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Book
Review |
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Li, Gui. A Journey to the East: A New Account of a Trip Around
the Globe / Translated with an introduction by Charles Desnoyers (University
of Michigan Press, 2004). 320 pp, $70.00. |
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This book is the first full English translation
of a journal by a minor official of the late Qing Dynasty. Li Gui was the
first officially sanctioned Chinese official to go around the world. He
was sent primarily to "keep a record of the (United States) Centennial in
the service of the empire's recent efforts toward and industrialization
and increased participation in international affairs." (vi) According to
the translator this work is intended not only for China specialists but
also for those with an interest in American history, along with Asian and
Asian-American studies. In addition, he suggests the work is especially
for "those in the rapidly expanding field of world history." (vii) The reading
is not difficult, and there is little analysis; as such, the work could
easily be read and understood by younger history students, like those in
an Advanced Placement World History class. |
1 |
The early part of the book - the first eighty-one
pages - is an introduction by the translator. The introduction is split
into four somewhat interspersed main areas: a biography of Li, a general
history of China during Li's lifetime, a history of the exposition, and
an outline of Li's trip. It is the most interesting and rewarding part of
the book. The rest of the work, Li's journal, is not written in chronological
order but in the order Li deemed most important. |
2 |
In the field of world history, the strength
of the book lies in Li's comments on Japan and on American women. Li briefly
visited Japan on his way to the United States where he also viewed the Japanese
pavilion at the Centennial Exposition. His writings show excellent analysis,
almost clairvoyantly so, of Japan's future world position. Li himself was
a "self-strengther" thus, it is no surprise that he was impressed with Japan's
modernization, including the usage of western ways. Among areas that Li
appreciated were how Japan studied and used Western technology and manufacturing.
In addition Li appreciated how Japan "had in most respects successfully
preserved the cultural foundations of their civilization." (18). At the
same time, Li felt that Japan had, in many ways, gone too far in aspects
of its modernization. He included such examples as the wearing of Western
uniforms and clothes by Japanese officials. Li felt that but for the hair
and face of the Westernized Japanese, you could barely tell the difference
between East and West. He also noted that he felt the shogun had too much
power in Japan and that "certain cultural guardians" in China were keeping
China from emulating Japan's modernization and thus success. |
3 |
It is interesting and at times amusing to
read Li's view of American women in comparison to the roles most women had
in China. He held American women in high regard and thought of them with
great respect and affection. He appreciated their relative freedoms, noting
that a woman had designed one of the Centennial halls. What most impressed
him however was the "forthright manner of the women," and their poise and
dignity as compared to the demeanor of the secluded girls in the Chinese
home. He also (accurately?) compared the wearing of the newest styles in
corsets to be worse than the practice of Chinese foot binding! |
4 |
Certainly, there is some valuable primary
source material to be found in this work. Sadly, I find that overall there
is not much information that can be considered important to the student
or teacher of world history. Much of the journal is tedious; there is too
much detail, which, though it can be interesting at times, is of little
concern. Almost one-third of the journal is about the Centennial, which
is described in boring detail. Yes, there are nuggets of gold, as when Li
briefly compares French colonialism in Saigon to British colonialism in
Singapore and his description of the new penitentiary in Pennsylvania. He
notes many positive aspects of that penitentiary, but one that stands out
is its solitary confinement, which Dickens had described as "immeasurably
worse than a torture of the body." In contrast, Li found the solitary confinement
wonderful, writing that it was similar to a Buddhist monastery. (35) However,
these few pieces of cross-cultural nuggets do not make a 320-page book,
although examples given in this work could be used by a teacher of world
history in a lecture. I cannot suggest the whole book for class reading.
However, at $70.00 one could hope that the school library will add it to
its collection. |
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Michael J Harvey
Shanghai American School |