Bamboo Sprouts and Maple Buds

Martin Johns spent the first twelve years of his life in West China, as the eldest son of missionary parents. In this book he colourfully describes the routines of daily life, travel, and the cultural differences his family encountered. He shares his stories of ‘cottaging’ in rural China, building forts and playing boyhood pranks. Side by side with his stories, this book features over a hundred brush paintings depicting everyday scenes of life in China. Martin discovered these paintings in a box of his father’s papers and learned that they were painted by the man who worked as the Johns’ gatekeeper in Chengdu. They provide a great visual complement to Martin’s descriptions of Chinese scenes. This unique memoir offers a rare personal glimpse into the world of the missionary movement in West China at the beginning of the twentieth century.