Dust: China as seen by a Russian foreign palace a hundred years ago: China as seen by a Russian foreign palace a hundred years ago

Author: Mark Gorky
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-03-01
Features: This is a magical book that shook Russia in the late 19th century and quickly swept across the Western world, sparking a "China fever." The enthusiasm for this book was no less than the exploration of UFOs by people in the 1980s. The author was even hailed as an "expert on China." Mark Gorky, a Russian-Briton born in the mid-19th century, was filled with admiration for the ancient and mysterious land of China from a young age and attended a Chinese language training program in London during his youth. In 1872, he first went to Hong Kong to continue his studies and deepened his Chinese language skills at the Anglo-Chinese College, then traveled to mainland China. Initially, he worked as a Chinese translator for the British East India Company in China, and later was employed by the Russian government, serving as a diplomat in the Russian embassy in China. Leveraging the conditions of his diplomatic post, Mark Gorky devoted himself to the exploration of China with great passion in his spare time. He traveled to various regions, studied local customs and traditions, and finally wrote the book Dust, providing an in-depth, detailed, and comprehensive portrayal of Chinese society during the late Qing Dynasty. This allows us today to revisit that painful yet unforgettable history through the eyes of a foreigner. In this sense, it is entirely appropriate to consider this book as an important historical document for studying the late Qing Dynasty in China.