Chinese Daily Life during the 18th Century in John Bell’s Travel Notes Cover Image

Китайското всекидневие през 18 в. в пътните записки на Джон Бел
Chinese Daily Life during the 18th Century in John Bell’s Travel Notes

Author(s): Pavel Petkov
Subject(s): History, Philosophy, Cultural history, Non-European Philosophy, East Asian Philosophy
Published by: Великотърновски университет „Св. св. Кирил и Методий”
Keywords: John Bell; Imagology; China; Travel Writing; Enlightenment;

Summary/Abstract: The article discusses John Bell’s travel account The Travels of John Bell (1719) and focuses on the passages in which the author discusses the daily lives of common Chinese people. The analysis demonstrates that Bell’s travelogue follows – to a certain extent – the established imagological trends characteristic of the 18th century and in doing so falls well within the cultural paradigm of the Enlightenment. At the same time, it becomes clear that the Scottish physician is no ordinary traveler: he manages to maintain a much more objective and level-headed attitude towards the East than many of his traveling contemporaries.