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Date(s)： 2018/11/28
Time： 15:00~17:00
Venue： Research 1st Meeting Room
Speaker：Dr. Mònica Ginés Blasi(Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation Postodctoral Fellow at Universitat Oberta de Catalunya)
Organizer： Western Learning and China Research Group
Abstract The second half of the 19th century was a fruitful moment for the development of Chinese art and coin collections in Barcelona. This coincided with a crucial moment in the history of Sino-Spanish relations, since from the 1860s, the Spanish government promoted a wide consular deployment in Chinese treaty ports in order to enhance commercial relations with China. The Spanish government was particularly interested in stimulating Chinese indentured labour immigration to Cuba, as cheap labour was crucial in sustaining this colony’s sugar economy. Spanish immigration agents and consular officials established in Chinese treaty ports obtained great economic profits from the ‘coolie trade’, particularly in Xiamen, as they used to benefit from the emoluments which the trafficking of Chinese immigrants generated. Some of the principal donors of Chinese art, coin collections and material culture to the first museums in the Barcelona province had a direct relationship with China, as they had occupied posts in treaty ports. They gathered their collections in China and later donated them to the first museums. Barcelona’s leading public collections featured Chinese sections formed by objects donated by these key figures in the history of 19th century Sino-Spanish relations. These sections were also enriched by donations of private collectors, who acquired these objects via the then thriving art market in Barcelona.