Britain’s relationship with China in the nineteenth and early twentieth century is often viewed in terms of gunboat diplomacy, unequal treaties, and the unrelenting pursuit of Britain’s own commercial interests. This book, however, based on extensive original research, demonstrates that in Britain after the First World War a combination of liberal, Labour party, pacifist, missionary and some business opinion began to argue for imperial retreat from China, and that this movement gathered sufficient momentum for a sympathetic attitude to Chinese demands becoming official Foreign Office policy in 1926. The book considers the various strands of this movement, relates developments in Britain to the changing situation in China, especially the rise of nationalism and the Guomindang, and argues that, contrary to what many people think, the reassertion of China’s national rights was begun successfully in this period rather than after the Communist takeover in 1949.
Introduction
1. Past British Thought about China to 1900
‘So Well Conceited of Themselves’: Early Jesuit and British Accounts
‘Fifty years of Europe’ vs. ‘A Cycle of Cathay’: Imperialism and China
Christianity, Compassion and Modernity: Missionary Views
The Moral Burden: Victorian Travel Writings
British Policy, 1895-1900
2. 1900-1910
The Boxer Uprising, 1900
The Boxer Uprising and Chinese ‘Awakening’
Sir Robert Hart and Chinese ‘Awakening’
Official policy, 1901-1904
Chinese Nationalism, 1905
G.E. Morrison’s Opinions and Influence
Official Policy, 1905-1910
3. 1911-1918
Assessments of the 1911 Revolution
British policy towards China, 1911-1918
4. 1919 to early 1925
The First World War and Empire
The Paris Peace Conference
The Creation of a New Order in East Asia
Chinese Issues, 1922-1924
The Bolshevik Threat and the Yellow Peril
The Boxer Indemnity and Chinese Educational Exchange
5. 1925
Unrest in China: 30 May and its Aftermath
The View from Whitehall
Government Advisors and Lobbyists
Public Responses
The Government Response
Conclusion
6. 1926
The Hong Kong Boycott and the Business Lobby
The Tariff Conference in Beijing
Finding Consensus
Changing Perceptions of the GMD
Challenging Conciliation
The Move Towards a Pro-GMD Policy
The New China Policy: Creating the December Memorandum
7. 1927
The Hankou Incident, the Shanghai Defence Force and the Public Response
The Chen-O’Malley Agreement
The Nanjing ‘Outrages’
Conclusion
Biography
Phoebe Chow is in the International History Department at the London School of Economics, UK.