China and the West: A Short History of Their Contact from Ancient Times to the Fall of the Manchu Dynasty

by William Edward Soothill

Overview

A Concise Account of the Historical Relationship Between the West and China

Even before Chinese or Western writings recognized their great civilizations at either side of the compass, there was mercantile contact, with silk being coveted by the ancient Greeks and Romans without knowledge of its origin. At the fall of the Manchu Dynasty in the early twentieth century, when China began its modern restoration as a world power, China and the West had shared more than two millennia of history. Far from being a “sleeping dragon,” China was actively expanding its international influence at many times during this period, but the decay, corruption, and wars of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries—with Western nations controlling and compromising Chinese interests and territory—have prejudiced the popular perception of relations between China and the West. William Edward Soothill’s brief and authoritative history, first published in 1925, is a welcome introduction to the long and fascinating contact between East and West. Covering every period and key personality before the twentieth century, from General Chang Ch’ien (Zhang Qian), a Chinese envoy who traveled west during the second century BC, to Marco Polo, the Mongol ascendancy, the opening of sea routes, and the Opium War, and based on primary source material, China and the West is essential reading for any person interested in understanding China and Chinese culture.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781594160882
Publisher:	Westholme Publishing
Publication date:	09/03/2009
Edition description:	1st Edition
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

WILLIAM EDWARD SOOTHILL (1861-1935) was a leading authority on Chinese language, life, and affairs. He lived in China for 25 years and later became Professor of Chinese at Oxford University.

Table of Contents

I Introductory: Early Foreign Intercourse 1

II Foreign Intercourse before the Mongol Conquest of China 8

III Buddhists, Arabs, Christians and others, before the Mongol Invasion 18

IV The Mongols 31

V Marco Polo, the early European Missionaries, and the fall of the Mongols 47

VI The opening of the Sea Route and the advent of the English 62

VII Chinese expansion and the advent of other nations 75

VIII English trading relations 96

IX Opium and the Opium War 112

X The Taiping Rebellion and the 'Arrow' War 137

XI The Customs; Rebellions; Wars with France and Japan 156

XII Reform 167

XIII Reaction 179

XIV Revolution, Republic, Ruin, Renaissance 189

XV East and West 195