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Jonathan Spence, our foremost historian of Chinese politics and culture, tells us in his new book how the West has understood China over seven centuries. Ranging from Marco Polo's own depiction of China and the mighty Khan, Kublai, in the 1270s to the China sightings of three twentieth-century writers of acknowledged genius - Kafka, Borges, and Calvino - Spence explores Western thought on China through a remarkable array of expression.
Peopling Spence's account are Iberian adventurers, the great Jesuit missionaries, Enlightenment synthesizers including Voltaire and Montesquieu, spinners of the dreamy cult of Chinoiserie, American observers such as Bret Harte, Mark Twain, Ezra Pound, and Eugene O'Neill, and diplomats from Britain's Lord Macartney to Henry Kissinger. Their visions are alternately coarse and subtle, generous and vicious, sober and exotic.
Taken together they tell us as much about the self-image of the West as about China.
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Previews available in: English
Subjects
Civilization, Civilisation, Beeldvorming, Relations, Histoire, China, China, civilization, History, AsiaPlaces
China, Chine, Orient et Occident, EuropeShowing 4 featured editions. View all 4 editions?
Edition | Availability |
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1
The Chan's Great Continent: China in Western Minds
October 1, 1999, W. W. Norton & Company
in English
039331989X 9780393319897
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WorldCat
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2
The Chan's Great Continent: China in Western Minds
October 1, 1999, W. W. Norton & Company
in English
039331989X 9780393319897
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zzzz
Libraries near you:
WorldCat
|
3
The Chan's great continent: China in western minds
1998, W. W. Norton
in English
0393027473 9780393027471
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4 |
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Libraries near you:
WorldCat
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- Created April 29, 2008
- 7 revisions
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April 29, 2011 | Edited by OCLC Bot | Added OCLC numbers. |
August 6, 2010 | Edited by IdentifierBot | added LibraryThing ID |
April 24, 2010 | Edited by Open Library Bot | Fixed duplicate goodreads IDs. |
April 16, 2010 | Edited by bgimpertBot | Added goodreads ID. |
April 29, 2008 | Created by an anonymous user | Imported from amazon.com record |