This eBook, while building on the 1985 revised edition, takes a different approach. I hope to provide access to the original publication with less editorial mediation but more American context. My eBook, therefore, provides not only a transcription as faithful to the original book as digitally possible, but also pictures of each of its pages. Also included are select American press reports with hyperlinks to relevant parts of the traveler's account.
For more information, please see my online project at http://scalar.usc.edu/works/firstchinesetraveler/.
A note about the author’s names and the book title's translation
The author calls himself 林綤㿝景周 (Lin Shao Xiang Jin Zhou) or 林綤㿝 (Lin Shao Xiang) in his book, but those who wrote supplements simply call him [林]景周 ([Lin] Jin Zhou) . However, without any editorial note, the 1986 revised edition replaces 林綤㿝 (Lin Shao Xiang) with 林鍼 (Lin Zhen or Lin Qian) as the author's name. The latter does NOT appear in the original publication on which this eBook is based. To stay true to the author, I keep 林綤㿝 (Lin Shao Xiang) as his name.
Lin probably used the transliterated name “Lin King Chew” when he traveled to the United States. This name appears in several American press reports of the time, and it is phonetically close to one of his Chinese names, 林景周 (Lin Jin Zhou). The front cover of this eBook’s source has an inscription of another transliterated name: "Lin Kung King"; however, the Chinese counterpart for this transliteration, 林君 景, is not the author's correct name. I therefore adopt "Lin King Chew" as the author’s English name for this eBook. However, please note that American newspapers and periodicals of the time used other incorrectly transliterated names for Lin, including, for example, "Ling Keng Chow" and "Sin Ken Chem."
As for the book title, the front cover has an inscription of its English translation: “Reminiscences of Western Travels.” I do not know if it was Lin’s translation, which was a possibility. Since this is a good translation, I use it for this eBook’s English title.
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End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of First Chinese Traveler to the United States, by Shao Xiang Lin