Travelogue of China and the East Indies

Author: Olof Ahlberg
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-09-01
Features: As a travelogue, this book has a rather unique narrative style. The travel writer discards the uniqueness of his personal experiences and speaks broadly about the cultural and geographical aspects of the countries he visits. Judged by today's standards or readers' expectations, this approach is somewhat regrettable. However, this "regrettable" narrative style was demanded by the spirit of the 18th century—that is, books must first have an educational purpose, uphold the banner of objectivity and reason, and skillfully conceal personal subjectivity behind. This "spirit of the times" reveals, to some extent, why Hamilton incorporated his observations into the overall description of China. Fortunately, the author is not entirely a slave to the "spirit of the times." When describing a specific place, he always tries to incorporate his personal experiences; and it is precisely these vivid and engaging passages that enhance the readability of the book and determine its value even today.
Peter Ahlberg was a Swede who published his field research report on China. As a student of the famous botanist Carl Linnaeus, he recorded the customs and cultures encountered during the first voyage of the Swedish East India Company's Prince Karl merchant ship as a chaplain. The ship departed from the Swedish west coast port of G?teborg on November 18, 1750, and arrived in Guangzhou the following August 22, where it remained until January 4, 1752. During his time in China, Ahlberg collected a substantial amount of information on Chinese plants, as well as recorded his observations on the daily lives of the Chinese people and Chinese culture. His observations were not only truthful and reliable but also mostly keenly perceptive, sometimes even filtering out prejudices found in books or secondhand accounts. Around the same time Ahlberg visited China, another student of Linnaeus, Olof Torén, arrived in China aboard the Swedish East India Company's merchant ship G?the Lion. He wrote seven letters reporting his experiences in China, which were also included in this book.