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Our Man in China: The Diaries

Our Man in China: The Diaries: A Man in a Hurry

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A Man in a Hurry

07/11/2016

BBC Radio 4 - Our Man in China: The Diaries, A Man in a Hurry

Robert Hart: a Victorian diplomat who helped transform China into a modern trading nation.

This is the extraordinary story of the man from Northern Ireland who rose to become one of the most powerful figures in the imperial Chinese court.

The British made him a baronet, the King of Denmark awarded him the Grand Cross of the Order of the Dannebrog, the Germans gave him the Prussian Order of the Crown and the Chinese appointed him (among many other honours) an Iron Hatted Duke, but his nickname in Beijing mattered more than any of his titles; they called him, "our Hart". It was a tribute to his unique role in China's history and its relations with the West. Robert Hart lived through the death throes of a dynastic China that had existed for four thousand years, and he helped lay the foundations of the China we know today. He served as Inspector General of Maritime Customs for nearly half a century, transforming it in to an efficient well regulated organisation that helped fuel China's transformation in to a modern trading nation. Along the way he laid the foundations for a national postal service, railway, meteorological and navigation systems. Yet he is the only figure among the "foreign devils" of those days remembered with affection. He used his position to serve Chinese, not just British, interests. Hart knew everyone and saw everything. His diaries are an intimate and frank chronicle of his life during one of the most turbulent periods in China's history. The Robert Hart you find in his journals is also a figure of our age. He was tormented by conscience, and much given to introspection - endlessly debating faith and morals with his friends and himself. As a young man he was incurably sentimental and hopelessly addicted to sex and female affection. The dairies have only been partially translated and only published in academic circles. This is the first time extracts from Sir Robert Hart's diaries have been broadcast. Today Sir Robert arrives in Ningbo and discovers a world of brothels and opium.

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Extracts from the extraordinary diaries of Sir Robert Hart, a Victorian diplomat in China.

Edward Stourton presents extracts from the extraordinary diaries of Sir Robert Hart, a Victorian diplomat in China.

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