A French Jesuit and missionary to China, Antoine Gaubil (1689 1759) spent half his life in Beijing. His rigorous translations and studies in the fields of history, geography, astronomy and cartography made him one of the finest sinologists of his day. Thanks to his remarkable mastery of Chinese language, he also became the official interpreter to European embassies for the imperial court. Respected throughout Europe, he was a corresponding member of the Royal Society of London, the French Academie Royale des Sciences and the St Petersburg Academy of Sciences. Edited by the French philologist...