The Knowledge, Experience and Translation of Foreign Court Etiquettes in Tongzhi and Guangxu Period

Abstract: During the Tongzhi reign (1861-1875), the controversy over issues of receiving foreign envoys drew wide attention within and beyond the administration to the “ foreign court etiquettes.” Various knowledge about the form and scale of Western ceremonies made the political connotation of the Confucian rituals generalized, leading Qing scholars to rethink the dispute between the two ritual traditions. These discussions also provided the Qing court with intellectual justifications when it was later forced to adopt Western ceremonies to receive foreign envoys. In the early years of Guangxu (1875-1908), after the Qing court sent delegates abroad, the Western admission ceremonies represented by the British royal style were introduced to the Qing scholars. The Chinese concept of “Western rituals” began to diversify, and various styles of admission ceremonies were recorded in travel writings by the Chinese envoys. Zhang Deyi, the translator of Guo Songtao’s mission, translated the British etiquette manuals and official documents into Rules of the Court Etiquettes (《朝眷会规》）, which became the first Chinese translation of Western etiquette documents in late Qing Dynasty. By investigating the original English sources of this text and its translation process, we can not only understand the process in which Western ceremonies were crystalized from knowledge and experience into texts, but also evaluate the extent to which the late Qing scholars accepted Western political ideologies. Qing intellectuals’ experience with and translation of Western ceremonies not only provide an opportunity to reevaluate the relationship between China and the West, but also started the process of the eastward spread of Western rituals in modern China.