Synopses & Reviews
As the Ch'ing government's Inspector General of the Maritime Customs Service, Robert Hart was the most influential Westerner in China for half a century. These journal entries continue the sequence begun in
Entering China's Service and cover the years when Hart was setting up Customs procedures, establishing a modus operandi with the Ch'ing bureaucracy, and inspecting the treaty ports. They culminate in Hart's return visit to Europe with the Pin-ch'un Mission and his marriage in Northern Ireland.
Smith, Fairbank and Bruner interleave the segments of Hart's journals with lively narratives describing the contemporary Chinese scene and recounting Hart's responses to the many challenges of establishing a Western-style organization within a Chinese milieu.
Synopsis
These journal entries continue the sequence begun in Entering China's Service and cover the years when Hart was setting up Customs procedures, establishing a modus operandi with the Ch'ing bureaucracy, and inspecting the treaty ports. They culminate in Hart's return visit to Europe with the Pinch'un Mission and his marriage in Northern Ireland.
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. 533-545) and index.
About the Author
John King Fairbank was Francis Lee Higginson Professor of History and Director of the East Asian Research Center at Harvard University.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Preface
1. Robert Hart in China's History
Hart Meets the Proper Time
Shanghai 1864: The Anglo-Ch'ing Partnership
2. Journals: 6 December 1863-15 May 1864
3. Peking 1864: Establishing the IC. Status
The I.G. Under the Tsungli Yamen
The I.G. Over the Maritime Customs Service
4. Journals: 1 June 1864-25 October 1864
5. Hart at Work: Facets of Administration
Financing the Growth of the Service
Touring the Southern Ports
Administrative Problems at Shanghai
The Yangtze Ports and Hart's Return to Peking
6. Journals: 26 October 1864-18 June 1865
7. Anglo-Ch'ing Reform Measures
The Restoration Reform Program
Hart's "Bystander View" and the Chinese Response
8. Journals: 2 July 1865-2 March 1866
9. Travels to Europe, 1866
The Pin-Ch'un Mission
Hart's Marriage
10. Journals: 7 March 1866-7 August 1866
11. Perspectives and Hypotheses
Hart as Intermediary
China's Domestic Transformation
The Provenance of Reform Proposals
Hart's Influence--The Alcock Convention of 1869
The Customs and Imperialism
Appendixes
A: Foreigners' Positions in the Imperial Maritime Customs
B: Letters from Hart to E. C. Bowra
C: Letters from Hart to Hester Jane Bredon
Notes
Bibliography
Glossary/Index