Description

World-first publication of these important letters addressed to Sir Ernest Satow (with some replies noted on letters) while he was Britain's top diplomat in China, 1900-06. Satow replaced Sir Claude MacDonald after the Siege of the Legations in 1900. He took a leading part in the negotiations leading up to the signing of the Boxer Protocol on September 7, 1901. He had many dealings with the large number of consuls throughout China under his control, the legation staff, the diplomatic body, the British army and navy, British residents of China (including missionaries, bankers, businessmen etc.), the Indian Colonial Government, the Chinese Imperial family, Viceroys throughout China, the Imperial Maritime Customs and of course the British Foreign Office. The purpose of the author is to make this precious material more easily accessible to scholars worldwide, who are not able to visit The National Archives of the U.K. to see the original documents, or who cannot afford much time there. This is the first volume in the China series, expected to total five or six volumes. The Japan series (1895-1900) has already been completed and comprises four volumes. The paperback cover is intended to represent the dust of Peking, mentioned by Satow in Chapter One of his classic memoir A Diplomat in Japan, and the swirls in particular represent the tumult and turbulence of the Boxer Rising and its aftermath. Hardcover and Kindle versions are also available.