Search

The article analyzes historical Chinese and Tibetan documents in order to assess various perspectives and consequences of the British invasion of Tibet in 1904 under colonel Francis Younghusband, focusing on the invasion's effect on Chinese attitudes towards Tibet. The documents illustrate the Tibetan government's communication with China and Tibet's disregard of Chinese authority due to a lack of support during the invasion. The Buddhist structure of the Tibetan government is discussed and Tibet's motivation to defend Buddhism from foreign religion is described. Relations between China's Qing dynasty and Tibet are highlighted and it is concluded that the documents analyzed suggest China's lack of resistance to the invasion was used to strategically assert power in Tibet.

Contrary to the relevant traditional historiography, this article argues that early modern Sino-Western conflicts are to a great extent attributable to the sustained contestation between China and the Western empires (particularly Britain) over their competing claims to sovereignty in China. The article shows that the Western empires' demand for extraterritoriality and natural rights to freely trade, travel, and proselytize in China originated in their assumption of universal sovereignty in the non-Christian world. The early Sino-Western encounter illustrates how the discourses of sovereign equality and universal justice, as two origin myths of modern international law and diplomacy, were constructed, deployed, challenged, and adapted in the course of Western expansion in the age of empire. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the cultural and technological obstacles to be overcome before China was able to adopt steam power from the West in the 19th century. The cultural differences between China and Europe that made this technology transfer difficult are discussed, especially the Western engineering traditions of precise technical drawing and the use of precision machine tools. The use of steamships by Great Britain in the Opium Wars is also discussed, as is the amount of time it took the Chinese to adopt this military technology.

The article discusses the role of Chusan, modern-day Zhousan, a group of islands in China's Hangzhou Bay, in the international trade between China and Great Britain. The trade in tea and silk in the area, especially on Chusan Island, and the East India Company's involvement in this trade are examined by the author. Although the English operated out of Chusan for a relatively short time, the maps of the area that they produced are analyzed. Various English merchants and ambassadors to China are discussed. The relationship of the British presence on Chusan to the opium trade is detailed.

The article explores consular jurisdiction during the late Qing period in China. Measures to improve the treaty privilege by China and Great Britain following the Second Opium War are discussed and included a mixed court plan and an observing justice system. Efforts to remove consular jurisdiction following the Sino-Japanese war of 1895 and the War of the Eight-Nation Alliance are examined. The faults and weaknesses of the Qing government, the restrictions imposed on it by tradition, and the lessons available through the failure of consular jurisdiction reform are also discussed.

Focuses on tributary drama, especially the drama commissioned and performed on the occasion of Lord Macartney's mission to the Qianlong emperor in 1793, the first diplomatic contact between Great Britain and China. Origin of tributary drama; Typical Qing tributary drama; Discussion of Qianlong's eagerness for monumental glory; Examination of the later versions of the Si hai sheng ping.