Northern China 2008
As well as being the year of the Beijing Olympics 2008 also marks the centenary anniversary of the Clark and Sowerby Expedition through Northern China. Clark’s plan for the original expedition was to start out from Beijing and head west, passing through Taiyuan, Yulin, Yan’an and Lanzhou. From there they would head south skirting the border of Tibet until reaching Chengdu where they would catch a ferry down the Yangtze River to Shanghai. A total distance of more than 3700 miles, most of it to be completed on horseback using mules and carts to carry their equipment. The aims of the expedition were to survey the whole route followed (of which few maps existed) including geological observations, to collect zoological specimens and photographs and to take astronomical and meteorological observations at all of the large towns visited.
The tragic death of the interpreter Hazrat Ali in Lanzhou meant that expedition was cut short and Clark was never able to complete his epic journey. This summer to mark the hundredth anniversary and to celebrate the contributions that Clark made to western knowledge of China, we intend to complete his original expedition and record the changes that have taken place.
The original expedition was recorded in the book “Through Shen-kan. The Account of the Clark Expedition in North China, 1908-9” by Robert Sterling Clark and Arthur de C. Sowerby. It includes many photographs and paintings as well as detailed descriptions of all the places visited by the expedition. Using this as our reference we will be able to record observations of the changes that have taken place over the last 100 years. Throughout the journey we will be keeping a blog that will be updated from the field.
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