The aim of this website is to provide an analysis of the life led by Europeans and Americans in China in the 18th and early 19th century, examining the views of traders, diplomats, missionaries and soldiers, as well as the overall perception of Westerners and Chinese, through original first-hand accounts, letters, publications and photographs.

Resources for collectors and researchers specializing in Chinese books are available in the reference section, with a particular emphasis on foreigners and missionaries in China.

Qing Dynasty (Pre 1911)

• Trade: Personal Letter from Franklin Blake, Hong Kong (January 14th, 1860)
• Trade: Personal Letter from William B. Newhagen, Shanghai (May 3rd, 1873)
• Publication: Copy of Translation of Extracts from the Chinese Criminal Code of Laws (circa 1800-1809)
• Missionary: A Presentation of China and the Chinese by Reverend T. C. Skeggs (circa 1880)
• Missionary: Letter from William David Rudland in Tai-Chou [Taizhou] (September 1st, 1881)

Boxer Rebellion

• Military: Letter from an American soldier in Tientsin (July 29th, 1900)
• Military: Letter from Claude M. MacDonald, British Minister to China to Lieutenant-General Alfred Gaselee, Commander of the China Expeditionary Force (August 17th, 1900)
• Military: Letter from Takoo from G. M. McPherson, aboard the USS Kentucky, off the coast of Taku (September 30, 1901)

Early Republic (Post 1911)

• Government: Letter from Canton, from Charles M. Hoffman, I. M. C. (March 1st, 1910)
• Government: Letter from Shameen, Guangdong Province, describing internal turmoil in China (July 23rd, 1913)
• Military: Letter from Tientsin, from Harry C. Hale to Major Elisha S. Benton (August 8th, 1916)

Reference Section

•  Reference information on Chinese publication in English
•  Private holdings in reference collection

For more information, please contact oldchinahands@gmail.com.