Sir George Thomas Staunton (1781 1859), sinologist and politician, was a key figure in early nineteenth-century Anglo-Chinese relations. Staunton secured a post as a writer in the East India Company's factory in Canton in 1798 and was the only Englishman at the factory to study Chinese. He translated China's penal code and was promoted to chief of the Canton factory in 1816. He was a member of Britain's Amherst embassy to Peking in 1816 1817 to protest against mandarins' treatment of Canton merchants. The embassy failed to obtain an imperial interview but, despite being threatened with...
Sir George Thomas Staunton (1781 1859), sinologist and politician, was a key figure in early nineteenth-century Anglo-Chinese relations. Staunton secu...
