And meet time it was, when yon usher, vinegar-faced rogue that he is, began to inquire what popish trangam you were wearing […]

LIKE THE MANDARINS of old, the rulers of China live behind high walls. When they emerge, which they rarely do, they travel in cars with rear windows curtained like sedan chairs. They live in the Chung Nan Hai, a walled park adjacent to the Forbidden City from where ancient dynasties ruled the Celestial Empire. The wall surrounding the Chung Nan Hai is high and wide, painted vermilion in keeping with the decor of the Forbidden City. It has a circumference of many miles, intersected at intervals by gates guarded day and night by armed soldiers.

The misconceptions which were to shape both German Islampolitik and the eventual British support for Sharif Husayn's dynastic ambitions under the heading of the “Arab Revolt” were partly the result of deep-rooted European misconceptions about Islam in general and the caliphate in particular.

My fellow passengers are a mixture of people returning from a day out in the capital, locals doing short hops, and a few (like me) heading farther afield.