Author: SHUCK, JEHU LEWIS (Ed. & Transl.):
Title: Portfolio Chinensis: or a Collection of Authentic Chinese State Papers Illustrative of the History of the Present Position of Affairs in China. With a translation, notes and introduction. Macao, Printed for the translator at the New Washington Press of F.F. de Cruz, 1840.
Description: . Pp. xvi, 183, (1 blank), 184-191. With text in Chinese and English. The paper is very brittle. Partly with small marginal tear, one leaf strengthened on verso, and last text leaf with small loss. Quarter calf on marbled boards, spine with five raised bands, gilt with red gilt morocco label. First edition.This collection of Chinese documents relating to the outbreak of the First Opium War (1839-42) includes the edicts against the taking and trade of opium, as well as Governor Lin's rigorous edicts against English traders following the British failure to control the importation of raw opium. It's preceded by an introduction with information about poppy cultivation, preparation and use of the drug, a brief outline of the history of the import of opium into China, an epitome of the High Commissioner's efforts for the suppression of the traffic in 1839. The sale of opium had been made illegal in China in 1800 but there was still a huge flourishing black market for opium trade in 1838. Most of the opium was grown in British India where the drug was a legal commodity. The opium was brought to China and sold on the Lintin Island in Canton Bay. In 1839, Lin Tse-hsu, the governor of the Chinese province of Hu-Hu and appointed Imperial Commissioner, launched his anti-drug campaign and stopped the foreign smugglers of opium in Canton. But then British merchants anchored at Macao and Hong Kong instead. This was followed by British warships attacking and damaging Chinese junks that attempted to stop their ships in Hong Kong. Governor Lin Tse-Hsu was dismissed from his post as Imperial Commissioner. John Lewis Shuck was the first American Baptist missionary to China. He arrived together with his wife in Macao in 1836 and lived and worked in Hong Kong, Canton and Shanghai. The Chinese text is printed with wooden blocks and the English with metal types that are entirely new and used here for the first time. Cordier BS 1905-6. Lust 478. Löwendahl 955.

Keywords: East Asia, china, chine, kina, chinese, asia, asie, asien, asiatic, travel, exploration, history, historical, opium, opium war


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