Embassies in the East: The Story of the British and Their Embassies in China, Japan and Korea from 1859 to the Present

This text traces the history of three Far Eastern embassies through the vicissitudes of war and revolution against the background of an apparent steady decline of Western influence in Asia. Dr Hoare tracks the key events and people shaping the British view of Asia.

Key 'dramatis personae' are Sir Harry Parkes, British Minister to Japan, China and Korea; Sir Ernest Satow, the student interpreter who became Minister in Tokyo and Peking, and in more recent years, Sir Charles Eliot, lover of big...