The Schliemann Eastern Odyssey in 19th-Century China and Japan

Heinrich Schliemann, a successful trader and amateur archaeologist who excavated Troy and Mycenae, kept multilingual diaries during his many travels around the world. In 1864, he set aside his trading business and embarked upon a year-long trip around the globe. This volume contains the portion of this trip in China and Japan, from April 1st to June 30th, 1865. Schliemann’s visit came at a curious time, when both China and Japan were going through tectonic shifts, very recently begun to open up to Western trade under the threats of cannonballs and gunboats.

Stepping onto the shores of China and Japan, Schliemann, an affluent European trader, enjoyed extraterritorial privileges but faced restricted freedom of movement – an experience he keenly noted. His stops in China comprised mainly of treaty ports with concession to European powers; in Japan, his movements were confined to Yokohama unless he applied for permits to venture further, always accompanied by mounted police. Under his pen, cannon fire from the Second Opium War still echoes over Taku, and in Kanagawa, the penultimate Shogun and his entourage strode past him.

China and Japan had left such an impression on him, that he published his very first book, La Chine et le Japon au temps présent, in 1867. Years later he still referred back to his sublime experience on the Great Wall. This volume provides a faithful transcription and annotated English translation of Schliemann’s original diary, written in French, German, and English. An accompanying introduction contextualises his accounts within the landscape of 19th-century East Asia. This publication not only enriches our understanding of Schliemann’s life prior to his archaeological fame, but also offers a snapshot of 1860s East Asia through the lens of a mercantile globe-trotter.