The perils of interpreting : the extraordinary lives of two translators between Qing China and the British Empire / Henrietta Harrison.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Harrison, Henrietta, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Li, Zibiao.

Staunton, George Thomas, Sir, 1781-1859.

Staunton, George Thomas.

Macartney, George Macartney, Earl, 1737-1806.

Macartney, George Macartney.

Translating and interpreting--Political aspects.

Translating and interpreting.

Great Britain--Foreign relations--China.

Great Britain.

China--Foreign relations--Great Britain.

China.

Great Britain--Foreign relations--1789-1820.

China--Foreign relations--1644-1912.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xiv, 341 pages) : illustrations, map, portraits

Place of Publication:

Princeton : Princeton University Press, [2021]

Summary:

An impressive new history of China’s relations with the West—told through the lives of two language interpreters who participated in the famed Macartney embassy in 1793The 1793 British embassy to China, which led to Lord George Macartney’s fraught encounter with the Qianlong emperor, has often been viewed as a clash of cultures fueled by the East’s disinterest in the West. In The Perils of Interpreting, Henrietta Harrison presents a more nuanced picture, ingeniously shifting the historical lens to focus on Macartney’s two interpreters at that meeting—Li Zibiao and George Thomas Staunton. Who were these two men? How did they intervene in the exchanges that they mediated? And what did these exchanges mean for them? From Galway to Chengde, and from political intrigues to personal encounters, Harrison reassesses a pivotal moment in British-China relations. She shows that there were Chinese who were familiar with the West, but growing tensions endangered those who embraced both cultures and would eventually culminate in the Opium Wars.Harrison demonstrates that the Qing court’s ignorance about the British did not simply happen, but was manufactured through the repression of cultural go-betweens like Li and Staunton. She traces Li’s influence as Macartney’s interpreter, the pressures Li faced in China as a result, and his later years in hiding. Staunton interpreted successfully for the British East India Company in Canton, but as Chinese anger grew against British imperial expansion in South Asia, he was compelled to flee to England. Harrison contends that in silencing expert voices, the Qing court missed an opportunity to gain insights that might have prevented a losing conflict with Britain.Uncovering the lives of two overlooked figures, The Perils of Interpreting offers a valuable argument for cross-cultural understanding in a better-connected world.

Contents:

Dramatis Personae

Introduction

Part I. Lives That Crossed the World. 1. The Li Family of Liangzhou ; 2. George Leonard Staunton of Galway ; 3. Li Zibiao's Education in Naples ; 4. George Thomas Staunton's Peculiar Childhood

Part II. Li Zibiao and Lord Macartney's Embassy. 5. Finding an Interpreter for an Embassy to China ; 6. Crossing the Oceans ; 7. Other Possible Interpreters ; 8. Li Zibiao as Interpreter and Mediator ; 9. Speaking to the Emperor ; 10. Becoming an Invisible Interpreter ; 11. Li Zibiao after the Embassy

Part III. George Thomas Staunton and the Canton Trade. 12. George Thomas Staunton Becomes an Interpreter ; 13. Sir George Staunton, Translator and Banker ; 14. The British Occupation of Macao and Its Aftermath ; 15. A Linguist and His Troubles ; 16. The Amherst Embassy

Part IV. Exclusion. 17. Li Zibiao's Last Years in Hiding ; 18. Staunton in Parliament ; 19. The Opium War ; 20. Forgetting

Conclusion

Abbreviations

Glossary.

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Description based on print version record.

Other Format:

Print version: Harrison, Henrietta The Perils of Interpreting

ISBN:

9780691225470

0691225478

OCLC:

1302166256