Note 41 — Chapter XXIII · SIAO-KIAO TO HSIEH-TIEN-TZE

I must repeat that there are very good inns in Sze Chuan in the cities, i.e. good for China, and at the regular stages, but, besides that I was avoiding cities because of the rough element which they contain, I was travelling less than the usual distance daily, and had to put up with the Chinese equivalent of the “hedge alehouse” accommodation, which the ordinary travelling Chinese would have disdained.