Believing in the power of print in converting and “educating” the Chinese, nineteenth-century European traders and missionaries invested significant amounts of energy and money in the dissemination of tracts on the China coast. One of these ephemera was 大英 國人事略說, "Brief Account of the English Character." It was first drafted in English by Charles Marjoribanks, president of the English East India Company’s Select Committee in Canton. Robert Morrison (馬禮遜), a missionary-cum-sinologist, translated the manuscript into Chinese and printed hundreds of copies at his 英華書院 (Anglo-Chinese College) in Malacca (Melaka). In 1832, despite his colleagues’ objection, Marjoribanks engaged Charles Gutzlaff (郭…
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