person interested in color photography it was a veritable paradise. We
stayed three weeks and regretfully left for Peking by way of Korea. But
before we continue with the story of our further travels, we would like
briefly to review the political situation in China as a background for our
early work in the province of Fukien.




CHAPTER II


CHINA IN TURMOIL

During the time the Expedition was preparing to leave New York, China was
in turmoil. Yuan Shi-kai was president of the Republic, but the hope of his
heart was to be emperor of China. For twenty years he had plotted for the
throne; he had been emperor for one hundred miserable days; and now he was
watching, impotently, his dream-castles crumble beneath his feet. Yuan was
the strong man of his day, with more power, brains, and personality than
any Chinese since Li-Hung Chang. He always had been a factor in his
political world. His monarchial dream first took definite form as early as
1901 when he became viceroy of Chi-li, the province in which Peking is
situated.

It was then that he began to modernize and get control of the army which is
the great basis of political power in China. Properly speaking, there was
not, and is not now, a Chinese national army. It is rather a collection of
armies, each giving loyalty to a certain general, and he who secures the
support of the various commanders controls the destiny of China's four