Perils of Interpreting: The Extraordinary Lives of Two Translators between Qing China and the British Empire

In The Perils of Interpreting, Henrietta Harrison examines the 1793 British embassy to China, focusing on the lives of two eighteenth-century translators, Li Zibiao and George Thomas Staunton, to show that there were Chinese who were familiar with the West, but growing tensions endangered those who embraced both cultures and led to the Opium Wars. She argues that the Qing court's ignorance about the British was manufactured through the repression of cultural go-betweens and that in silencing expert voices, they missed an opportunity to gain insights that could have prevented a losing conflict with Britain.

Format: Hardback
Length: 312 pages
Publication date: 09 November 2021
Publisher: Princeton University Press

A captivating journey through China's historical relations with the West unfolds through the lives of two eighteenth-century translators: Li Zibiao and George Thomas Staunton. The 1793 British embassy to China, which resulted in Lord George Macartney's tense encounter with the Qianlong emperor, has often been portrayed as a clash of cultures fueled by the East's indifference towards the West. However, Henrietta Harrison presents a nuanced perspective in her book, "The Perils of Interpreting," by shifting the historical lens to focus on Macartney's interpreters during that pivotal meeting.

Who were these two men? How did they intervene in the exchanges they mediated? And what did these exchanges mean for them? From Galway to Chengde, and from political intrigues to personal encounters, Harrison reassesses a pivotal moment in relations between China and Britain. She reveals that there were Chinese individuals who were familiar with the West, but growing tensions endangered those who embraced both cultures and ultimately led to the Opium Wars.

Harrison demonstrates that the Qing courts' ignorance about the British was not merely incidental but was deliberately cultivated through the suppression of cultural intermediaries like Li and Staunton. She traces Li's influence as Macartney's interpreter, the pressures Li faced in China, and his subsequent years in hiding. Staunton, on the other hand, was successful in interpreting for the British East India Company in Canton, but as Chinese anger grew against British imperial expansion in South Asia, he was compelled to flee to England.

Harrison argues that by silencing expert voices, the Qing court missed an opportunity to gain insights that could have prevented a costly conflict with Britain. Through the lives of these two overlooked figures, "The Perils of Interpreting" offers an empathetic argument for cross-cultural understanding and the importance of preserving diverse perspectives in historical narratives.

Weight: 738g
Dimension: 176 x 243 x 29 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780691225456