Beautiful artwork, articulate plotting and dialogue - and educational. I never knew about the use of cormorants for fishing.
Terrific adventure story from Jane Preston with the secret papers as the McGuffin that carries the plot forward. Hitchcock could have made a great movie of this - with those vast open vistas of western China - and it has a blonde in it too. He would have loved it.
Jane Preston appears to have written many titles for Schoolgirls Picture Library. I don't know if she was a real person or just a house name - I would like to know more.
Link to the book:
Schoolgirls' Picture Library 073 - Their Amazing Chinese Journey