China Opened
Or, a Display of the Topography, History, Customs, Manners, Arts, Manufactures, Commerce, Literature, Religion, Jurisprudence, etc. of the Chinese Empire

This 1838 two-volume work brought a wealth of information on Chinese geography, history, culture and government to a Western readership.

Karl Friedrich August Gützlaff (Author), Andrew Reed (Edited by)

9781108079440, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 19 March 2015

582 pages
21.8 x 14 x 3.4 cm, 0.7 kg

Remarkable yet controversial, the Prussian-born Protestant missionary Karl Friedrich August Gützlaff (1803–51) sought to spread Christianity in the Far East. A gifted linguist, he sailed to Siam and worked on translating the Bible into Thai. The British missionary Robert Morrison had fired his interest in China, and Gützlaff later focused his evangelising efforts there, learning several dialects and distributing translated literature. Furthermore, he served as an interpreter for the East India Company. Also reissued in this series are his Journal of Three Voyages along the Coast of China (1834) and A Sketch of Chinese History (1834). Edited down into two substantial volumes by the Congregational minister Andrew Reed (1787–1862), the present work was published in 1838. It aimed to generate support for the missionary cause by giving Anglophone readers deeper insight into an unfamiliar civilisation. Volume 2 addresses arts and sciences, religion, and government at all levels.

14. Chinese industry: arts and sciences
15. Religion
16. General remarks on the Chinese government
17. The emperor and his court
18. Nobility
19. The tribunals and courts of the capital
20. Board of offices
21. Board of revenue
22. Board of rites
23. Military board
24. Board of punishment
25. Board of public works
26. Provincial government
27. Colonial government: office of foreign affairs.

Subject Areas: Asian history [HBJF]