INTRODUCTION 



The intercourse of western nations with China falls into two 

 periods, the dividing- line between which is the discovery of the 

 sea route to India in the fifteenth century. In the first period 

 come the vaguely known trade with the Roman Empire, the 

 burst of commerce and papal missions made possible by the 

 Mongol conquests of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, 

 and the slight revival of indirect communication under Tamerlane 

 and his successors. 1 The second period begins with the coming 

 of the Portuguese in the early sixteenth century. 2 In the first 

 period intercourse was largely by the overland route across the 

 high table land of Central Asia. In the second, except in the case 

 of Russia, it has been almost entirely by sea. 



The second period is in turn separated into two natural divi 

 sions by the first British-Chinese war and the treaties of 1842-4. 

 Before these years all Westerners were regarded by the Chinese 

 as troublesome barbarians. They were looked upon as tributary 

 peoples, uncivilized, not to be considered as equals. They were 

 confined to limited quarters in the suburbs of one port, Canton, 

 and to Macao, which Portugal had leased from the Empire. 

 They were ruled by the most stringent of regulations, but were 

 viewed with such contempt that officials would deal with them 

 only through a non-official commercial monopoly, the co-hong. 



In spite of handicaps, however, the commerce and missions 

 of two countries, the United States and England, steadily grew, 

 and when Chinese isolation and self-satisfaction finally became 

 unbearable, the first British-Chinese war broke out and resulted 

 in treaties which granted revolutionary concessions. With these 

 treaties, China entered the family of nations, and theoretically 

 at least, recognized western countries as her equals. Foreigners 

 were allowed residence in five ports, were released from the old 



1 Henry Yule, Cathay and the Way Thither, being a collection of 

 Medieval notices of China translated and edited by Colonel Henry Yule, 

 with a preliminary essay on the intercourse between China and the 

 Western Nations previous to the discovery of the Cape Route. London, 

 1866. This is the best single work on the period. 



2 S. Wells Williams, A History of China. New York, 1901. pp. 75-no. 



