William Nelson Lovatt in Late Qing China

War, Maritime Customs, and Treaty Ports, 1860–1904

Wayne Patterson

• Publisher: Lexington Books
• Year: 2019
• eBook ISBN: 9781978750296
• Edition: 1
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Chinese History
• Index: History

William Nelson Lovatt in Late Qing China: War, Maritime Customs, and Treaty Ports,1860-1904 looks at the late Qing dynasty through the eyes of a British-American who spent most of his adult life in China in the late nineteenth century, fighting in four wars, serving in its maritime customs service, and living in eleven different treaty ports. It is based on the newly-discovered journals, correspondence, and photographs of William Nelson Lovatt (1838-1904), who first arrived in China in 1860 as a sergeant in the British army to fight in the Second Opium War, and who then proceeded to fight against the Taiping in Shanghai, against the Nian in Tianjin, and finally against the Japanese in Taiwan, providing an inside look at those four conflicts. Joining the Chinese Imperial Maritime Customs Service in 1863 under Inspector-General Sir Robert Hart, Lovatt provides a rare insider look at the operation of Hart and the Maritime Customs Service for during the four decades he served. Because he was based in treaty ports, he also provides a new look at those enclaves, their institutions, and their inhabitants – Chinese, missionaries, and fellow customs officials. Fluent in Chinese, his frequent travels outside the treaty ports gave him rare access to Chinese society available to few others. This volume opens up a new window on China during the final decades of the Qing dynasty.

Table of contents

• Cover
• William Nelson Lovatt in Late Qing China
• William Nelson Lovattin Late Qing ChinaWar, Maritime Customs,and Treaty Ports, 1860–1904
• Copyright page
• Contents
• Introduction
• Chapter 1
• Entering China
• Chapter 2
• Fighting the Taiping
• Chapter 3
• Entering the Customs Service
• Chapter 4
• Training the Cavalry and Taming the Nian
• Chapter 5
• Minnesota, Jiujiang, and Taiwan, 1869–1877
• Chapter 6
• A Year in Wuhu, 1877–1878
• Chapter 7
• Return to Hankou, 1878–1881
• Chapter 8
• Resignation
• Chapter 9
• Commissioner in Korea
• Chapter 10
• Return to China on Demotion
• Chapter 11
• Hoping for a Promotion
• Chapter 12
• Opening a New Customs Station
• Chapter 13
• The Final Decade
• Chapter 14
• Epilogue
• Conclusion
• Bibliography
• Index
• About the Author