Gale Primary Source Archives:
China and the Modern World

China and the Modern World - Imperial China and the West Parts 1&2

Part 1
British Foreign Office correspondence from China on commercial, political, diplomatic, military and legal matters in nineteenth century Anglo-Chinese relations

In this, the first of two parts of British Foreign Office correspondence from China, scholars will find material relating to the internal politics of China and Britain, their relationship, and the relationships between other Western powers keen to benefit from the growing trading ports of the Far East.

From Lord Amherst’s mission at the start of the nineteenth century, through the trading monopoly of the Canton System, and the Opium Wars of 1839-42 and 1856-60, Britain and other foreign powers gradually gained commercial, legal and territorial rights in China. These files provide correspondence from the Factories of Canton (modern Guangzhou) and from the missionaries and interpreters who entered China in the early nineteenth century, as well as from the later Consulates and Legation and from the envoys and missions sent to China from Britain.

Part 2
The second half of the nineteenth century through the political, commercial and military papers of British diplomats, plenipotentiaries and merchants in China.

Covering the second half of the nineteenth century, Part II of China and the Modern World: Imperial China and the West completes the Foreign Office series of general correspondence relating to China (FO 17) and offers an unparalleled level of insight into Anglo-Chinese relations, the roles of China, Britain and other Western Powers in the wider Asian context, and the beginning of the end of China's final Imperial dynasty, the Qing.

As the Western Powers competed to extend their influence in China, building railways and mines, providing ships and weapons and granting loans to the Chinese government while conducting hugely profitable trade from the busy ports of Canton, Shanghai, Amoy, Ningpo, Chefoo and more, the Qing dynasty faced challenges, both internal and external, to their position as a great Power in Asia.

Overview of the China and the Modern World Series