The Remaining Records of the Late Qing

Since the Qing dynasty began, China has repeatedly come into contact and conflict with Western nations. Starting with Lord Macartney's 1793 mission to China, Western countries gathered extensive intelligence on the Qing dynasty's politics, economy, and society through trade companies, missionaries, diplomats, and other channels. They later used it in military conflicts, such as the Opium Wars and the Anglo-French invasion, to further their imperialist aims. Drawing on a century of valuable reports from Western media, as well as original Chinese historical sources such as the Veritable Records of the Qing and the Imperial Qing Code, the author paints a picture of the Qing dynasty gradually losing ground in its dealings with the Western powers, then declining and finally collapsing.