China and the West

Maugham, W. Somerset. The summing up. (London : W. Heinemann, 1938). S. 629
https://ia600601.us.archive.org/25/items/mrmaughamhimsel00maug/mrmaughamhimsel00maug.pdf.
"When I recovered from my illness the war was over. I went to China. I went with the feelings of any traveller interested in art and curious to see what he could of the manners of a strange people whose civilization was of great antiquity ; but I went also with the notion that I mus surely run across men of various sorts whose acquaintance would enlarge my experience. I did. I filled notebooks with descriptions of places and persons and the stories they suggested. I became aware of the specific benefit I was capable of getting from travel ; before, it had been only an instinctive feeling. This was freedom of the spirit on the one hand, and on the other, the collection of all manner of persons who might serve my purpose."
Sekundärliteratur
Zhang Yanping : Maugham did acknowledge China's aesthetic appeal to him. In fact, the account he gives of his motives for the trip to China is purely aesthetically oriented. In The summing up, he claims that his Chinese trip is driven by his interest in art and his belief that he could enlarge his experience by meeting "men of various sorts". In Maugham's eyes, the "strange" country is full of aesthetic promises, and they are exactly what he yearns for.