Entering China's Service : Robert Hart's Journals, 1854-1863 / Katherine F. Bruner, John K. Fairbank, Richard J. Smith.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Hart, Robert, 1835-1911.

Contributor:

Smith, Richard J., editor.

Fairbank, John King, 1907-1991, editor.

Bruner, Katherine F., editor.

Series:

Harvard East Asian Monographs ; 125.

Harvard East Asian Monographs ; 125

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Hart, Robert, 1835-1911--Diaries.

Hart, Robert.

Customs administration--China--History--Sources.

Customs administration.

Customs administration--China--Officials and employees--Diaries.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xiv, 427 p. ) ill. ;

Distribution:

Leiden; Boston : BRILL, 1986.

Other Title:

Robert Hart's Journals, 1854-1863

Place of Publication:

Boston : Harvard University Asia Center, 1986.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Robert Hart was one of those empire builders of the Victorian age who had a long and nearly uninterrupted experience in China, from 1854, when as a young Irishman from Belfast he landed in Ningpo, until 1908, when as a man in his seventies he finally retired to England. His years as the Ch'ing government's Inspector General of the Maritime Customs Service have been copiously recorded in letters to his London agent, beginning in 1868, published as a 2-volume collection, The IG. in Peking (Harvard, Belknap Press, 1975). In 1970, a second lode of Hart materials came to light, the 77 volumes of his journals, begun on the day of his arrival in China in 1854 and ending at his departure in 1908, with two short but significant gaps in the first decade where he himself destroyed entries of too personal a nature. Entering China's Service presents a complete and annotated transcript of the surviving journals through 1863, alternating with chapters devoted to Hart's North Ireland background, the China he encountered, the Ch'ing officials who trusted him, and the unfolding of his career. His reactions to the Chinese as well as to his fellow Westerners cast an invaluable light on nineteenth-century China.

Contents:

Preliminary Material / Katherine F. Bruner , John K. Fairbank and Richard J. Smith

Hart's Origins / Katherine F. Bruner , John K. Fairbank and Richard J. Smith

Journal / Katherine F. Bruner , John K. Fairbank and Richard J. Smith

Ningpo: Hart's Induction into the Chinese Scene / Katherine F. Bruner , John K. Fairbank and Richard J. Smith

Ningpo to Canton 1855-1858: Hart Grows with the Times / Katherine F. Bruner , John K. Fairbank and Richard J. Smith

Hart and the New Anglo-Chinese Order of the 1860s / Katherine F. Bruner , John K. Fairbank and Richard J. Smith

The Impact of Robert Hart's Administration / Katherine F. Bruner , John K. Fairbank and Richard J. Smith

Notes / Katherine F. Bruner , John K. Fairbank and Richard J. Smith

Bibliography / Katherine F. Bruner , John K. Fairbank and Richard J. Smith

Glossary/Index / Katherine F. Bruner , John K. Fairbank and Richard J. Smith

Harvard East Asian lvIonographs / Katherine F. Bruner , John K. Fairbank and Richard J. Smith.

Notes:

Includes index.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

1-68417-262-4

OCLC:

576186678

Publisher Number:

10.1163/9781684172627 DOI