Diary of a Mission to Four Countries

Author: Xue Fucheng
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2007-01-01
Features: The Diary of a Mission to Four Countries is a diary written by Xue Fucheng, a renowned diplomat of the late Qing Dynasty, during his mission to Europe from January 1890 to February 1891. Xue Fucheng was a famous modern Chinese liberal thinker and a prose master with profound literary talent. His diary is extremely rich in content, combining intellectual depth and artistic brilliance, vividly recreating the social, cultural, and historical landscape of the world as seen by late Qing scholars, as well as the mindset of scholars in the face of Sino-Western cultural collisions. The observations recorded in the diary hold significant value for today's readers. Western Reflections: Notes from a Journey is a series that compiles and publishes the diaries of some Qing Dynasty officials and intellectuals who traveled abroad. These diaries are their representative works and caused great upon publication. They selected and understood foreign cultures according to their own cultural traditions and ways of thinking, reflecting from multiple perspectives the reactions and changes of traditional concepts under the impact of Western thought. Under the guise of travelogues, they discussed China's issues and elaborated on their ideas for political reform, seeking in the West the ideal for China's future development to create a new China that surpassed the West in both system and wealth. This book is based on the collation and annotations of the first edition of A Journey to Eleven European Countries published by Guangzhi Bookstore between the 31st and 33rd years of the Guangxu reign.