New: China and the Modern World: Imperial China and the West, Part I: 1815–1881

Landing page of the resource with a searhc box and a thumbnail image of a historical map of China.Oxford researchers now have access to China and the Modern World: Imperial China and the West, Part I: 1815-1881.

This database is an essential primary source archive for researching the internal politics of China and Britain, their relationship, and the relationships between other Western powers keen to benefit from the growing trading ports of the Far East. The sources are all in English.

Digitized in two parts from the FO 17 series of British Foreign Office Files (The National Archives, UK) Part 1 of Imperial China and the West provides General Correspondence relating to China from 1815–1881. The FO 17 series provides a vast and significant resource for researching every aspect of Anglo-Chinese relations during the nineteenth century, ranging from diplomacy and war, to trade, piracy, riots and rebellions within China, international law, treaty ports and informal empire, transnational emigration, and translation and cross-cultural communication.

Start of a letter from Sir Henry Pottinger, written 5 Jan 1844, on the subject of British opium. The letter mentions that a report is enclised,.

From Sir Henry Pottinger. MSS: FO 17/78 5.Jan 1844. China and the Modern World, Gale/ Cengage

This archive is comprised of material digitized from collections held by The National Archives (Kew):

These hand-written documents have been opened up to scholars with the use of Handwritten Text Recognition (HTR) technology. The manuscripts are fully searchable and you can see the transcript together with the original manuscript.

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