Thomas Taylor Meadows (1815–1868) was a British

sinologist Sinology, or Chinese studies, is an academic discipline that focuses on the study of China primarily through Chinese philosophy, language, literature, culture and history and often refers to Western scholarship. Its origin "may be traced to the ex ...

. Born in Northern England, after studies in Chinese with Karl Friedrich Neumann at the

University of Munich The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich or LMU; german: Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München) is a public research university in Munich, Germany. It is Germany's List of universities in Germany, sixth-oldest u ...

, he became a member of the British diplomatic corps, arriving in Hong Kong in 1842, and becoming Acting Consul in Shanghai 1859-63. His best-known work are "Desultory Notes on the Government and People of China and on the Chinese Language" and "The Chinese and their Rebellions." The latter is valued as a close account of the

Taiping Rebellion The Taiping Rebellion, also known as the Taiping Civil War or the Taiping Revolution, was a massive rebellion and civil war that was waged in China between the Manchu-led Qing dynasty and the Han, Hakka-led Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. It lasted fr ...

.https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/160609255.pdf He died in north China. Historian John S. Gregory considered him both "deeply concerned for China, and a profound student of its history and culture" as well as "an agent of Western imperialism in China." His younger brother was John Armstrong Taylor Meadows.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Meadows, Thomas Taylor 1815 births 1868 deaths British sinologists