Herbert A. Giles and China

More about the book

Modern sinology—the study of things Chinese—may trace its roots back centuries to Marco Polo, Byzantium and even Imperial Rome, but to a great extent it was built on foundations laid and extended by Herbert Giles, a consul for the United Kingdom in China and later a professor at Cambridge University. Even after his 26-year tour in China was completed and he returned to his native England, he continued to author a large number of scholarly works and translations on China and the Chinese.Two of these, Chinese Sketches (1876) and The Civilization of China (1911), are now available in a single volume, revealing once again his piercing observations and a glimpse of a very different China.