Décadence Mandchoue
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''Décadence Mandchoue: The China Memoirs of Sir Edmund Trelawny Backhouse'' is a memoir by
Sir Edmund Backhouse, 2nd Baronet Sir Edmund Trelawny Backhouse, 2nd Baronet (20 October 1873 – 8 January 1944) was a British oriental scholar, Sinologist, and linguist whose books exerted a powerful influence on the Western view of the last decades of the Qing dynasty (1644 ...
. It was first published in Hong Kong in 2011, by
Earnshaw Books Earnshaw Books is a Hong Kong–based publishing house specializing in English-language books about China and is considered to be "one of the more notable independent publishers in East Asia". Earnshaw Books was founded in 2007 by CEO Graham Earn ...
. There was later an abridged version published, as ''Manchu Decadence: The China Memoirs of Sir Edmund Trelawny Backhouse, Abridged and Unexpurgated''. There was also a Chinese translation, published in Hong Kong by . It was prepared for publication by Derek Sandhaus. Because of the uncertainty of the work's veracity, Sandhaus stated that he was not sure on how to categorize the book.


Background

Reinhard Hoeppli, a doctor from Switzerland, had asked Backhouse to write the work. Hoeppli was interested in the stories that Backhouse told. The work was written in 1943. At the time the work was written, Backhouse had been hospitalized, and he died in 1944. Hoeppli did not publish the work. This was one of two volumes, along with ''The Dead Past'', obtained by
Hugh Trevor-Roper Hugh Redwald Trevor-Roper, Baron Dacre of Glanton, (15 January 1914 – 26 January 2003) was an English historian. He was Regius Professor of Modern History (Oxford), Regius Professor of Modern History at the University of Oxford. Trevor-Rope ...
, - Cited: p. 841. in 1973. - Cited: p. 253. Fred W. Drake wrote that Trevor-Roper obtained it "under somewhat mysterious circumstances". Hoeppli gave the work to Trevor-Roper, and asked him to send the books to the
Bodleian Library The Bodleian Library () is the main research library of the University of Oxford. Founded in 1602 by Sir Thomas Bodley, it is one of the oldest libraries in Europe. With over 13 million printed items, it is the second-largest library in ...
at
Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...
. Trevor-Roper but did not publish it, and wrote '' Hermit of Peking'' instead, a work which damaged Backhouse's reputation by exposing his lack of candor in his writing. The work was located in the Bodleian Library and had not yet been published. According to Bao Pu (), who was the head of New Century Press, the sexual content and Backhouse's damaged reputation meant that, for a time, people were not interested in publishing the book.
Oliver Edmund Clubb Oliver Edmund Clubb (16 February 1901 - 9 May 1989) was a 20th-century American diplomat and historian. He was considered one of the China Hands: United States State Department officials attacked during McCarthyism in the 1950s for "losing China" ...
wrote that Trevor-Roper's summaries of ''Décadence Mandchoue'' and ''The Dead Past'' portray "a Backhouse obsessed with sex, heterosexual and homosexual" as well as the man's "professed prodigies of accomplishment in that field of endeavour." While doing research for an unrelated project, Derek Sandhaus, who was the head editor of the company he worked for, encountered the book. This resulted in its first publishing. Joyce Lau of ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' wrote that, when Backhouse was active, "there was little information about China available in the West" and that people reading his content could not easily check his statements; additionally, Backhouse knew that Westerners had a preconceived notion of China being "an exotic, and erotic, fantasy world of empresses and opium smoke" and wanted content portraying such a world. Bret Hinsch of
Fo Guang University Fo Guang University (FGU; ; lit. ''Buddha's Light University'') is a private university in Linmei Village, Jiaoxi Township, Yilan County, Taiwan. It was founded by the Chinese Mahāyāna Buddhist monastic order Fo Guang Shan in 2000 and as s ...
stated that, at the time, due to shame in Chinese culture regarding writing about sexual situations, there was a lack of published information regarding male-male sexual contact in China, a situation differing from that of Japan.


Content

The work states that Backhouse had a sexual relationship with
Empress Dowager Cixi Empress Dowager Cixi ( ; 29 November 1835 – 15 November 1908) was a Manchu noblewoman of the Yehe Nara clan who effectively but periodically controlled the Chinese government in the late Qing dynasty as empress dowager and regent for almost 50 ...
. He also stated that he went to places for men who desired sexual experiences with other men. A house of prostitution for men seeking to have sexual relations with men is in the initial chapter. The work portrays Backhouse as establishing a friendship with
Li Lianying Li Lianying (; 12 November 1848 – 4 March 1911) was a Chinese imperial eunuch who lived in the late Qing dynasty. He was a eunuch during the regency of Empress Dowager Cixi, who was the ''de facto'' ruler of China from 1861 to 1908 thro ...
, which then segues into discussions on internal political issues. According to Bao Pu, about 33% of the work consists of content about sexual situations. The work argues that Cixi and the
Guangxu Emperor The Guangxu Emperor (14 August 1871 – 14 November 1908), also known by his temple name Emperor Dezong of Qing, personal name Zaitian, was the tenth Emperor of China, emperor of the Qing dynasty, and the ninth Qing emperor to rule over China ...
died of murder, contrary to common historical points of view. Backhouse took the recorded last words of
Catherine of Aragon Catherine of Aragon (also spelt as Katherine, historical Spanish: , now: ; 16 December 1485 – 7 January 1536) was List of English royal consorts, Queen of England as the Wives of Henry VIII, first wife of King Henry VIII from their marr ...
and made them the last words of Cixi. Kent Ewing of the ''
Asia Times ''Asia Times'' (), formerly known as ''Asia Times Online'', is a Hong Kongbased English language news media publishing group, covering politics, economics, business, and culture from an Asian perspective. ''Asia Times'' publishes in English and ...
'' characterises the writing style as "overwrought Victorian prose" that is "bloated, ostentatious". The writing style uses words from Chinese, French, Latin, and other languages, with some sentences having words from multiple languages. It also makes references to different works of literature from China and various Western countries. Lau characterises it as "rendering a few parts hard to read, even if one has a background in those languages." Ewing argues that the writing "was quaintly antique at the time of his death but now n 2011seems downright absurd."


Publication

According to Bao Pu, Mainland Chinese publishers were not interested in publishing the book if the sexual content was not excised. As of 2011, the work was not published in Mainland China.


Reception

Ewing described the accounts as "interesting and amusing" even though "their worth may be highly uncertain". Ewing concluded, "In the annals of Sino-Anglo history, there is nothing else quite like ''Decadence Mandchoue''", and that "For that alone,
he author He or HE may refer to: Language * He (letter), the fifth letter of the Semitic abjads * He (pronoun), a pronoun in Modern English * He (kana), one of the Japanese kana (へ in hiragana and ヘ in katakana) * Ge (Cyrillic), a Cyrillic letter cal ...
deserves his uneasy resurrection." Hinsch argued that the situations depicted in the work were implausible, comparing them to the idea of a Chinese person in England saying he had a sexual relationship with
Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in January 1901. Her reign of 63 year ...
. Trevor-Roper argued that the books were "pure fantasy throughout" and would not be reliable despite how it may on occasion reveal something about Backhouse. - Cited: pp. 841-842. Trevor-Roper concluded that "No verve in writing can redeem their pathological obscenity." Commenting on Trevor-Roper's attitude, Ewing called him "a homophobic prude" who "may have been too quick to consign
he author He or HE may refer to: Language * He (letter), the fifth letter of the Semitic abjads * He (pronoun), a pronoun in Modern English * He (kana), one of the Japanese kana (へ in hiragana and ヘ in katakana) * Ge (Cyrillic), a Cyrillic letter cal ...
to the dustbin of history." Reviewer William Matthews described the work as "an even more preposterous tower of self-aggrandizing fantasies." Sandhaus argued that the work had value as a piece of literature and as a historical artifact. In the ''
Taipei Times The ''Taipei Times'' is an English-language print newspaper in Taiwan published by the Liberty Times Group. Founded as the third English-language newspaper on 15 June 1999, it is currently the last surviving English-language print newspaper i ...
'', Bradley Winterton stated that it is "an extraordinary, astonishing and altogether exceptional book".


References


External links

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Décadence Mandchoue
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Earnshaw Books Earnshaw Books is a Hong Kong–based publishing house specializing in English-language books about China and is considered to be "one of the more notable independent publishers in East Asia". Earnshaw Books was founded in 2007 by CEO Graham Earn ...
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Manchu Decadence
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Earnshaw Books Earnshaw Books is a Hong Kong–based publishing house specializing in English-language books about China and is considered to be "one of the more notable independent publishers in East Asia". Earnshaw Books was founded in 2007 by CEO Graham Earn ...
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Manchurian Decadence
' - Limited preview at the
Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...
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Décadence Mandchoue
' (Chinese version) - 2011 books British books LGBTQ history in China 2011 LGBTQ-related literary works {{book-stub