Anthony E. Clark's China Gothic is the first academic work focused on Bishop Alphonse Favier (1837–1905) and his relevant ecclesiastical work in the Qing empire during the second half of the nineteenth century. The book represents an extensive examination of the life of the French Lazarist Favier and the influence of the Catholic Church on China in the late nineteenth century. In tracing Favier's activities around Beijing, especially in his capacity as Lazarite vicar apostolic of Northern Zhili, Clark also offers a history of China's suffering under foreign pressure, particularly following the Qing government's forced capitulation to several unequal treaties with foreign countries, which had broad political and social impacts. He draws a number of connections between Bishop Favier's Eurocentrism and the highly nationalistic French Catholic mission, addressing the roles played by both in the church's apostolic work and its diplomatic negotiations with the Qing court. Foreign pressure also affected...

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