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What if the officials most certain of their own goodness are the ones who do the greatest harm?
Lao Can travels through Shandong with a doctor's bell, treating the sick and listening to the people he meets. He holds no official post and seeks no grand career. In Liu E's The Travels of Lao Can, his road leads through beautiful places and into the lives of villagers who suffer under cruel officials.
The journey unfolds in episodes across an empire in decline. In Jinan, springs, willows and Daming Lake invite close attention. Elsewhere, judges such as Gang Bi take pride in refusing bribes, yet their certainty brings harm to the accused. Behind each encounter lies a troubling question: what good is virtue when it blinds people to the damage they cause?
What you’ll discover
- A doctor who listens Follow Lao Can as he notices suffering and helps where he can.
- Beauty beside injustice Explore Jinan's water, willows and pavilions alongside the harsh realities of official rule.
- The danger of certainty Meet judges whose pride in their honesty leaves little room for doubt or mercy.
- A river with consequences See how threatened floods make practical knowledge a matter of survival for whole districts.
- Good intentions under scrutiny Consider the gap between meaning well and doing good in a troubled nation.
Who will love it
You will enjoy this book if you love wandering heroes, clever detective work, vivid landscapes and music. It suits anyone who likes a warm, humane voice that cares about justice.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A ship drifts without shared direction
- A singer earns respect through talent
- Lao Can chooses inquiry over flattery
- A prefect turns certainty into terror
- Public order need not require terror
- Wisdom lives beyond official rooms
- Kindness works through an awkward disguise
- An honest reputation cannot replace evidence
- Justice needs courage and knowledge
Who’s who
- Lao CanA traveling doctor who rings a handbell, loves old books and cares about justice, and uses his freedom to learn what officials never see.
- Yu XianThe prefect of Caozhou, praised by his superiors for stopping crime, who fills the standing cages with people he never proves guilty.
- Governor ZhangThe governor of Shandong, who wants talented advisers for the Yellow River works and believes he is doing right.
- Shen DongzaoAn acting county magistrate who does not want to rule by terror and asks Lao Can how to keep his people safe.
- Liu RenfuA skilled martial artist who knows the code of the bandit world and prefers farming quietly in the mountains.
- Huang RenruiA river official with an easy manner, fond of opium and jokes, who helps Lao Can save a girl from the brothel.
- CuihuanA young singing girl from a family ruined by the flood, who wants to protect her little brother and escape cruelty.
- Bai ZishouA prefect famed for honest and careful judgment, who clears an innocent family in a single hearing.
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The Travels of Lao Can
by Liu E · 1903
A wandering doctor with a handbell sets out to expose a cruel prefect and save a family from a false murder charge.
Medium level5–10 hours to read20 languages
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“Tyrannical government is fiercer than a tiger”
In short
A traveling doctor dreams of a great ship sinking in a storm, and the dream sets the question for everything that follows. Who is steering the empire, and who pays for their mistakes?
The Travels of Lao Can at a glance
- Reading time
- About 5 h 40 min4 h 30 min fast, 6 h 45 min slow
- Length
- 81,100 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
- First published
- 1903by Liu E
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
A Dream of a Sinking Ship
The book begins with a dream. Lao Can dozes off at a rich man's house and finds himself with two friends at Penglai Pavilion, watching a stormy sea through telescopes.
A huge ship is in terrible danger. Countless passengers sit wet and hungry on the open deck. The men who tend the eight sails each work alone, and the sailors strip passengers of food and clothes. Lao Can says the crew is not evil but lost, because they have no compass. So the three set out in a fishing boat to bring one.
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Details
- First published
- 1903
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 1 h 0 min
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Liu, E. The Travels of Lao Can. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-travels-of-lao-can.
Liu, E. (2026). The travels of Lao Can. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-travels-of-lao-can (Original work published 1903)
Liu, E. The Travels of Lao Can. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-travels-of-lao-can.
@book{liu2026travels,
author = {Liu, E},
title = {The Travels of Lao Can},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-travels-of-lao-can},
note = {First published 1903}
}
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What is The Travels of Lao Can about?
It follows a traveling doctor named Lao Can through Shandong. He hears how a cruel prefect treats the people, helps friends rescue a girl, and then works to solve a murder case that has trapped an innocent family.
Who is Lao Can?
Lao Can, whose real name is Tie Ying, is an educated man who never passed the exams. He lives by ringing a handbell and healing patients, which lets him move freely among officials and ordinary villagers.
When was The Travels of Lao Can written?
Liu E wrote it in the final years of the Qing dynasty, in the early twentieth century. It is fiction, but it draws on real conditions such as Yellow River floods and harsh local rule.
The author
Liu E
1857–1909 · Chinese Qing dynasty novelist
Liu E (1857–1909) was a Chinese writer who lived during the late Qing dynasty. He was born in Jiangsu province. His novel The Travels of Lao Can began appearing in 1903. He also worked on river management and collected antiquities. He died in exile in Xinjiang.
“Tyrannical government is fiercer than a tiger”
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