Book excerpt: This book, first published in 1928, examines the first diplomatic contacts between China and the West. China had not always been isolated from the Western world, as travellers had visited China in the Middle Ages, but it was not until the end of the eighteenth century that efforts were first made to establish regular relations with China. This book traces the development of diplomatic relations from the Treaty of Nanking in 1842 to the start of the twentieth century.