RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1987 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522 292 BOOK REVIEWS Pamela Atwell, British Mandarins and Chinese Reformers: the British Administration of Weihaiwei (1898-1930) and the Territory's Return to Chinese Rule, Hong Kong, Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, 1985. 302 + xxiii pp. Appendices, Notes, Bibliography, Glossary (with Chinese characters), Index. The year was 1898 and the sun was setting on the Ch'ing dynasty which had ruled the Chinese Empire since 1644. China's defeat by Japan in 1895 had revealed its weaknesses once more to the world. Foreign powers sought to take advantage of the vulnerability of the Ch'ing government to intensify their demands for territorial and economic concessions. The Powers rushed, or "scrambled", to attain their objectives before others could get to them first. In one respect, the Powers had the support of Chinese officials, who, implementing traditional Chinese policy of using barbarians to control barbarians, sought to achieve a balance of power in China. By 1898, the Russians built a naval base at Port Arthur while the Germans established their presence over the province of Shantung. In April 1898, the Chinese government leased Weihaiwei to Britain. Weihaiwei, at the tip of the Kiaochow Peninsula in northern Shantung, was then occupied by the Japanese. It was hoped that, from this vantage, the British would be able to counter Russian and German strength in North China, and all of them would keep out the Japanese. The British stayed at Weihaiwei until 1930, when it was returned to Chinese administration. During the interim, the Kaiser and the Tsar had collapsed and China had gone through the Boxers uprising, a series of reforms, a revolution that toppled the Ch'ing dynasty, a period of disunity and warlord rule, and, finally, the establishment of the National Government at Nanking led by Chiang Kai-shek in 1927. The rise of Chinese nationalism increased demand for rendition of all foreign concessions in China, including Weihaiwei. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1987 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522 296 Individual treaty ports in China as well as other parts of Asia, large and small, are receiving attention from scholars. Meanwhile, British Mandarins and Chinese Reformers should be read by all who are interested in modern China or who are interested in the British in Asia. Dr. Atwell has made a significant contribution to our knowledge of how the British administered one small locality and coped with demands of modern forces. Her work can be used as a guide or springboard for comparison of British colonial policy in various East Asian places, such as Brunei and the Straits Settlements, Hankow, Tientsin, and Shanghai, say, with Hong Kong tossed in for good measure. WEI PEH T'I* Steven A. Leibo, Transferring Technology to China, Prosper Giquel and the Self-strengthening Movement, China Research Monograph 28, Institute of East Asian Studies, University of California, Berkeley, Center for Chinese Studies, 1985. Prosper Giquel, edited by Steven A. Leibo, A Journal of the Chinese Civil War 1864. Honolulu, University of Hawaii Press, 1985. These two works, one of compilation and assessment based on a doctoral dissertation, the other of translation (with the help of Debbie Weston) and annotation with a lengthy introduction, have a considerable intrinsic interest because they deal with a rather extraordinary man. They have also a degree of relevance, over a century later, for the West's involvement with present-day China's modernizing programme. They are to be read in conjunction with other modern works on this period of China's self-strengthening efforts, including those listed in Dr. Leibo's introduction to Transferring Technology. Prosper Giquel, a French naval officer, came to China during the Second China War. After service with the Joint Commission * Wei Peh T'i is Honorary Lecturer, Department of History, and Research Associate, Centre of Asian Studies, University of Hong Kong. She is the author of Shanghai: Crucible of Modern China (1987). ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h 413 Mind Landscapes has been laid out with great beauty and intelligence. It would have been impossible to produce such an outstanding volume without financial support. This was provided through grants from the Henry Art Gallery Association, PONCHO, the University of Washington Press and the J. Paul Getty Trust. Yet it is rare to have such a thoughtful and handsome product even if one has the resources. Kudos is also due to the designer, Douglas Wadden. The publication of Mind Landscapes coincides with a major retrospective of C.C. Wang's work and serves as a catalogue to it. This book is a fitting climax to Mr. Wang's career and sets a standard of excellence in its field. Let us hope that young scholars in Asia and the West will take note. JOAN LEBOLD COHEN Tufts University Pamela Atwell, British Mandarins and Chinese Reformers: the British Administration of Weihaiwei (1898-1930) and the Territory's Return to Chinese Rule, Hong Kong, Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, 1985. 302 + xxiii pp. Appendices, Notes, Bibliography, Glossary (with Chinese characters), Index. The year was 1898 and the sun was setting on the Ch'ing dynasty which had ruled the Chinese Empire since 1644. China's defeat by Japan in 1895 had revealed its weaknesses once more to the world. Foreign powers sought to take advantage of the vulnerability of the Ch'ing government to intensify their demands for territorial and economic concessions. The powers rushed, or "scrambled", to attain their objectives before others could get to them first. In one respect, they had the support of Chinese officials, who, implementing traditional Chinese policy of using barbarians to control barbarians, sought to achieve a balance of power in China. By 1898, the Russians had built a naval base at Port Arthur while the Germans had established their presence over the province of Shantung. In April 1898, the Chinese government leased Weihaiwei to Britain. Weihaiwei, at the tip of the Kiaochow Peninsula in northern Shantung, was then occupied by the Japanese. It was hoped that, from this vantage, the British would be able to counter Russian and German strength in North China, and all of them would keep out the Japanese. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h 416 October 1930. The Chinese, in the opinion of Dr. Atwell, had not done their homework. The administrator sent by the central government was a naval officer. Instead of working within the framework of local traditions, the central government chose to embark on a programme of immediate modernization and reform, doing away with practices of many centuries, leading to deprivation and resentment. Economic and social conditions continued to deteriorate. The area was again occupied by Japanese forces when the second Sino-Japanese War began in 1937. If Dr. Atwell's work has to be faulted at all, it would be on her preponderant reliance upon British documents. Even what Chinese policies were and how people felt about them were discerned from Foreign Office records. Motivations and reasons for adoption of certain policies, therefore, were not exactly taken from the horse's mouth, so to speak. Dr. Atwell has a more than respectable command of Chinese, and could have investigated more Chinese sources in greater depth. Perhaps her mentors at the University of London did not encourage consultation of Chinese historical archives. Perhaps the documents were not accessible. In addition, it must have been a disappointment to Dr. Atwell and a loss to the readers that she was denied access to some important personal papers of Lockhart. It must also be noted that Chinese central governments did not normally look at localities except as a small part of the whole. Policies and programmes were adopted for the entire country, and Weihaiwei came under them only as a part of the whole. It was, as Dr. Atwell has pointed out, T. V. Soong, Minister of Finance, therefore, rather than the local administrator, who determined fiscal policies for Weihaiwei after 1930. The National Government was following the time-honoured tradition of giving priority to the total polity over individual localities. Perhaps, had British administrators followed modernization programmes adopted elsewhere in China, Chinese rulers after 1930 would not have needed to use such drastic means. Scholars in future may examine Chinese materials more fully, including extant archival sources which are becoming routinely consulted in Chinese historical research, and may find some of the answers to the questions raised by Dr. Atwell's investigations. Individual treaty ports in China as well as other parts of Asia, large and small, are receiving attention from scholars. Meanwhile, British Mandarins and Chinese Reformers should be read by all who are ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1994 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zk522640g 193 SPECIAL FEATURE AN ENGLISH BIBLIOGRAPHY FOR CHINA STUDIES BETTY WEI Abeel, David, Journal of a Residence in China and the Neighbouring Countries from 1830 to 1833, London: Nisbet, 1835. Abel, Clarke, Narrative of a Journey in the Interior of China, and of a Voyage to and From That Country, in the Years 1816 and 1817, London: Longman, 1819. Alley, Rewi, Travels in China 1966-77, Beijing: New World Press, 1973. Almack, William, A Journey to China from London in a Sailing Vessel in 1837, 252 leaves (photocopy of manuscript at Hong Kong University Library MSS/915/1/A44). Alsop, Gulielma Fell, My Chinese Days, Boston: Little Brown, 1918. Anderson, Aeneas, A Narrative of the British Embassy to China in the Year 1792, 1793 and 1794, London: Debrett, 1795. 1 Anderson, John, Mandalay to Momien: A Narrative of the Two Expeditions to Western China of 1868 and 1875 Under Colonel Edward B. Sladen and Colonel Horace Brown, Maps. London: Macmillan, 1876. Andersson, John Gunnar, The Dragon and the Foreign Devils, Boston: Little Brown, 1928. Anville, Philippe, Voyage en divers états d'Europe et d'Asie (Travels into diverse parts of Europe and Asia for a new land route to China), London: for Tim Goodwin, 1693. Arlington, L.C. and William Lewisohn, In Search of Old Peking, Peking: Henri Vetch, 1935 (Hong Kong Reprint: Oxford University Press). Atwell, Pamela, British Mandarins and Chinese Reformers: The British Administration of Weihaiwei (1898-1930) and the Territory's Return to Chinese Rule. Hong Kong, New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1985. Atwell, William, The Ta-ch'ang, Tien-ch'i, and Ch'ung-chen Reigns, Cambridge History of China, vol. 7, 585-640. Auden, Wystan Hugh and Christopher Isherwood, Journey to a War, New York: Random House, 1939. Baber, Edward Colburne, Travels and Researches in Western China in Royal Geographical Society of London Supplementary Papers, London, 1886, v. 1. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1998 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794 350 Shanghai, 1917 1933 Handbook for China, Carl Crow, pub. Kelly & Walsh, Shanghai, The Philatelic and Postal History of Hong Kong and the Treaty Ports, FW Webb, pub. Royal Philatelic Society, London, 1961 Strangers at the Gate, Frederic Wakeman Jr, pub. University of California Press, Berkeley Cal., 1966 China's Struggle for Naval Development, 1839-1895, John L Rawlinson, pub. Harvard University Press, Cambridge Mass., 1967 "The Invasion of China by the Western World”, ER Hughes, pub. Adam & Charles Black, London, 1968 The British in the Far East, George Woodcock, pub. Atheneum, New York, 1969 Trade and Diplomacy on the China Coast, John King Fairbank, pub. Stanford University Press, Stanford Cal., 1969 Western Enterprise in Late Ch'ing China, Edward LeFevour, pub. Harvard University Press, Cambridge Mass., 1970 Imperialism and Chinese Nationalism - Germany in Shantung, John E Schrecker, pub. Harvard University Press, Cambridge Mass., 1971 Nagel's Encyclopedia Guide to China, pub. Nagel, Geneva, 1980 British Mandarins and Chinese Reformers, Pamela Atwell, pub. Oxford University Press, Hong Kong, 1985 Lion and Dragon in Northern China, Reginald F Johnston, pub. Oxford University Press, Hong Kong, 1986 ================================================================================