British View of the Great Qing Dynasty

Author: (British) Anderson / Fei Zhendong
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2002-01-01
Features: This book records the observations of the British mission to China during their visit from September 1792 to September 1794, as well as their journey there and back. The content is a faithful narration of the public activities of the mission members who had recently visited China, including descriptions of the country and its people as permitted by objective circumstances and travel conditions. It also includes the various experiences of the mission during their stay at the Qing court, filled with a sense of the unfamiliar. Among these, the descriptions of the humanistic atmosphere and court life in 18th-century China, as well as the comparative observations of the contrasting customs between the two countries, hold particular research and reference value. Due to the language difficulties and other reasons at the time, the use of place names and personal names in the book is somewhat chaotic. To address this, we have included a comparative table at the end of the book, listing the original English spellings and their Chinese translations for reference. Due to linguistic and temporal factors, the text and punctuation in the book differ from standard modern Chinese. During the editing process, we have strived to maintain the original language style with minimal changes. Additionally, all the units of measurement used in the book are obsolete British imperial units, which we have retained as they appear in the original text.