<< 1 >>
Rating: 
Summary: History repeats itself ?.Recommended for the next barbarians
Review: Through the accounts of representative Western travelers -over thirteen centuries- in China, the author provides a historical thread of encounters between West and East, starting with the christians-nestorians in the year 625, and continuing with Marco Polo and the Mongols. Then, the great saga of Jesuits scholars and Dominics during the late Ming and early Qing dynasties. The author moves on to the 19th century with detailed accounts on traders and diplomats intertwining with the Opium War and the Unequal Treaties, finishing with the boxer attack of the Foreign Legations in 1900 and the Sun Yat Sen's first republic in 1911 .In the background one reads of the comings and goings of the Chinese dynasties dealing with increasing waves of "ocean devils". In the forefront one finds the portrayal of a gallery of actors : sages and villains, missionaries and eunuchs...The underlying clash of cultures enhances the reciprocal fascination and disbelief of two worlds, each one convinced of his own superiority but nevertheless enthralled by the other. Nigel Cameron -- in a well documented exposition of hundreds of historical clues, with over 100 illustrations-recounts the introduction of western astronomy to the Middle Kingdom, the enchantment of Jesuits with Confucianism and the subsequent conflict with Christianity, the antiforeignism as official Chinese policy confronting the Western "gunboat" extraterritoriality. History repeats itself ?.I am writing this review in Beijing, July 1999, myself a " bearded barbarian" European staying in China since early 1989. A few weeks ago I saw in Beijing demonstrations of Chinese students stoning two western embassies. Recently we have seen on the news the emotional confrontations between Chinese and Western (Americans) diplomats and political leaders regarding atomic espionage. At the threshold of the celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the New China and the upcoming China entrance into the World Trade Organization, the story of the East and West, face to face, is an unending and fascinating one . A copy of its out of print 1989 edition has been on my desk as a special reference book, so I am glad that it has been recently reprinted.I would recommend it for someone who has more than a mild interest in the subject matter, and mainly for the next barbarians coming to China in the next millenniums...
Rating:
Summary: History repeats itself ?.Recommended for the next barbarians
Review: Through the accounts of representative Western travelers -over thirteen centuries- in China, the author provides a historical thread of encounters between West and East, starting with the christians-nestorians in the year 625, and continuing with Marco Polo and the Mongols. Then, the great saga of Jesuits scholars and Dominics during the late Ming and early Qing dynasties. The author moves on to the 19th century with detailed accounts on traders and diplomats intertwining with the Opium War and the Unequal Treaties, finishing with the boxer attack of the Foreign Legations in 1900 and the Sun Yat Sen's first republic in 1911 . In the background one reads of the comings and goings of the Chinese dynasties dealing with increasing waves of "ocean devils". In the forefront one finds the portrayal of a gallery of actors : sages and villains, missionaries and eunuchs...The underlying clash of cultures enhances the reciprocal fascination and disbelief of two worlds, each one convinced of his own superiority but nevertheless enthralled by the other. Nigel Cameron -- in a well documented exposition of hundreds of historical clues, with over 100 illustrations-recounts the introduction of western astronomy to the Middle Kingdom, the enchantment of Jesuits with Confucianism and the subsequent conflict with Christianity, the antiforeignism as official Chinese policy confronting the Western "gunboat" extraterritoriality. History repeats itself ?.I am writing this review in Beijing, July 1999, myself a " bearded barbarian" European staying in China since early 1989. A few weeks ago I saw in Beijing demonstrations of Chinese students stoning two western embassies. Recently we have seen on the news the emotional confrontations between Chinese and Western (Americans) diplomats and political leaders regarding atomic espionage. At the threshold of the celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the New China and the upcoming China entrance into the World Trade Organization, the story of the East and West, face to face, is an unending and fascinating one . A copy of its out of print 1989 edition has been on my desk as a special reference book, so I am glad that it has been recently reprinted.I would recommend it for someone who has more than a mild interest in the subject matter, and mainly for the next barbarians coming to China in the next millenniums...
<< 1 >>
| 
