In late March, we welcomed our longtime friends from Wah Yan College Hong Kong through TBC’s ChinaContact program. Their first visit was to their sister school, Beijing No. 11 School, where they engaged in vibrant exchanges, sharing educational insights and cultural experiences with each other.
Following this, they explored the TBC library, which boasts an extensive collection of over 27,000 volumes of English-language sinological books. These books span diverse fields such as art, biography, ethnology, history, and language, sparking interest among the students.
In addition to academic exchanges on campus, they also toured several historical landmarks in Beijing, including the Forbidden City, the Ancient Observatory, and the Mutianyu Great Wall.
This cultural journey not only allowed them to experience the unique charm of Beijing’s regional culture but also enriched their academic and humanistic outlooks, enhancing their appreciation of traditional Chinese culture and history.
This is the first American edition of Anderson’s fascinating account of Britain’s first diplomatic mission to China in 1792. By the end of the eighteenth century the East India Company had been trading with Chinese merchants for two hundred years, but in a strictly limited way.
At the dawn of the Age of Enlightenment, as the 18th century drew to a close, the Western world was eager for knowledge—driven by a philosophical movement that championed reason and science. King Louis XV of France asked for the advice of his trusted Minister of State, Henri Bertin, about how to reform the spirit of the nation, after giving it some thought, Bertin famously responded, “Sire, to inoculate the French with the Chinese spirit.”