Overview

An Epic of the East is a rare historical document written by American missionary Sarah Moore Sites in the late nineteenth century, recording the earliest footprints of Western missionaries in Fujian, China. Through vivid daily observations and delicate spiritual reflections, she preserves a first-hand account of the people, customs, landscapes, schools, churches, river routes, and social conditions of Fujian in the mid-to-late Qing dynasty. This translation restores the original tone of the 1902 edition while providing clear, elegant contemporary English/Chinese readability. As both translator and editor, Dejuan Fang adds careful footnotes, cultural clarifications, and historical supplements, enabling modern readers to understand the worldview of a woman who wrote across cultures more than 120 years ago. This book is not merely a missionary memoir-it is a cultural document, a cross-civilization encounter, and a rare feminine perspective on early Sino-Western contact. It is history, literature, faith narrative, and personal witnessing woven into one.

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9798994070437

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Dejuan Fang (pen name Liu Mei) is a poet, essayist, and bilingual translator originally from Hunan, China. Her writing draws on the memories and landscapes of her early life by the Lishui River, blending lyrical clarity with finely observed detail. Her poetry is known for its subtle imagery and emotional depth, while her nonfiction explores family stories, women's experiences, and the quiet resonance of memory. Working across both Chinese and English, she has published collections of poetry and essays, and her translation practice reflects literary sensitivity and cultural insight. In An Epic of the East, she renders late-nineteenth-century English prose into elegant modern Chinese, preserving the emotional truth of the original while giving it renewed clarity for contemporary readers.

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