Europeans have been writing about China for centuries–ever since The Travels of Marco Polo described it as a faraway and mystical kingdom. European thinkers like Voltaire and Montesquieu used China to support their own theories of political philosophy, then writers in early modernity tried to explain why China was falling behind—and then, with the rise … Continue reading Podcast with Kerry Brown, co-author of “China Through European Eyes: 800 Years of Cultural and Intellectual Encounter”