Mr. Owen Lattimore and his wife planned a trip to Manchuria, a large province of China. They hoped to live there for a year. Lattimore reports in "Byroads and Backwoods of Manchuria: Where Violent Contrasts of Modernism and Unaltered Ancient Tradition Clash," National Geographic Magazine, January, 1932. The couple traveled under a fellowship from the Social Science Research Council, and "planned a general survey of the historical background of this fascinating country" (p. 100). At that time, there was a phenomenal migration of more than one million Chinese migrants entering Manchuria each year.
Manchuria is located south and west of Russia and has a land area larger than France and Spain combined. Japan had a significant investment in Manchuria, especially in railroads. Travel in this area of the world was hazardous in 1932 due to bandits. Mr. Lattimore generally traveled in General Tsou, the ruling general's car with soldiers for his protection.
FYI: A "yurt" is a round felt tent used by the Mongols while they build permanent homes. "As it wears out, they plaster it with mud, until finally it becomes a round mud hut, used as a storehouse" (p. 115). The Mongols are a Manchurian tribe descended from the warrior Kublai Khan.
The couple motored to Welakai in a bus so crowded that "nobody can get out unless everybody gets out." They were expected and treated well because local officials were told, "they are pets of the governor's, and if anything happens to them you know what to expect" (p. 116).
The whole town turned out to see the foreigners who wanted to study the language of Manchu. "Manchu is not, like Chinese, written with characters, but with an alphabet" (p. 118). The population got familiar with them soon.
They next journeyed to the towns of Dairen and Star Beach, a seaside resort. The Manchurian coast was an interesting mix of Chinese, Chinese-Russians, Russians, and Japanese, few of whom could speak the others' language.
Mr. Lattimore, by himself on a trip on a steamer trip on the Sungari River, was the singular American. He could speak Chinese and was the focus of much speculation. Some of his shipmates had heard of America but wasn't sure what he was: "A tribe belonging to Russia or a tribe belonging to us?" Others were more well[-informed: "America is the richest country in the world. . .They have no soldiers, when it comes to a war, they just hire other nations to fight for them." (126). The steamer was impossibly crowded. A guard was aboard in case of pirate attacks.
In the accounts of religious origins in different parts of the world, I find so many parallels to the Christian religion. The original Manchu ancestor, Aisin Gioro, was put in a birch-bark cradle and floated on a river. When the fighting men from three clans saw the cradle, "they stopped fighting and said, "Let us make peace, and take this child and make him prince over all of us." This reminded me of the Old Testament of the Bible's account of the saving of Moses.
In the most northern region of Manchuria, the name of the Amur River, which divides the territory from Russia, is a Russian word which means "peace." The author feels that "the Chinese name, Black Dragon River, seems more appropriate" (p. 130). The skirmishes were endless at that time.
Mr. Lattimer yearned for more travel in Manchuria but made a hasty return to Peiping (Peking, China) after an attack of dysentery, to join his wife. He looked forward to the land of "Manchuria, with its strange American contrasts of pioneer settlements and great modern cities, and its "melting pot" of diverse races" (p. 130).
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