ABSTRACT
Western understanding of China dates from ancient times, and foreign travelers have played a central role in shaping Western perceptions of China. Many early travelers, mostly missionaries and some merchants from Italy, came to China through central Asia between the thirteenth and fifteenth centuries. More missionaries came from Italy and other Western countries after the sixteenth century via ocean travel, and they wrote books and letters about their experiences in China. It was not until the late 1700s, however, that western Europeans came to China for predominantly secular reasons. Led by the British, the last quarter of the nineteenth century was the beginning of modern travel in China; the next half century was also the heyday of Western travel in China before the tourism boom of the post-Mao era. Although the first commercial tours to China were offered by Thomas Cook’s company in 1909, political instability in China in much of the first half of the twentieth century hindered such operations. Travel patterns and perceptions developed in this period had far-reaching effects and are still relevant today. This chapter focuses on the background of Western exploration in the eastern half of China in the late 1800s and examines the ways in which Western travelers explored and perceived Chinese landscapes and the implications of such perceptions.
