Never stand in the way of a Scotsman charging with his umbrella.  Scots trader and merchant John Scarth spent 12 years in China from the  late 1840s, memorably observing, and even intervening in the Taiping rebellion that rocked Qing China through the 1850s and 60s. Scarth wrote of his experiences, giving vivid first-hand accounts of the sieges and fighting in Canton, Shanghai and other coastal cities. Sympathetic to the rebels, he shows how the British policies were confusing and confounding, hoping for the breakdown of the Manchu Government while needing to support it, trade always at the political forefront.

Scarth’s account of his twelve years is a great read and a description of the book and what little we know of Scarth can be found here.