Review of Thomas Irvine. 2021. Listening to China: Sound and the Sino-Western Encounter, 1770–1839 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press)

Abstract

This essay reviews Thomas Irvine’s 2021 book “Listening to China: Sound and the Sino-Western Encounter, 1770–1839”. The author highlights the central tenets of Irvine’s work (published by the University of Chicago Press), and considers its implications for histories of Sino-Western cultural exchange more broadly.