Introduction

The chapter begins with early British works on China, which were largely dependent on Catholic accounts from Spain and Portugal. Matteo Ricci and other Jesuits sought to make their religious teaching accessible to the Chinese and emphasised the similarities between Chinese thought and Christianity. By the end of the nineteenth century, British policy continued along the lines of building informal empire and the 1890s would see the height of cooperation between British financial interests and the government in regards to China policy. If economic imperialism was about breaking down the barriers to the free flow of goods, then religious imperialism was about breaking past the cultural, political and spatial barriers that kept the Christian faith from reaching the hearts of the Chinese. The chapter ends by linking the popular assumptions to policymaking by focusing on Britain's China policy between 1895 and 1900.