“At the age of nine, she traveled abroad with her father; in British-administered Darjeeling, they set up a restaurant. In her spare time after school, she helped to manage the restaurant methodically and entertained every customer with her excellent hospitality. For this reason, local customers were happy to go to the restaurant and were often astonished by her intelligence. Naturally active, she enjoyed playing with other children, which always annoyed her father. One day, her father happened to see her swinging and reprimanded her. She hid under her sister-in-law’s dress, which meant she escaped a beating. Her smart mind was praised by her family” (A Mission to Xikang and Tibet: A Biographical Sketch of Explorer Liu Manqing).

An old photo of Darjeeling. Liu Huaxuan’s house in Lhasa was destroyed by the flames of war. In 1915, Liu Manqing, who had been studying Tibetan for only six months, was forced to move with her family to Darjeeling, India.

The image shows a market in Darjeeling. Here, they established a Chinese restaurant, where Liu Manqing helped to manage the money and ran errands. The restaurant enjoyed a good turnover.

The image shows Indian acrobatic shows. Liu Manqing often stole money from home to take to the game wheel at the circus, and she sometimes invited her friends to join her. On one occasion, when her parents realized that their money had been stolen and decided to punish her, she hid under her sister-in-law’s baggy dress. From then on, she began to invite her friends to enjoy the game using money she earned from selling peanuts.