By Abigail Kokush
The European nations first began to take an interest in China in the thirteenth century after hearing about Marco Polo’s great twenty-year adventures in China (Soothill 51). However shortly after Europeans became more interested in China, a two centuries travel blockade was established by Middle Eastern nations.
In the fifteenth century, the Chinese empower heard a prophecy that people with grey eyes would subdue his nation, which instilled fear of the British in China (Soothhill 51-71). This prompted China to refuse to trade with Britain for several years until 1699, but during this time China was still trading with Portugal. It was during this trading period with Portugal that Galeote Periera, a Portuguese sailor was arrested for attempting to smuggle goods out of China.
During his seven-year imprisonment, Periera was treated like a political prisoner and had the opportunity to see the Fuzhou providence in depth. After his escape, Periera wrote about his account, in South China in the Sixteenth Century. His travel diaries provide the most in-depth accounts of China since the days of Marco Polo in the thirteenth century, showcasing Chinese dining customs and culture with reverence and amazement to an audience who had very limited knowledge of China. From the syntax he uses within his travel diaries, it is evident that Europeans of his time viewed the Chinese with reverence.
By the end of the eighteenth century, China was in at the zenith of its expansion and several European nations were in turmoil due to various wars, meaning that the beginning of the nineteenth century saw China as a global power (Soothill 97). China only allowed legal trade to take place by the Shameen, a narrow strip of land near Canton, China (Soothhill 99). The government forbade foreigners from entering the city of Canton and placed severe punishments on Chinese citizens caught teaching westerners any Chinese dialect (Soothhill 100).
During this time, China viewed Britain, and by extension Europe, as “barbarian,” evident by the contempt the British envoy received for not bowing to the Emperor when they visited in the early nineteenth century.
In the mid-1800s the balance of power began to shift. Years previously, European merchants had become capitalised on the opium demand while opium restrictions were becoming tighter, which meant greater bribes for government officials (Soothill 115). In the mid-1800s, rules on Opium became much stricter, with the government destroying several opium dens and China began executing opium dealers. Yet it did nothing to deter opium smugglers from selling drugs in China because the profits were too high (Soothill 122). Europeans began to see Chinese people as inferior and weak-minded for falling into the thrall of opium (Soothill 131).
This common perception of the Chinese being an inferior race can be evident in the syntax in which Rev. J.G. Wood describes dining culture in his travel diary Uncivilized Races of Men in all Countries of the World. Long gone are the days of Galeote Periera’s reverence and respect for Chinese dining, instead, they are replaced with disparaging and downright condescending remarks. Wood’s work makes it clear that the once-great China is no longer held in the esteem it once was.
Post World War II, saw China and Europe’s relationship evolve once more. After WWII, China emerged as The People’s Republic of China, a large communist state (Asian Survey 1167). While western European powers might not have trusted the PRC, they began to view it as an equal because of the backing PRC received from the powerful and already established Soviet Union. As more and more nations began to emancipate themselves from colonial rule, it created a climate that allowed greater improvement in the Sino-European relations (Asain Survey 1170). In the 1970s, new Soviet aggression and threat of a nuclear strike against PRC, encourged China to create a united front with western Eruope to counterfoce Soviet expansion (Asian Survey 1171). By the end of the 1970s, the majority of Eruopean nations had established some type of diplomatic relation with the PRC, seeing the PRC as their equals (Asain Survey 1171-1173).
Diplomatic relations between China and the majority of Europe encouraged China to begin to open its borders in 1979 (Asain Survey 1173). In opening their borders, there was an influx of western travellers coming to visit a nation that had been previously closed for several decades. One of these travellers was Lois Fisher who wrote Peking Diary: A Personal Account of Modern China, an account of the three years she lived in Beijing, China. Fisher’s rhetoric around food and the dining culture in China was light years different from how it was discussed by Rev. Wood in the late nineteen century. Fisher views the Chinese as her equal, and while she still remains surprised by some of the dining norms that she witnesses, she remains respectful and tolerant.
China and Europe have an undoubtedly complex relationship spanning near ten centuries. While politicians were playing politics between the two places, European travellers were going to China to experience the difference in eastern and western dining cultures and writing about them in their travel diaries. The syntax European travel journalists use to describe the dining culture in China reflects the common rhetoric of that time period, which is brought on by external forces. From Galeote Periera having the most in-depth account since the days of Marco Polo to Lois Fisher being one of the first westerners to meet the new post World War II China, travel journalist syntax surrounding Chinese dining provides an unparalleled first hand look into how western perceptions of China throughout the centuries.
Works Cited:
Fisher, Louis. A Peking Diary: A Personal Account of Modern China. 1979.
Pereira, Galeote. South China in the Sixteenth Century (1550–1575) Being the narratives of Galeote Pereira, Fr. Gaspar da Cruz, O.P., Fr. Martin de Rada, O.E.S.A., (1550–1575). Translated by C.R Boxer.
Shouyuan, Shen. “Sino-European Relations in the Global Context: Increased Parallels in an Increasingly Plural World.” University of California Press, vol. 26, no. 11, Nov. 1986, pp. 1164-83. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/2644314. Accessed 5 May 2022.
Soothill, William Edward. China and the West: A Short History of Their Contact from Ancient Times to the Fall of the Manchu Dynasty. Westholme Publishing, 2009.
Wood, J.G. The Uncivilized Races of MenL All Countries of the World. The J.B Burr Publishing Co., 1871.
