Figure 1.--Many Westeners looked down on the Chinese. Other Westerners were fascinated. This unidentified mother and son have dressed up in Chinese clothing for a cainet portrait taken about 1900-05. The portrait is undated, but can be approximated by the mount wiich was stamped "Yamamoto Peiking". The fact that the photographer was Japanese is also notabled. As the portrait was taken in Peiking, they were probably a diplomatic family.

Until the 19th century, Westerners were a rarity in China, restricted to a few coastal ports. The Opium Wars changed this. China was forced to tolerate foreigners who wished to enter and not just in a few treaty ports. All kinds of foreigners entered China. Merchants and traders for the most part remained primarily in coastal ports--the European treaty port enclaves. This was not the case for the missionries whi flocked to China with a desire to save souls they penetrated into the interior in plsces that foredigners had never before gone. The Christian missionaries in China are a particularly interesting topic. They founded schools, the first real modern schools in China. Engineers also came to China towork on railway and mining projects. One such engineer was a young Herbert Hoover and his wife. And a diplomaztic community gew up in Beijing. And along wsith these Europeans were soldiers abd civil servants needed to admonister the treaty ports. The reaction to these fiorigners varied. Some Chinese were interested in hem and desired to learn from themand to work for them. Other Chinese were offended by the prsence of foreigners in China and their attitudes toward the Chinese. Many Europeans affected by racist attitudes loked down on the Chinese and sought to imsulate themselves from the Chinese as much as possible. This was not the case of the missionaries, but was the case of many, but certainly not all, merchsnts, civil servnts, and soldiers.

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Created: 2:29 AM 10/22/2009
Last updated: 2:29 AM 10/22/2009