Pan Kwang-che, 2014, In Search of Western Learning: A History of Reading in Late Qing China, 1833-1898, 483 pages, Taipei: Institute of Modern History, Academia Sinica.

In what is the first Chinese-language monograph on the history of reading, Pan Kwang-che draws on case studies to meticulously reconstruct how late Qing literati engaged with Western knowledge during a complex era that clearly merits scholarly attention. Facing the growing tide of Western influence, and motivated by a longing to understand their changing world, late Qing literati sought to build a vast archive of knowledge out of the unprecedented quantity of Western books, journals, and newspapers available to them. This project not only entailed the accumulation of information, but also brought about a change of reading habits. On the one hand, such an engagement was confined constantly by the “geography of books.” On the other hand, the efforts of these pioneers to create a Leitkultur (norm, or guiding culture) of “Reading the West” came under repeated attack from the old order. Moreover, this project was deeply rooted in traditional literati culture, which saw learning linked closely to examinations and careers. Rather than subsuming myriad experiences under a single interpretation, this work elucidates the specificities of late Qing readers to provide a novel way of contemplating the history of modern China.