"Spectacular" In "Ruins"

Mrs.Archibald Little(1845-1926)was one of the most representative western women in China in late Qing Dynasty(1644-1912).Round about My Peking Garden,written by Mrs.Archibald Little,is one of the many British travel books about China in the 20th century.It is perhaps the only one that focuses exclusively on the author’s experience of Beijing.It recorded what she saw,heard and felt in Beijing from 1900 to 1902,and described the "spectacular" Beijing in her eyes,though it was full of "ruins" against the background of the Eight-Power Allied Forces’invasion of Beijing and other parts of China in the wake of the suppression of the Boxers.Based on the imagology of comparative literature,this paper analyses Round My Peking Garden from three aspects.Firstly,the image of Beijing in Round About My Peking Garden is presented from four aspects:"scenery","incidents ","customs" and "inhabitants " of Beijing.In the meanwhile,it traces back to the images of Beijing in the classic travel books about China from the Middle Ages to the 19th century,and shows the overall characteristics and changes of the image of Beijing from a diachronic perspective and thus the uniqueness of the image of Beijing in Round About My Peking Garden is revealed.The last part summarizes the characteristics of the image of Beijing in Round about My Peking Garden and analyzes the rationale of them.This paper finds that from the perspective of historical changes,the image of Beijing in Mrs.Little’s Round about My Beijing Garden can be considered as a reaction to the dominant negative Western image of China in the 19th century,especially after the Opium War between China and Britain.It attempts to find the past glory in the declining city of Beijing and foretell the bright future.From the perspective of synchronic comparison,Round about My Peking Garden is unique compared with its contemporaneous works.Firstly,Beijing is the fundamental focus of the whole book.Secondly,the female perspective is obvious.At the same time,keeping up with the technical development of the times,the photo illustration and presentation is more prominent.Finally,the comparative thinking,especially the comparison between Beijing with other Chinese cities,is more vivid,which highlights the uniqueness of Beijing.