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 Title: “Launching the Balloon” 演放气球 Year: 1889 Volume: 13 Page Number: 3 Caption Translation: Balloons were invented in the West and have been very beneficial for guiding armies, yet they have remained a novelty for Chinese people. In August, The Tianjin Military School made a balloon, and filled it with oxygen and nitrogen gas. Upon completion, the commanders of the navy and the Sheng Army, the heads of all the troops, and almost everyone in the city, expectant and full of enthusiasm, came to watch the demonstration of balloon flying. Initially, Ding Yuting, the admiral of the Beijing Navy, and Liu Zixiang, the junior provost of the Beiyang fleet, sat in the basket. An order of ascent was then issued, and the balloon rose to the height of about one hundred feet, and finally on blowing a whistle, started to descend. Thereafter, the two generals (?) Jiazhi and Tanweifu, (贾制谭卫夫两总统？), and the commanders of other troops, sat in the basket one after another and soared up to the sky: the flying balloon was like a great hawk rolling with the wind and spreading its wings, and this scene was indeed a spectacle! Then, the officers of the various troops, inorder to gain experience, also ascended to the sky and looked far into to the distance. Are not their courage and knowledge of the highest quality! |
Translator: Flora Shao, revised by Peter C. Perdue 古人說龍之書汗牛充棟， 不必其一一目擊也， 然亦必非盡屬子虛幻造是名， 以欺後人。 可知巳人稱西人精於格致， 力辦無是物；而中人亦以龍為不恒見之物， 遂同聲和之耳， 食多偏亦學人之陋也。 近日西報言有某輪船行經阿非利加洲之南， 忽見波濤上沸鱗爪怒張。 初疑為大魚， 稍近則首尾皆現， 高出水上二丈餘， 約計其身不下十丈。 然則西人之言無有者欲核夫實也， 所謂無徵不信也。 中人知龍之變化不測， 上下無時， 風韻護其體， 雷雨宏其功， 狀九五之尊， 豈能以尋常習見之物繩之哉？用夏變夷， 不必其變於夷也。 View on Yale Visual Resources |
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| illustrations from the 1898 edition of the Dianshizhai huabao, generously provided by the Sterling Memorial Library at Yale University Massachusetts Institute of Technology © 2015 Visualizing Cultures  |
| “Launching the Balloon” 演放气球 (page 3) 1889 [dz_v13_004] |