Product Description
Modern sinology -- the study of things Chinese --may trace its roots back centuries to Marco Polo, Byzantium and even Imperial Rome, but to a great extent it was built on foundations laid and extended by Herbert Giles, a consul for the United Kingdom in China and later a professor at Cambridge University. Two of his most important works, Chinese Sketches (1876) and The Civilization of China (1911), are now available in a single volume, revealing once again his piercing observations and a glimpse of a very different China.
About the Author
Herbert A. Giles (1845-1935)
Herbert Allen Giles was born in England, and was the son of an Oxford University-trained scholar-minister. He served in the Chinese consular service from 1867 to 1893, then retired to a position at Cambridge University, where he taught until 1932. He was a pioneer of modern sinology, and the author of a great many books, both scholarly and popular. His name is best remembered in connection with the Wade-Giles system of romanizing the Chinese language, which he developed in co-operation with Thomas F. Wade. Giles was also the author of a Chinese Biographical Dictionary (1898) and Chinese-English Dictionary (1912): both are still valuable reference works for scholars and students of Chinese language and culture.
