8 h 3 minAudiobook16 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
Held captive in southern China, how do you keep fear from taking command?
In Held by Chinese Brigands, Charles Gilson takes readers into a kidnapping and a hard struggle to survive. Captivity puts the heroes in the hands of people who control their fate. Courage matters, but so do patience and the ability to think clearly when danger leaves little room for error.
This is an old-fashioned adventure in the boys’ story tradition, where distant places test nerve, loyalty and wit. Gilson’s brisk, direct style keeps the focus on danger and endurance. His view of China also reflects a British writer’s early twentieth-century outlook: part of reading the story today is noticing the limits of that view.
What you’ll discover
- Courage under pressure Discover an adventure that puts courage to the test when freedom is taken away.
- The strain of waiting Explore captivity as a trial of patience as well as a struggle against fear.
- Wits against hard odds Follow a survival story where clear thinking matters alongside the nerve to act.
- Loyalty in danger Explore the place of loyalty in an adventure built around captivity and survival.
- A period perspective Read with an eye for the assumptions that shape this British author’s portrayal of China.
Who will love it
For readers who love old-fashioned adventure with kidnappers, disguises, river chases and a giant villain who quotes the sages, and for anyone curious about South China as an English storyteller saw it.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A talkative American meets a careful judge
- A servant sells his master in an opium den
- The temple in the mountains is a trap
- The ransom note and the cave prison
- Frank slips away and meets a kind stranger
- A giant seizes Frank and hunts Men-Ching
- Ling takes command of the opium den
- Yung How's fire and the trap for Cheong-Chau
- What the story is really about
- How the story is told
Who’s who
- Frank ArmitageA sixteen-year-old Hong Kong boy who speaks Cantonese like a native and must use his wits and nerve to save his uncle and a friend.
- Sir Thomas ArmitageA Hong Kong judge and student of Chinese religions who travels to an old temple and meets danger with calm.
- Hennessy K. WaldronA rich, talkative Nevada traveler who wants to see temples and faces kidnappers with jokes and a steady eye.
- Yung HowThe judge's silent servant of seven years, trapped by opium and tempted to sell his master for a share of a ransom.
- Cheong-ChauA small, cruel brigand chief in a scarlet coat who demands twenty thousand dollars for his prisoners and cares nothing for oaths.
- LingA giant scholar and robber from Honan who quotes Confucius, crushes his enemies, and wants the ransom for himself.
- Ah WuThe fat, crafty owner of a Canton opium den who helps plan the kidnapping and fears the giant who storms in.
Formats and delivery
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- Large-print eBook
- The same book in bigger, clearer type, from the first page.
- Audiobook
- 8 h 3 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 16 minutes, to read or to hear.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
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In der Gewalt chinesischer Räuber
Two travelers and a boy fall to a brigand chief in the Nan-ling Mountains, and a giant named Ling wants the ransom.
Medium level5–10 hours to read25 languages
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In short
Held by Chinese Brigands is an adventure novel by Charles Gilson, written for young readers in the early twentieth century. It is set in southern China, between the harbor of Hong Kong and the wild Nan-ling Mountains.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A talkative American meets a careful judge
The book opens above the harbor of Hong Kong, which the author describes as one of the loveliest in the world. Beyond the water lies Canton, and beyond Canton a huge stretch of country drained by the West River. The author warns that this land is home to pirates and brigands who fear no gunboat, and he names one of them, Cheong-Chau, who rules from the foot of the mountains.
Then the story turns to Hennessy K. Waldron of Paradise City, Nevada. He made his money from cattle, silver, a patented eggbeater and pigs, and he is now on a trip around the world that has already lasted two and a half years. He carries so many letters of introduction that he needs a tin-lined box for them. He believes he can see South China in six weeks.
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What is Held by Chinese Brigands about?
It follows a Hong Kong judge, his teenage nephew Frank and a wealthy American who are kidnapped by a brigand chief in South China. Frank escapes and tries to deliver word to Hong Kong, but a giant outlaw named Ling stands in his way.
Who is Ling in Held by Chinese Brigands?
Ling is a very tall scholar and robber from Honan who quotes Confucius, carries a jeweled knife and fears no one. He wants the ransom money for himself and forces Frank to help him.
Where is the Glade of Children's Tears?
It is a wooded clearing with ruined temple walls and fallen idols on the Sang River, north of Canton. The brigands order the ransom hidden there under a red stone, and the whole plot moves toward it.
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