Excerpt from Chance Change in China As we stepped on shore at Hongkong, behold the streets were gay with many coloured flags in honour of the birth Of the People's Kingdom. Ahigh Official in the Imperial service, hurrying With all speed to Peking, laughed sceptically at the mere suggestion. Who is this Sun Yat Sen he said, many in the north have not even heard his name. Our Imperial friend, however, preferred not to go on shore at Hongkong. He stayed in seclusion on board the steamer and took the precaution to have his queue removed before our arrival in Shanghai. Hongkong was certainly a little premature in its rejoicings, but during those first momentous days of the Chinese Republic some confusion arose in regard to dates. I remember no fewer than three New Year's days, one according to the Western calendar, one by order of the Nanking Government on January 1sth, and one on the Old Chinese date at the beginning Of February. In Shanghai the new era showed itself in many ways. Rents of houses, of every kind of lodging, rose by leaps and bounds, for all the world had brought his wife and his Wealth to dwell in the safety of foreign Concessions until the storm had blown past. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.