The Other in Mutual Gaze: China and Britain in 19th-Century Illustrated Newspapers

Abstract

It is well known that the Sino-British relationships underwent drastic changes during the 19th century. Britain achieved remarkable ascendance as a leading Western power through colonial expansion, industrial revolution, and political reform, while the declining Qing regime was no longer able to uphold the age-old Sinocenric world order in face of both external threats and internal rebellions. Ample research has been conducted on the significant encounter of the two empires in this transition period. However, as a popular form of journalism featuring rich pictures and texts, illustrated newspapers (or pictorials) have remained an underexplored category of literary and historical sources in recent scholarship. This paper selects a number of vivid examples from two popular works in the late 19th century, Illustrated London News (1843) in English and Dianshizhai Pictorial (1884) in Chinese, to explore how late Qing Chinese and the Victorians engaged intense mutual gaze at each other. By adopting a cross-cultural comparative approach, this paper offers in-depth analysis of contextual factors and textual/visual motifs. It will uncover an intriguing self-other interplay among Chinese and British peoples who, for various political, ideological, religious, and emotional reasons, took part in the dynamic exchange of ideas, representations, and imaginations of the other.