Thesis abstract:

This thesis is inspired by the observation that, with streams of goods from China flowing into Britain, Britain found itself influenced by China in a way—which, fascinatingly, was performed not through the exchange of ideas but rather through the influx of Chinese goods and objects. The relationship between things Chinese and the expansion of commercial activity, the emergence of national pride, the dismantling of class and gender boundaries, and the celebration of new artistic forms in eighteenth-century Britain have all been the subject of an emerging body of scholarship. My research is cognate with this growing scholarship on the connection between Chinese objects and eighteenth-century Britain, which has recently emerged to examine the cross-cultural encounter and influence in various ways. Its specific concern is how the image of China was shaped through the writings and translations of “things Chinese” in a way that ultimately marks the making of modern Englishness.