This intelligent and entertaining book is a reprint of the original 1969 American edition, much missed and sought after, and now available again. In it, Jonathan D. Spence, perhaps the single finest popular scholar on China, writes about Western advisers in China from the 1620s to the 1950s. From those many who, from varying motives, "assisted," he has chosen 16 -- astronomers, soldiers, doctors, engineers.
Conflict between the two sides was impossible to avoid. Both held themselves superior. The Western advisers possessed technical skills and felt a strong sense of moral righteousness. They were convinced -- then as now -- that their goals were noble.
They did not see that the Chinese had a contractual view of the relationship. They were employers and had the right to terminate the agreement when they saw fit. The Westerners were, after all and however learned, still barbarians. This the Westerners often saw as "betrayal." There was talk of the "loss" of China, though China had never been the West's to lose.