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Audiobook editionPaperback · 6 × 9 in · 128 pagesHardcover · 6 × 9 in · 128 pagesAbout this book
What changes when a traveller stops passing through and chooses to make a life far from home?
In Landscapes of China and Japan, Wenceslau de Moraes gathers impressions of places, customs and beliefs across two countries. A Portuguese writer and former naval officer, he looks from the position of someone who spends much of his adult life in the Far East, rather than someone making a brief visit.
The book moves between landscapes, towns and ways of life in China and Japan, drawing attention to their contrasts. Moraes brings affection to his observations, especially toward the Japanese life he grows close to. The appeal lies not in a fast plot, but in following his eye for everyday things and the beliefs surrounding them.
What you’ll discover
- Two countries side by side Explore China and Japan through the contrasts that draw Moraes from places to ways of life.
- The value of staying Follow observations rooted in long experience rather than the impressions of a short visit.
- Everyday things in focus Look closely at the customs and ordinary details that hold this resident writer’s attention.
- Beliefs within the landscape Encounter places through the beliefs Moraes gathers alongside his impressions of towns and daily life.
- An affectionate European eye Discover a Portuguese writer’s closeness to Japanese life, while keeping his personal viewpoint in sight.
Who will love it
You will love this if you enjoy folk tales of dragons, mermaids and painted cats, travel notebooks from old Macau and Kobe, or the confiding voice of a writer who laughs and mourns together.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Nature becomes a human story
- Seasons reveal what people value
- Kindness and wit meet the supernatural
- Sacred figures reflect their keepers
- Humor becomes a way of seeing
- Compassion reaches across opposing graves
- Small gifts carry deep meaning
- Beauty stands beside desire and cost
- The observer belongs in the picture
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Landscapes of China and Japan in 25 languages, side by side, paragraph by paragraph, once the book texts are online: the way to learn a language with a book you love.
Landscapes of China and Japan
by Wenceslau de Moraes · 1906
A mermaid, a jellyfish and a clay goddess of laughter fill a Portuguese writer's notebook of Macau and Japan.
Challenging2–5 hours to read20 languages
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“Japan belongs to the Japanese, and to the Japanese alone.”
In short
Picture a bride in a gold palanquin, stopping her wedding procession beside a forgotten grave on a mountain. She steps down, kneels and kisses the earth.
Landscapes of China and Japan at a glance
- Reading time
- About 2 h 45 min2 h 10 min fast, 3 h 15 min slow
- Length
- 39,100 words
- Library level
- Challenging long sentences, a rich vocabulary
- First published
- 1906by Wenceslau de Moraes
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
Legends explain why nature looks as it does
The book opens with two origin tales, one Chinese and one Japanese. Where do butterflies come from, and why does the jellyfish have no shape?
The first is the legend of Choc-In-Toi, a girl from a village on the Yangtze. She longs to study, so she dresses as a man and attends the empire's most famous university for three years. Her classmate Leun-San-Pac becomes her inseparable companion and never guesses her secret. He comes to her village too late. Her parents have already chosen a husband, and Moraes stresses that obedience to parents is the foundation of Chinese moral life. So the girl bows her head, and the wedding procession sets out. Before she reaches her new home, the bride asks for a small detour.
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A mermaid, a jellyfish and a clay goddess of laughter fill a Portuguese writer's notebook of Macau and Japan.
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Details
- First published
- 1906
- Language
- English
- Level
- Challenging
- Paperback
- 128 pages · 6 × 9 in
- Hardcover
- 128 pages · 6 × 9 in
- Large print paperback
- 204 pages · 6 × 9 in
- Large print hardcover
- 204 pages · 6 × 9 in
- Delivery and returns
- Printed when you order. Usually here in 12 to 14 days.Arrives Wed 2 Dec to Tue 8 Decto United States, printed for you at cost
For Christmas, order by Thu 12 Nov
Cite this edition
Moraes, Wenceslau de. Landscapes of China and Japan. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/landscapes-of-china-and-japan.
Moraes, W. de. (2026). Landscapes of China and Japan. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/landscapes-of-china-and-japan (Original work published 1906)
Moraes, Wenceslau de. Landscapes of China and Japan. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/landscapes-of-china-and-japan.
@book{moraes2026landscapes,
author = {Moraes, Wenceslau de},
title = {Landscapes of China and Japan},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/landscapes-of-china-and-japan},
note = {First published 1906}
}
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What is Landscapes of China and Japan about?
It is a collection of retold Chinese and Japanese legends, seasonal sketches and essays. Moraes writes about festivals, temples, art, mermaids, demons and cemeteries, always from the viewpoint of a Portuguese exile who admires what he sees.
Who was Wenceslau de Moraes?
He was a Portuguese writer who died in 1929 and who lived in Macau and then Kobe. He wrote books on Japan, and this one gathers impressions and tales, with a dedication to Camillo Pessanha and João Vasco expressing his longing for them.
Are the stories in Landscapes of China and Japan true or folklore?
The tales are folklore, such as the legend of the butterflies, the jellyfish, Issumboshi and Urashima. The essays and sketches describe real places, people and events, including the 1868 Sakai incident, seen through the author's own impressions.
The author
Wenceslau de Moraes
1854–1929 · Portuguese writer
Wenceslau de Moraes was a Portuguese writer and naval officer, born in Lisbon in 1854. He lived in Macau before moving to Japan in 1898. He wrote books and essays about China and Japan. In 1913 he settled in Tokushima, Japan, where he lived until his death in 1929.
“Japan belongs to the Japanese, and to the Japanese alone.”
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