Auguste Bourgeade's Guangzhou Notes

Author: (French) Baudelaire, translated by Qian Linsen, Zhang Qun, Liu Yang
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2006-09-01
Features: Baudelaire's visit to China coincided with the Second Opium War. He did not come to do business with the Chinese but purely for painting and artistic exploration. He attempted to use art to bridge the hearts of strangers from the East and West, a mission that was highly challenging and pioneering in that era. Against this backdrop, Baudelaire's journey to China far exceeded the personal actions of a traveler-artist and held profound cultural and historical significance. This Western traveler did not travel beyond the eight gu (a Chinese unit of distance) in China, but he was deeply moved by the mystery of the Chinese civilization he encountered, and he only allowed people to glimpse these civilizations from afar: "The islands sink into the mist on the horizon, I only let people see a vague image, this corner of the land will be an indelible beautiful dream forever. This book is a travelogue depicting China and is also part of the "Getting Closer to China" cultural translation series edited by Qian Linsen. The book is divided into four parts: The first part is the author's travelogue depicting his journey to China, "China and the Chinese"; the second part is Balzac's book review of "China and the Chinese" and his correspondence with the author; the third part is reviews written by the author's friends; the fourth part is an introduction to the author's life. The author of this book is a famous French painter and traveler who traveled to China before the Opium War, leaving behind many precious paintings and sketches, as well as writing numerous long letters to his friends in Paris to introduce the situation he saw in southern China. After returning to France, he combined the letters and paintings into "China and the Chinese" for publication. The book immediately caused a sensation in France upon its release, with figures such as George Sand and Baudelaire gaining information and inspiration about China from it.