1913 Dr. E. Kyle Simpson's First Yangtze River Voyage
Item
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Title
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1913 Dr. E. Kyle Simpson's First Yangtze River Voyage
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Description
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Rev. Dr. Edward Kyle Simpson (known as Kyle) was born on the Scane Sideroad in Howard Township, Ontario, in 1883. After receiving his teachers’ certificate, serving a year as a student minister in Essex County, Ontario, and receiving his medical degree in 1912, Kyle joined the Canadian Methodist Mission and embarked for China in January of 1913. His steamer, the SS Monteagle, set ground in Tokyo on Feb. 12, 1913. Kyle and his party spent some time in Tokyo visiting sites and resident Protestant missionaries. The party then pushed on to Shanghai where Kyle purchased some supplies before boarding a steamer for travel up the Yangtze River towards Sichuan.
It is not clear how long Kyle spent in Shanghai or on board the steamer to Wuhan (Hankow), and then on a smaller steamer to Yichang, which he reached by Feb. 23rd, 1913. In Yichang, Kyle’s party transferred to a smaller houseboat to traverse the Yangtze Gorges. They stopped in Chongqing long enough to visit the missionary community across the river from the city, and then continued by houseboat to Luzhou, where he was stationed for language study for several years, while conducting some medical work among the Chinese.
This event presents the photos that E. Kyle Simpson took and acquired of his first trip up the Yangtze River. He was a keen observer of culture, history, economic pursuits and engineering, taking photos of interesting things he encountered along the way. Most of the photos of the missionary party were taken by someone else with him in the photo.
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Event Date
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1913-02 to 1913-03
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Provenance
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E. Kyle Simpson photos curated by Alice Estabrook Simpson - captions written by her. In the care of Kyle Jolliffe.
Chinese_Kite.jpg
