The Ultimate China Bookshelf #51: Harriet Low's Lights and Shadows of a Macao Life

The Journal of a traveling Spinster — Published 1829-1834

“For the period and the place, there is nothing quite like it.” — South China Morning Post 

“‘Lights and Shadows of a Macao Life,’ the title chosen by Harriet Low for her journal, aptly describes the conflicting emotions of the first American woman to live in China. Making a rude transition from the tranquillity of Salem, Massachusetts into a world of sampans and sedan chairs, women with bound feet and men with queues, the lively young American records a detailed portrait of her life in Macao from 1829-1834” — The Bookseller

“I do not know if such an interesting and frank a record of a girl’s life and thoughts and feelings has been put forward in a published journal before.” — Boston Evening Transcript

“China and Macao through the perceptive eyes of 20-year-old Harriet Low is dazzling.” — Daily News Post (Monrovia, California)

Author Bio:

Harriett Low Hillard (1809-1877) was the second child of eleven of Seth Low, a merchant in Salem, Massachusetts, and his wife Mary Porter Low. At age 20, she accompanied her uncle and aunt, William Henry and Abigail Knapp Low, to China for five years to be her aunt's companion. Upon her return to the U.S. after years of foreign travel and adventure, she found it hard to settle down. In 1836, she married John Hillard, a banker 4 years her junior, and moved to London. A relatively happy marriage in the beginning produced five girls and three boys, including twins. Only the girls survived. Her husband was unsuccessful in business and in 1848, the family returned to the U.S. bankrupt. The disgrace of bankruptcy and her husband's alcoholism caused an estrangement in the marriage. John Hillard died in 1859 and Harriett Low Hillard spent the rest of her life in Brooklyn, New York, supported and surrounded by the Low family. She died in 1877. A bronze drinking fountain dedicated in memory of Harriet Low Hillard, commissioned by her granddaughter Elma Loines in 1910, stands in the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. 

The Book in 150 words: