptions of the people,...