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A ‘Most Interesting Subject for the Investigation of the Philosopher’: Conjectural History in John Barrow's Travels in China
Author(s) -
Choi Ja Yun
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
journal for eighteenth‐century studies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.129
H-Index - 11
eISSN - 1754-0208
pISSN - 1754-0194
DOI - 10.1111/1754-0208.12621
Subject(s) - china , subject (documents) , judgement , civilization , history , literature , epistemology , philosophy , art , archaeology , computer science , library science
This article re‐examines John Barrow's Travels in China (1804), an account of the Macartney embassy seen as having contributed to the emergence of Britain's derogatory attitude to China. By drawing connections between his cross‐cultural comparisons and conjectural history, it demonstrates how Barrow employs China's cultural differences not only to sophisticate stadial theory but also to present a complex view of Chinese civilisation that does not lend itself to an evaluative judgement of superiority. Through a comparison of Barrow's travelogue and other contemporary writings, it aims to show that British opinion on China continued to fluctuate in the early nineteenth century.