A Brief Account Of Morrison And His Son's Diplomatic Activities In Guangdong (1807-1843

In 1807,Robert Morrison,the first Protestant missionary,officially set foot in the interior of China.At the time of his arrival,Robert Morrison was not allowed to stay in Canton due to the "Canton system" and the prohibition of religion imposed by the Qing government,as well as the hostility of the Portuguese and Catholic missionaries in Macao.However,with the help of the foreigner community,such as the staff of the British Canton Factory,John William Roberts and George Thomas Staunton,Robert Morrison was able to take up the position of Chinese interpreter at the British Canton Factory with his good Chinese language skills.While serving the British Canton Factory,he did not forget to learn Chinese,and with the help of Chinese teachers and assistants such as Yung Sam Tak,Li Chattin,Ge Mao He and Cai Xuan,his Chinese language skills improved rapidly.With his increasingly proficient Chinese language skills,Robert Morrison was involved in numerous Sino-British diplomatic activities in the following two decades,such as the Huang Yasheng events in 1810,the Amherst mission to China in 1816,the Lingding Island incident in 1821,and the Napier visit to China in 1834,among others.At the same time,in order to further improve his Chinese language skills and deepen his understanding of Chinese culture,Robert Morrison embarked on a study of ancient Chinese cultural texts,on the basis of which he wrote articles on various aspects of China that he learned about and published them in the Chinese Repository.Thus,Robert Morrison was not only a pioneer in Protestant missionary work in China,but also another important figure in promoting cultural exchange between China and the West.As the son of Robert Morrison,John Robert Morrison also published several articles on the study of Chinese language in the journal of Chinese Repository.Due to his excellent translation skills,his influence on Sino-British relations should not be underestimated.Before and after the First Opium War,he was the main translator of the Sino-British diplomatic documents,and he was responsible for drafting and checking the Treaty of Nanking signed after the war.This is reflected in their views on the opium trade,as John Robert Morrison,was more of a British citizen working for the benefit of his country than Morrison.