Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/95298
Title: An information war waged by merchants and missionaries at Canton : the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge in China, 1834-1839
Authors: Chen, Songchuan.
Keywords: DRNTU::Humanities::Literature::Chinese
Issue Date: 2012
Source: Chen, S. (2012). An information war waged by merchants and missionaries at Canton: The Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge in China, 1834-1839. Modern Asian Studies, 46(6), 1705-1735.
Series/Report no.: Modern asian studies
Abstract: This paper explores the efforts and impact of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge in China (1834–1839), which existed during the five years before the First Opium War. It contends that the Society represented a third form of British engagement with the Chinese, alongside the diplomatic attempts of 1793 and 1816, and the military conflict of 1839–1842. The Society waged an ‘information war’ to penetrate the information barrier that the Qing had established to contain European trade and missions. The foreigners in Canton believed they were barred from further access to China because the Chinese had no information on the true character of the Europeans. Thus, they prepared ‘intellectual artillery’ in the form of Chinese language publications, especially on world geography, to distribute among the Chinese, in the hope that this effort would familiarize the Chinese with the science and art of Westerners and thereby cultivate respect and a welcoming atmosphere. The war metaphor was conceived, and the information war was waged, in the periphery of the British informal empire in Canton, but it contributed to the conceptualization of war against China, both in Canton and in Britain, in the years before actual military action. Behind the rhetoric of war and knowledge diffusion in Canton, lay a convergence of interests between merchants and missionaries, which drove both to employ information and military power to further their shared aim of opening China up for trade and proselytizing.
URI: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/95298
http://hdl.handle.net/10220/8937
Schools: School of Humanities and Social Sciences 
Rights: © 2012 Cambridge University Press. This paper was published in Modern Asian Studies and is made available as an electronic reprint (preprint) with permission of Cambridge University Press. The paper can be found at the following official URL: [http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=8724415]. One print or electronic copy may be made for personal use only. Systematic or multiple reproduction, distribution to multiple locations via electronic or other means, duplication of any material in this paper for a fee or for commercial purposes, or modification of the content of the paper is prohibited and is subject to penalties under law.
Fulltext Permission: open
Fulltext Availability: With Fulltext
Appears in Collections:HSS Journal Articles

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