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Abstract
This study examines how Bin Chun 斌椿 (1804–1871), the first late Qing Chinese scholar-official to Europe, kept a critical distance from the West by delivering different messages between his prose (written for the late Qing court) and poetry (shared with friends). It explores his representations of “self-styled heroism,” Qing Occidentalism, and gender hierarchy in writing. In the prose written for a more public purpose, Bin Chun credited his popularity to the respected nation behind him, portrayed Westerners as barbarians, and reserved his praise for upper-class women in the West. In contrast, his poems elaborate on his charisma, tone down the bizarre scenes in the West, and include exuberant descriptions of ladies. As the official has been considered a conservative who failed to recognize the strength of the West, this research sheds light on his efforts at cultural mediation that reveal further complexity in his stance.
Disclosure Statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 Shuhe Zhong, From East to West: Chinese Travellers before 1911, vol. 1, 10 vols. (Changsha: Yuelu Publishing House, 2008) 143.
2 Chouban Yangwu Shimo 籌辦洋務始末, vol. 39, 1621.
3 The Chinese considered diplomacy an act of submission while Westerners regarded it as a normal function of state. See Immanuel C. Y. Hsü, China’s Entrance into the Family of Nations: The Diplomatic Phase, 1858–1880 (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1960), 152.
4 Jenny Huangfu Day, Qing Travelers to the Far West: Diplomacy and The Information Order in Late Imperial China (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018), 34.
5 Jenny Huangfu Day, Qing Travelers to the Far West: Diplomacy and The Information Order in Late Imperial China (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018), 11.
6 Bin Chun’s diary not least represents the traditional views of Chinese scholar-officials, and the journey did not transform his stance. See Shuhe Zhong, Zouxiang Shijie: Jindai Zhishi Fenzi Kaocha Xifang de Lishi 走向世界：近代知識分子考察西方的歷史 (Beijing: Zhonghua Shuju Chubanshe, 1985), 66-71.
7 Prince Gong’s (the executive leader of Zongli Yamen) memorial to the throne required Bin Chun to submit a record of the landscape and customs of foreign countries upon his return. Chouban Yangwu Shimo 籌辦洋務始末, vol.39, 1622.
8 Zheng proposes another set of dual roles in the study on Wang Tao’s 王韜 (1828—1897)’s fictional Sino-Western encounters: Wang as a reformer was eager to embrace the modern world of the West, but as a literatus, he hesitated and clung to the Sinocentric worldview. See Huili Zheng, “Enchanted Encounter: Gender Politics, Cultural Identity, and Wang Tao’s (1828-97) Fictional Sino-Western Romance,” NAN NÜ 16, no. 2 (2014): 274–307.
9 Day, Qing Travelers to the Far West, 37.
10 In Day’s account, Bin Chun’s diary and several poems show his role as a private scholar as they were more down-to-earth records about his social interactions, while most of his poems reflect his image as an imperial envoy because of their hyperbolic and condescending language. The divergence between our categorizations reveals further complexities in Bin Chun’s dual roles because his writings in the two genres are often cross-referenced and blurred with rhetorical devices.
11 Dexiang Yin, Across the East and West Seas: Cultural Observation, Identity and Choice in the Diaries of Late Qing Diplomats to Western Countries (Beijing: Peking University Press, 2009), 14. Such expression is exemplified by how Bin Chun regarded the novelties in the foreign society as a show; his records stress aesthetical appreciation (such as the magnificence of steamships) rather than thoughts on people’s wellbeing (like how such inventions could be applied in China). Ibid, 51-59.
12 See Bo Yang, “Wanqing Lvxi Jishu Yanjiu 晚清旅西記述研究 (1840—1911)” (Ph.D., Henan, Henan University, 2010); Dexiang Yin, “Binchun Xifang Jishu de Huayu Fangshi 斌椿西方記述的話語方式,” Xueshu Jiaoliu 學術交流, no. 7 (2009): 195–197.
13 Xiaofei Tian, Visionary Journeys: Travel Writings from Early Medieval and Nineteenth-Century China (Cambridge: Harvard University Asia Center, 2012), 195.
14 Richard Smith, John King Fairbank, and Katherine Bruner, Robert Hart and China’s Early Modernization: His Journals, 1863–1866 (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1991), 347-360.
15 Shuhe Zhong, Zouxiang Shijie: Jindai Zhishi Fenzi Kaocha Xifang de Lishi 走向世界：近代知識分子考察西方的歷史 (Beijing: Zhonghua Shuju Chubanshe, 1985), 71-72.
16 See Yang Liu, “On the Historical Discourse of the Binchun Mission: How to Deal with Distortions of Modern Times,” Journal of National Museum of China, no. 9 (2021): 107–21; Yang Liu, “The First Attempt to Send Envoys to the West: An Analysis of the Mission of Bin Chun in the Late Qing Dynasty,” Historical Archives, no. 3 (2019): 100–109.
17 Tangchen Yang, “Western Imagination and Writing Strategy of the Late Qing Envoys’ Travel Writing,” Comparative Literature in China, no. 3 (2021): 59–75.
18 Hongbing Sha, “Laymen Inside: The Sense of Identity in Oversea Poems of Late Qing Dynasty,” Literature & Art Studies, no. 3 (2021): 41–52.
19 The only exception was his answer to the crown prince and princess of the UK. In his reply to how the journey was, Bin Chun addressed himself as “envoy from China” (中華使臣). Nevertheless, he can still be justified because this title conforms with the impression of the British royal family.
20 All in-line quotations are from Zhong, From East to West: Chinese Travelers before 1911. Unless otherwise indicated, the translations in this study are done by me.
21 Yin’s original term was ziwo yingxiong zhuyi 自我英雄主義. See Yin, Across the East and West Seas: Cultural Observation, Identity and Choice in the Diaries of Late Qing Diplomats to Western Countries, 62-63.
22 Emma Jinhua Teng, “The West as a ‘Kingdom of Women’: Woman and Occidentalism in Wang Tao’s ‘Tales of Travel,’” in Traditions of East Asian Travel (New York: Berghahn Books, 2005), 97–124.
23 Mingming Wang, The West as the Other: A Genealogy of Chinese Occidentalism (Hong Kong: The Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2014), 18.
24 Wang, 110.
25 Dong Zhongshu 董仲舒 (179-104 B.C.) established Three Fundamental Bonds as the core of social relationships, including “the wife depends on her husband” (夫為妻綱). Dong Zhongshu 董仲舒, Chunqiu Fanlu 春秋繁露 (Beijing: Zhonghua Shuju Chubanshe, 2012), 464.
26 Teng, “The West as a ‘Kingdom of Women’: Woman and Occidentalism in Wang Tao’s ‘Tales of Travel.’”, 108-111.
27 Bin Chun repetitively wrote about women’s bold outfit in the diary. For other mentioning, see Zhong, From East to West: Chinese Travelers before 1911, 109, 110.
28 The original line is ambiguous—the poet wrote “翠色浥茶甌”, in which “翠色” could refer to either the outfit of the ladies or plants in the garden. By a cross-reference with Bin Chun’s prose, I settled on the former explanation because he mentioned “verdant sleeves” (翠袖) to address the pleasant ladies. This answer in turn adds on to the proportion of feminine elements in Bin Chun’s poems and reinforces his personal feelings.
29 Day, Qing Travelers to the Far West: Diplomacy and the Information Order in Late Imperial China, 51.
30 Alan Peshkin, “In Search of Subjectivity. One’s Own,” Educational Researcher 17, no. 7 (Citation1988): 17–21.
31 Leslie Clarkson, “Documentary Sources,” in The A-Z of Social Research (London: SAGE Publications, 2003), 80–83.
32 For instance, after descriptions about infrastructure built with funds raised in collaboration by citizens and enterprises, Liu followed up with opposition to instruction of such practices into China. See Liu Xihong 劉錫鴻, Liu Xihong: Yingyao Siji 劉錫鴻·英軺私記, 62.
33 Zeng Jize 曾紀澤, Zeng Jize Riji 曾紀澤日記, vol. 1, 2 vols. (Changsha: Yuelu Publishing House, 1998), 4.
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Yunrui Lin
Yunrui Lin currently is a PhD student at the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures, Tsinghua University.