The papers in this collection were given at Peking University (PKU) in Beijing at a conference held on 10–11 September 2015. The event, entitled ‘Retrospect and prospect: the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta’ was, in fact, the third Anglo-Chinese historians’ conference organized between the Institute of Historical Research in London and the historians of PKU acting on behalf of historians of Britain in China in general. Our host, Professor Qian Chengdan, professor of history at PKU, had specifically requested that we hold a conference on Magna Carta and its influence, and the papers in the collection reflect the interest of Chinese scholars not only in the making of Magna Carta in 1215 but its enduring relevance in Britain, the west and now globally.
A group of eight historians went from Britain to Beijing. At the conference they were partnered by nine Chinese scholars who also gave papers. The full proceedings of the conference, the schedule of which is included in this collection, will be published in Chinese in 2018. Here, we publish the papers given by the British contingent only. Written and presented to a Chinese audience, many of whom had interests in more modern British history, these papers are necessarily broad in compass and general in approach. We were conscious that we were writing for an audience interested above all in the major themes of 1215 and the enduring qualities of Magna Carta rather than the minutiae. But this may be one of the advantages of the collection: the papers here, written for an international audience, explain and preserve the essence of Magna Carta and its meaning.
For their part, our Chinese counterparts were interested in Magna Carta’s reputation and influence in China; in the meaning of ‘liberty’ as enshrined in the document and as interpreted by subsequent generations; in parallel developments in Chinese history which might be compared with the events in England in the early thirteenth century; and in its specifically religious and episcopal contexts. The paper delivered by Professor Gao Dai of the history department at PKU was a wonderfully entertaining, whimsical and also serious contribution linking 1215 with the present, by way of environmental history. Noting that clause 33 of Magna Carta stipulated a prohibition on weirs in the rivers Thames and Medway in order to encourage salmon, Gao Dai showed that from the seventeenth to the mid nineteenth century the clause was ignored and the salmon, overfished and unable to navigate the rivers, consequently died out. But recent improvement to the ecology of the Thames has seen the welcome return of the salmon, a small but telling connection of the present to Magna Carta’s origin.
The conference was attended by faculty members from PKU, historians from many other Chinese universities, and postgraduate students. The quality of the questions and comments from the latter group assure us that the future of British historical studies in China will be very bright indeed. Discussion was always rich and engaging, but was especially lively whenever comparisons were made between social structures and legal forms in the Song, Jin and Liao eras in Chinese history and the twelfth and thirteenth centuries in England and Europe more generally. Thus we fulfilled another of the aims of these Anglo-Chinese meetings, held every three years: that we should not only learn about each other’s history, but compare and contrast national developments.
Our Chinese hosts were wonderfully generous. The five-day visit included a day trip to the Great Wall as well as sightseeing in Beijing. We would like to thank Professor Qian Chengdan in particular for planning the academic programme and presiding at the conference, and Liang Yuetian of the history department at PKU for organizing our itinerary with such ease and good humour. We were assisted by many postgraduates while in Beijing and two in particular, both studying British history, deserve special thanks: Yongchun Xie of PKU and Zhang Yekai who is now at work on a Ph.D. in the history department at Brown University in the United States.
The Institute of Historical Research is grateful also to Sir Robert (Bob) Worcester, chairman of the 800 Committee, which largely planned and executed the many commemorations of Magna Carta in 2015, for the personal interest he took in the academic conference from which this book has emerged and financial support provided by the 800 Committee to get the British delegates to Beijing and back.
Lawrence Goldman, Institute of Historical Research, January 2018