As a Chinaman Saw Us

Compared, in the Preface by Henry Pearson Gratton, to Mrs. Trollope's "The Domestic Manners of the American's, this work is applauded for its "caustic [and] amusing treatment of America and Americans." Selected from a series of letters written to a friend in China between 1892 and 1902, the observations contained within this 1904 work showcase the anonymous man's observations of American manners and mores. In the juxtaoposition of Gratton's Preface with the passages written by the unnamed Chinaman, one can see the prejudices each countryman held for members of the other's society. This is not a description of a physical journey, but rather a commentary on the people in New York, New England, the Mid-Atlantic, and Chicago, seen through the lens Chinese culture and social mores.