This digital collection answers a need for English-language primary sources relating to China and the West, 1793-1980. With manuscripts encompassing events from the earliest English embassy to the birth and early years of the People’s Republic, students are given an incredible insight into the changes wrought upon China during this period. Key documents relating to the Chinese Maritime Customs service – from Robert Hart to Frederick Maze – are accessible and searchable alongside original reports of the Amherst and Macartney embassies. There are letters relating to the first Opium War, survivors’ descriptions of the Boxer War and tantalising glimpses of life in China from the collected diaries and personal photographs of the Bowra family. There are also significant sources describing the lives and work of missionaries in China from 1869-1970. (https://www.china.amdigital.co.uk/Introduction/NatureAndScope)