The dissertation analyses the China images constructed in Western travel writing for Western readers in the second half of the 19th century by various Western, i.e., European and North American travelers in China. The inquiry is focused on the construction of the Other, of his culture as observed in cultural artifacts, art and architecture and of the physical/natural world he inhabits. It does this by emphasizing and privileging the visual images and direct observation, unmediated by human agents, such as Chinese interpreters, images which serve as mosaics in the re-creation of a world, experienced as profoundly different, as opposed to a representation of China based on knowledge, study and analysis of Chinese texts in ethics, philosophy, literature and history.; The study asserts that the profound shift in China's image which occurred after the close of the 18th century mirrors less changes and transformations in China, but reveals assumptions, changed perspectives and a new sense of cultural identity which the observer/traveler brings to his object. Particular attention is paid to the resulting changes in categories of observation and to divergent evaluations and judgments of phenomena and objects studied and described by earlier observers which fundamentally alter the China discourse of the 19th century.; I analyze the nature of the discourse by looking how its constitutive elements interact, i.e. the observed reality, the persona of the observer as shaped by nationality, gender and profession, and the trope of representation, which mold the period-specific image of China.; Emerging is binary perception of China, where for many travelers China becomes the essentialized oriental country, providing the Western traveler with a model of a society constructed along vastly different, if not antipodal coordinates, while for others China is perceived as "Europe retarded", diverted from innate universal progress for lack of science and technology. Either perception provides justification for Western interference, dominance and hegemony, referred to as "the civilizing mission" which in turn is closely linked to the emerging needs of capitalism in its search for markets and resources.
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