The Training of Interpreters in the British Diplomatic and Consular Establishments in China and the Consturction of the British Foreign Office’s Far East Intelligence Network (1842-1884)

In modern times, interpreters of the British Diplomatic and Consular Establishments residing in the Far East played the roles of not just pure translators, but also intelligence officers whose responsibility included collecting information, studying the local and regional situations and producing knowledge about the Far East. As a result, the training of interpreters can be seen as the training of intelligence officers, in which the Student Interpreter Program, especially the training of “Senior Students,” had played a key role. Through this plan, the British Foreign Office had accumulated a large number of officials well-versed in modern scientific knowledge from the West and Far Eastern Studies (such as Sinology and Japanese Studies). The Chinese Secretary Office of the British Diplomatic Establishment in China and the Japanese Secretary Office of the British Diplomatic Establishment in Japan had also become training bases for intelligence officers. The officers trained by the program not only enhanced the intelligence network of British Diplomatic and Consular Establishments in China but paved the way for the British Foreign Office to construct an intelligence network covering the whole Far East.