Why read The Chinese Confessions of Charles Welsh Mason?

Book cover of The Chinese Confessions of Charles Welsh Mason

Book description

In this old China tale like no other, Englishman Charles Mason tells of his doomed attempt to overthrow the Qing dynasty.

Lawrence of Arabia famously wrote that, "All men dream: but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to…

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Why read it?

1 author picked The Chinese Confessions of Charles Welsh Mason as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Isham Cook

Author

Charles Welsh Mason, self-described “unconscious martyr of the Antichrist,” for reasons the author himself is only able to ascribe to a “morbid hallucination,” gives up his post, servants, and comfortable life as a young English customs officer in a treaty port in 1890s China for a bizarre plot to lead a band of Chinese rebels to overthrow the Manchu Government and declare himself “King of China.” The scheme unravels when he’s caught with a hoard of illegal arms. Almost unbearable suspense unfolds, masterfully narrated, as the authorities struggle to connect the dots. Even after his arrest Mason is wined and…

From Isham's list on foreigner memoirs of China.