In an era when the world was dominated by aggressive Westerners colonizing large parts of the planet, Prosper Giquel’s effort to build a healthier and more equal relationship between his beloved homeland of France and his adopted homeland, China of the late 19th century was indeed remarkable.
Many of those familiar with my work, will recall that I published two books on Giquel’s career in the mid 1980s. Transferring Technology to China: Prosper Giquel and the Chinese Self-Strengthening Movement and Journal of the Chinese Civil War 1864.
Full text of Transferring Technology to China available here
Giquel’s life was also the inspiration for the my (writing under the name Li Bo) Sino-American Tales which focus on Sino-Western Relations and are a series of historical novels.
the Sino-American Tales
But in the several decades since those books appeared a great deal more has been learned about Giquel’s remarkable career and the important role France, though Giquel’s efforts, played in the modernization of China. Most of that progress has been a direct result of the efforts of the extraordinarily accomplished French sinologist Rene Vienet and members of Giquel’s own family especially Arnaud de Panafieu.
This Website, which is currently under development will be used to highlight that new knowledge and the increasing appreciation, both in China and France, of the career of Prosper Giquel.
Leibo's World Watch 