The Scotland/China Collection

While the current connections between Scotland and China are numerous and growing, there have been links between the two countries for at least two centuries. Many Scots have lived and worked in China as government officials, soldiers, business people, missionaries and travellers while in smaller numbers, Chinese people have been coming to Scotland to study and work since the mid 19th century.  

This collection focuses on books that show the links between the two nations. It is held in the Confucius Institute library and will be catalogued in the University of Edinburgh system.

The initial collection of over 40 books covers a variety of topics, including :

• early diplomatic contacts with China, by George Bogle in Tibet around 1780 and John Napier at Hong Kong in 1834
• government officials like James Stewart-Lockhart and Reginald Johnston, who served in Hong Kong and Wei-hai-wei in the late 19th and early 20th century – Johnston was also, of course, tutor to Pu Yi, the last Emperor of China
• merchants and business people, like Jardine Matheson and Co., and the Melrose tea family
• scientists and travellers such as botanists Robert Fortune and George Forrest, photographer John Thomson, doctor Patrick Manson, and journalist Archibald Colquhoun
• missionaries such as John Gilmour in Mongolia, Dugald Christie in Manchuria and Eric Liddell in Shandong
• in the opposite direction, Chiang Yee's classic The Silent Traveller in Edinburgh, recently reprinted by Mercat Press
• some less well known people like John Bell, who reached Beijing overland from Russia in 1721
• also a few UK/China connections, too

Many of these old connections still have a resonance today. Jardines are still very much in business. Bogle's writings on Tibet occasionally feature in modern political debate. The Royal Botanic Garden's links with Chinese botanists grew from the early work of George Forrest. Scottish churches still support Dugald Christie's old hospital in Mukden, now Shenyang.   And of course Eric Liddell's name is well-known in Scotland and beyond, and his Shandong connections have brought benefits to several Scottish businesses in recent years. This is not dead history.

Read on and discover more !

For details of how to visit the collection, contact the Confucius Institute.  We will be developing the collection with new books and other materials in the coming months.

Additional donations to this collection are very welcome.

List of the collection

Diplomats and Officials

• An ardent collector – an exhibition of the Stewart Lockhart collection

• Barbarian eye – Lord Napier in China, 1834 - the prelude to Hong Kong

• China and Britain

• High road to China – George Bogle, the Panchen Lama and the first British expedition to Tibet

• Reginald Johnston – Chinese Mandarin

• Thistle and Bamboo – the life and times of Sir James Stewart Lockhart

• Tutor to the dragon emperor – the life of Sir Reginald Johnston at the court of the last emperor

• Twilight in the Forbidden City

• Weihaiwei under British rule

Traders

• Precious cargo – Scots and the China trade

• The Thistle and the Jade – a celebration of 175 years of Jardine Matheson

• William Melrose in China, 1845-1855 – the letters of a Scottish tea merchant

Scientists and travelers

• Across Chryse – being the narrative of a journey of exploration through the south China border lands from Canton to Mandalay

• Adventure, sport and travel on the Tibetan steppes

• China through the lens of John Thomson 1868-1972

• For all the tea in China – espionage, empire and the secret formula for the world's favourite drink

• From Peking to Mandalay – a journey from north China to Burma through Tibetan Ssch’uan and Yunnan

• George Forrest – plant hunter

• Lion and dragon in northern China

• Our twenty-fifth summer – a trip to China's southwest

• Patrick Manson – the father of tropical medicine

• The land and the people of China

• The overland to China

• The quality of mercy : the lives of Sir James and Lady Cantlie

• Three years wanderings in the northern provinces of China, including a visit to the tea, silk and cotton countries

• Through China with a camera

• Travels from St. Petersburg in Russia to diverse parts of Asia

• Travels to Tartary

Missionaries

• Among the Mongols

• A pictorial history 1883 to 2003 between Scotland and Shenyang –
  from Mukden Medical College to No.2 Clinical College of China
  Medical University

• Robert Morrison – China's pioneer

• The flying Scotsman – the Eric Liddell story

• The Victorian translation of China – James Legge's oriental pilgrimage

• Thirty years in Moukden, 1883-1913; being the experience and recollections of Dugald Christie

• Through earthquake, wind and fire – church and mission in Manchuria, 1867-1950

• Unforgettable – memories of China and Shanghai

Others

• Between two worlds – lessons in Shanghai

• I love China

• One million days in China

• Shanghai Boy, Shanghai Girl – lives in parallel

• The Ford of Heaven

• Water on the border

Chinese in Scotland

• The Silent Traveller in Edinburgh