With the publication and launch of the first two volumes of 'The Diplomatic Relations Between China and Foreign Countries in the Qing Dynasty - Correspondence Between China and Britain' the Centre for China Studies and the First Historical Archives of China have opened a new window on Sino-British history.
The documents were launched at the official opening of the joint centre for China Studies at La Trobe University’s Bundoora campus last week. The project has brought Australian and Chinese scholars together in a joint undertaking to research, edit and publish the most important foreign policy communications between China and Britain during the Qing Dynasty.
Most of the historical documents included in these volumes have been hidden from public scrutiny until now - effectively buried among more than ten million archival documents covering the correspondence of China's Ming and Qing Dynasties housed in the First Historical Archives of China in the Forbidden City in Beijing.
The first two volumes contain correspondence relating to the development of the railways in China, mining, and education; further volumes will cover trade issues, banking, missionary activity and international affairs.
The Executive Director of the Centre for China Studies at La Trobe University, Professor Pei Likun, said that the publication of this unique collection of archival material would generate considerable interest among international China scholars pursuing research into relations between China and Britain.
She said copies of the books would be distributed to major Centres for China Studies in Australia and internationally, including the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, UK; the School of Oriental and African Studies in London; and Berkeley and Princeton Universities and the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton, in the United States.
The Centre for China Studies at La Trobe University is a joint venture of La Trobe University, Peking University and the Beijing Foreign Studies University. The Chief Editor of the Qing Dynasty publications is Professor Michael Osborne, former Vice Chancellor of La Trobe University, currently a Guest Professor at Peking University. The other participants are Professor Pei Likun, the Executive Director of the China Studies Centre, and La Trobe academic and historian Professor Alan Frost.
Monday, 2 April 2007 Joint Centre for China Studies opens new window to Sino-British scholarsThe publication of two historically significant volumes of documents jointly edited by the joint Centre for China Studies and the First Historical Archives of China will bring many aspects of diplomatic relations between China and Britain during the Qing Dynasty into the public arena for the first time.Inquiries: Professor Likun Pei, Executive Director, Centre for China Studies, La Trobe University Tel: +61 3 94796504 Fax: +61 3 94793970 Email: l.pei@latrobe.edu.au