Qing Travelers to the Far West: Diplomacy and the Information Order in Late Imperial China a lecture and discussion with Dr. Jenny Huangfu Day

Prior to the nineteenth century, the West occupied an anomalous space in the Chinese imagination, populated by untamable barbarians and unearthly immortals. First- hand accounts and correspondence from Qing envoys and diplomats to Europe unraveled that perception. By integrating diplomatic and intellectual history with literary analysis and communication studies, Day offers a new interpretation of the Qing's engagement with the West.