Arbeitsgemeinschaft: The Role of Interpreters in Shaping Early Nineteenth Century Sino-British Relations

Workshop for advanced BA students and at MA and PhD students with Henrietta Harrison (Oxford)

This workshop will look at the pressures and dangers placed on early modern diplomatic interpreters, focussing on George Staunton who was one of the interpreters for Lord Amherst’s embassy to China in 1816. Unlike the relative success of previous embassy led by Lord Macartney, Lord Amherst was ultimately not received by the Jiaqing emperor. We will examine the reasons for this and the role and perception of interpreters. To do this we will look at wo very different accounts of the negotiations: that of Staunton himself, that of Henry Ellis who was present but did not understand Chinese, and compare these with a translation of a document from the Qing dynasty’s official historical record. We will then discuss the broader implications of this analysis for our understanding of the role of interpreters in this period and how they shaped diplomatic exchanges.
The workshop is aimed at advanced BA students and at MA and PhD students. To successfully complete the workshop, the students must also attend the public lecture (“Why did Macartney fail? The historiocraphy of Britain’s 1793 embassy to China”) on 27 March. The lecturer of this workshop is Henrietta Harrison (Oxford).

Primary sources:

Staunton, George Thomas. Notes of Proceedings and Occurrences, during the British Embassy to Pekin, in 1816. 1824. P 39-51, 85-94. (20 pages)
Ellis, Henry. Journal of the Proceedings of the Late Embassy to China. 2 vols. London: John Murray, 1818. (2nd ed.) vol 1 p 133-137 (#151 - Journal of the proceedings of the late embassy to ... v. 1-2. - Full View ¦ HathiTrust Digital Library), 238-51 #258 - Journal of the proceedings of the late embassy to ... v. 1-2. - Full View ¦ HathiTrust Digital Library. (17 pages)

Fu, Lo-Shu. A Documentary Chronicle of Sino-Western Relations (1644-1820). Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1966. P 394 (1/2 page)

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