China through Western eyes : the North China Herald, 1850-1900

This thesis examines the perceptions of China expressed in the North China Herald from 1850 to 1900. The North China Herald was an English-language newspaper published by and for the English and American residents of Shanghai, and reported the concerns of the merchants and missionaries who had ridden the tide of imperialism to China.

In the nineteenth century the Western powers (Europe and America) were intent on extending their economic, political, and cultural influence throughout the world. They arrived in China hoping to open the self-sufficient giant to world trade and Christianity. The primary concern of Westerners in China was the expansion of trade. In the fifty years covered by this study, the writers in the North China Herald continued to push for the opening of China's interior to foreign traders. They clamored for increased access via inland waterways, the building of railways, and the legalization of the opium trade. They pursued these aims by both diplomatic and military means.

Western views of Chinese society were also expressed in the Herald. The traders were baffled by the Chinese class system, which placed merchants at the bottom of a four-tiered hierarchy beneath scholar/officials, peasants and artisans. The treatment of women in Chinese society was also puzzling to the Westerners, especially to missionaries, who decried the practices of footbinding, female infanticide and female slavery.

In the half-century covered by this thesis, the North China Herald encouraged political reform and the modernization of China's military. The Western merchants felt that officials educated in the Confucian classics were hostile to trade, and hoped for a generation of more commercially minded leaders in China. A strong military was seen as necessary to ensure the flow of goods and as protection against bandits and uprisings.

Western residents of Shanghai showed great interest in Chinese philosophy, literature and art. The Confucian classics were the objects of much attention, having been translated into English in the mid-nineteenth century by James Legge. However, the classics were often studied in a negative way, with the hope that by understanding the basis of Chinese civilization that civilization could be changed and made Christian.

The emphasis of the articles in the Herald changed over the fifty years of this study, shifting from the importance of trade to diplomatic recognition of the Western powers to social aims and finally to the necessity for political and military modernization. What remained unchanged was the Westerners' conviction that their way was also the best way for China.