The McManus in Dundee has an extensive collection of Chinese objects. In 1913, Mr A. Cairncross donated a collection of about 755 Chinese coins dated from the pre-Qin dynasty to the Qing dynasty. Cairncross, along with Mr A. Jack and Mrs J. Drummond, donated money swords to the collection, with five out of six money swords containing coins from the Qing dynasty: one from the Emperor Shunzhi 順治 reign (1643-61), three from the Emperor Qianlong 乾隆 reign (1735-96), and one from the Emperor Guangxu 光緒  reign (1875-1908).

Six examples of women’s shoes and five examples of golden lotus shoes, worn by women with bound feet, are in the collection, some of which were donated by Miss Clementia Hutcheson, Mrs M. Sim and Dr W. E. A. Buchanan, while a navy blue silk dragon robe, embroidered with a flaw-clawed dragon, was given by K. MacLeod. Two divination compasses (fengshui luopan 風水羅盤) made from wood and metal were donated by F. King and Robert Galt, while D. D. Ogilvie donated two huqin 胡琴, a Chinese stringed instrument.

The collection also includes a small Chinese book, Summary of the Canon of the Four Books (Sishu leidian cuoyao 四書類典撮要), referring to four Confucian classic texts. This book was published in 1886 during the 12th year of Emperor Guangxu’s reign.