BOOK OF THE DAY: China and the Irish: Thomas Davis Lecture Series. Edited by Jerusha McCormack. New Island Press. 250pp, €29.99
LOOKING AT a colourful advert for Irish tourism in a Chinese newspaper recently, with Ashford Castle described in rich Mandarin, it struck me how Ireland’s profile in China has never been higher than right now.
For sure, knowledge of Ireland remains fairly rudimentary in China, and tends to focus on Keanes Roy or Robbie, Riverdance and questions on whether Ireland is at war with Britain.
But the Irish have been going to China for years, as missionaries, customs officials, teachers, adventurers and, more recently, property developers and entrepreneurs. China and the Irish, a collection of 11 essays edited by Jerusha McCormack, a former professor of American Studies at UCD who has taught in the past five years at Beijing Foreign Studies University (BFSU), breaks new ground in the way it examines Ireland's small but meaningful role in the development of the world's most populous nation.
Footballers and Riverdancers aside, Ireland’s economic advance in the years leading up to the financial crisis have put Ireland on the map.
That Ireland’s profile is higher than ever is largely due to the efforts of the nation’s advocates at the diplomatic missions in Beijing and Shanghai, at agencies such as Enterprise Ireland and Tourism Ireland, at the Irish Studies Centre at the BFSU, and of course the evangelical Irish nationals living in China.
China and the Irishlooks at the scope of interaction between Ireland and China over the centuries, covering diplomatic history, music, literary connections and even botanical links. Nine of the essays were broadcast as part of the Thomas Davis Lectureseries on RTÉ last year.
In her contribution, Dr McCormack examines notions of Irishness and how they relate to China, illustrating this with a tale of Oscar Wilde and his “startling appropriation” of the work of the fourth-century BC Chinese philosopher Zhuangzi, also known as Chuang Tsu.
Patrick Comerford and Richard O’Leary describe the missionaries who went to China to preach Christianity, while Hwee-San Tan describes later missionaries such as the Chieftains, who brought Irish music to the Great Wall in 1983.
Richard Barrett, chief executive of Treasury Holdings, contributes a piece about “piercing the Chinese veil”, and Pauline Byrne describes the scale of Chinese cities and the challenges of urban planning in China.
Relations with China are strong, but complicated, and stretch beyond the borders of both countries. Columnist with this newspaper Fintan O'Toole examines how Irish workers' hostility to Chinese workers in mid-19th century America led to the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. Another Irish Timesscribe, Ruadhán Mac Cormaic, shows how Chinese immigration has affected Irish society, transforming areas featured in James Joyce's Dublinersinto "an incipient Chinatown".
Formal diplomatic links between Ireland and China were established only 30 years ago, when Deng Xiaoping’s reformist government began to unlock the door so firmly shut by chairman Mao Zedong.
One of the fascinating characters we meet in the book is Desmond Parsons, uncle of the seventh Earl of Rosse, Brendan Parsons. He collected porcelain, fans, screens, robes and scrolls and translated a book on Chinese folk tales, hosting the Bloomsbury icon Harold Acton in his courtyard house in old Beijing.
Sadly, during a trip in 1935 to see the spectacular Buddhist cave paintings at Dunhuang, he was arrested and jailed, and died of illness soon after his release.
Another larger-than-life character from Ireland was the inspector general of China’s maritime customs service, Robert Hart (1835–1911), one of the most influential foreigners in late 19th century China, argues Richard O’Leary.
As far as foreigners in China go, they don’t come much bigger than Earl Macartney, who led the first British delegation and famously refused to kowtow to the Qianlong Emperor in 1793.
China and the Irishis a lively collection of stories, although I did miss hearing some Chinese voices on events. Perhaps the next stage of the project should be "Ireland and the Chinese".
Clifford Coonan is China Correspondent for The Irish Times