Compelling revisionist history of Chinese foreign relations.
Waley-Cohen (History/New York Univ.; Exile in Mid-Qing China,
1991) is mainly concerned here with dispelling certain myths
about Chinese attitudes and actions toward the rest of the
world. China has been viewed as rabidly isolationist, virulently
hostile to and ignorant of the world outside its borders, and
irrationally resistant to change and innovation. All of these
views, argues Waley-Cohen, are wrong, and stem from the peculiar
perceptions of 19th century Western colonizers whose
imprecations China quite naturally resisted. The author provides
much historical evidence to back up her claims. As early as 200
b.c., China had established networks of trade throughout all of
Asia, and later was to extend these ties to Europe and the New
World. Foreign ideas and innovations were not as a rule shunned
but welcomed. Buddhism, imported from India, became highly
influential; foreign inventions, such as the sextant (hence the
title of the book) and other as