The Travels of Ching written and illustrated by Robert Bright, 1943.

A dollmaker in China makes a little doll named Ching. Ching is a high-quality, handmade doll, and the dollmaker sells him to a toy shop.

Ching sits in the window of the toy shop for a long time, waiting for someone who wants him. There is a little girl who sees him in the shop, and she wants him badly, but all the toys in the shop are expensive, and she can’t afford him.

One day, a wealthy tea merchant buys Ching, but he doesn’t want Ching himself. He plans to send Ching to someone else overseas. Ching begins a long journey by donkey, boat, and steamship to America. When he gets to America, he travels even further by train, eventually arriving at the apartment of a wealthy girl.

However, the wealthy girl doesn’t really want Ching. She already has many dolls, and she doesn’t find Ching interesting. She is careless with him, and one day, he falls off the balcony of the apartment and lies outside, forgotten.

One day, an old man finds Ching and brings him inside, but he doesn’t really want Ching, either. He gives Ching to his cook, but she doesn’t really want him, so she throws him in the trash, and Ching ends up in a junk yard.

Fortunately, Ching’s story doesn’t end there. A man who works for a Chinese laundry happens to pass the junk yard and spots Ching. Although Ching is dirty from his time outside, the Chinese man recognizes Ching’s quality and is pleased that the junk yard owner is selling him cheaply. The man buys Ching and cleans him up because he knows someone who will really appreciate him.

Thus, Ching is sent on another long journey … back to the person who always wanted him the most.

The book is available to borrow and read for free online through Internet Archive.

My Reaction

This is a vintage children’s book, and the illustrations of the Chinese people have the slits for eyes that are considered stereotypical now. However, there doesn’t seem to be any disrespect meant by the story. The basic theme of the story can be summed up by the saying, “One person’s trash is another person’s treasure.”

Ching travels a great distance from China to the United States, passing through the hands of various people along the way, and at times, he’s actually given or thrown away because the people who have him don’t really want him. There’s nothing wrong with Ching. He was always a high-quality doll, which is how he survived his time outside in the elements. It’s just that the people who have him don’t really appreciate him. Fortunately, there are people who recognize his quality, and there is one person who definitely wants him. It’s a happy ending when Ching finds his way back to her. All he really needed was for someone to want him, and in the end, he is happy to be with the person who does want him.