Historic China, and Other Sketches

'Historic China, and Other Sketches' is a collection of first-hand observations of Chinese history and culture through the lens of a British author, Herbert Giles. He was a British diplomat and sinologist who was the professor of Chinese at the University of Cambridge for 35 years. Giles was educated at Charterhouse School before becoming a British diplomat in China. He modified a Mandarin Chinese romanization system established by Thomas Wade, resulting in the widely known Wade–Giles Chinese romanization system.