182
BOOK REVIEWS
Weddell's foray at the Bocca Tigris in 1637 until the exchange of ratifications of the Treaty of Nanking between Ch'i-ying and Pottinger on the newly ceded island of Hong Kong in June 1843. In this short book of 232 pages the author has mainly confined himself to retelling the part played by British subjects in the growth of foreign trade at Canton and the events which finally led to the cession of Hong Kong. He emphasizes the major role played by Macao in these events but without providing much information of interest not already known. Even the picturesque details of life in Macao which one might expect from Mr. Coates' known ability as a descriptive writer are few and far between.
In the main this is a simple account of how the British eventually gained Hong Kong, and in telling this story the author has traversed, in a brief space, the same ground that was covered by H. B. Morse in five volumes. The information is so compressed that one wonders whom the author had in mind when writing this book. Two hundred eventful years for which a mass of original documents in Chinese, Portuguese and English exist cannot satisfactorily be cut down to fit such a slim volume. Moreover, the author has resolutely made no concessions to scholarly readers, since the book contains almost no footnotes and no references to support the author's statements and judgments, and no details of the documentary sources from which quotations have been made.
The style of the writing may give some clue to the public for whom this book was designed; it is one of ‘imaginative reconstruction' based on the author's own sensibility rather than on thorough historical research and evidence supported by exact references. For instance, describing a Chinese official who could speak Portuguese he writes: "No description of this one survives, yet we see him clearly. He is obviously Chinese, yet his youthful association with foreigners has changed something of his expression.... We cannot help being amused by his subtle understanding of his own people's weaknesses and shortcomings.” (p.9) This method is admirable in an historical novel but is out of place in what purports to be a factual account. At times the style tends to be rather arch, as though the author felt it necessary to sugar-coat his narrative in order to make it acceptable to the weaker students. The following examples show the kind of tricks he employs: "But Weddell, a weather-beaten sea dog as tough as they come, was not a man to be taken in by a civil service answer" (p.5). "Let us
182
BOOK REVIEWS
Weddell's foray at the Bocca Tigris in 1637 until the exchange of ratifications of the Treaty of Nanking between Ch'i-ying and Pottinger on the newly ceded island of Hong Kong in June 1843. In this short book of 232 pages the author has mainly confined himself to retelling the part played by British subjects in the growth of foreign trade at Canton and the events which finally led to the cession of Hong Kong. He emphasizes the major role played by Macao in these events but without providing much information of interest not already known. Even the picturesque details of life in Macao which one might expect from Mr. Coates known ability as a descriptive writer are few and far between.
In the main this is a simple account of how the British even- tually gained Hong Kong, and in telling this story the author has traversed, in a brief space, the same ground that was covered by H. B. Morse in five volumes. The information is so compressed that one wonders whom the author had in mind when writing this book. Two hundred eventful years for which a mass of original documents in Chinese, Portuguese and English exist cannot satis- factorily be cut down to fit such a slim volume. Moreover, the author has resolutely made no concessions to scholarly readers. since the book contains almost no footnotes and no references to support the author's statements and judgments, and no details of the documentary sources from which quotations have been made.
The style of the writing may give some clue to the public for whom this book was designed; it is one of ‘imaginative reconstruc- tion' based on the author's own sensibility rather than on thorough historical research and evidence supported by exact references. For instance, describing a Chinese official who could speak Portu- guese he writes: "No description of this one survives, yet we see him clearly. He is obviously Chinese, yet his youthful association with foreigners has changed something of his expression.... We cannot help being amused by his subtle understanding of his own people's weaknesses and shortcomings.” (p.9) This method is admirable in an historical novel but is out of place in what pur- ports to be a factual account. At times the style tends to be rather arch as though the author felt it necessary to sugar-coat his narra- tive in order to make it acceptable to the weaker students. The following examples show the kind of tricks he employs: "But Weddell, a weather-beaten sea dog as tough as they come, was not a man to be taken in by a civil service answer" (p.5). "Let us
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