author
S. Wells (Samuel Wells) Williams
1812–1884
A pioneering American scholar of China, he helped open cultural and diplomatic channels between the United States and East Asia in the 1800s. His writing brought Chinese history, language, and society to English-speaking readers with unusual depth for the time.
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About the author
Born in Utica, New York, in 1812, Samuel Wells Williams trained as a printer and went to China in 1833 under the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. Over the years he became known not only as a missionary, but also as a linguist, translator, and one of the leading American interpreters of Chinese language and culture.
Williams spent decades in Canton and other treaty-port settings, working on printing, education, diplomacy, and scholarship. He served as an interpreter for Commodore Matthew Perry’s expedition to Japan and later held diplomatic posts connected with the United States legation in China. His career placed him at the center of major encounters between the United States and East Asia during the nineteenth century.
He is especially remembered for books and language studies that helped English-language readers understand China more seriously, including The Middle Kingdom and his work on Chinese lexicography. After returning to the United States, he continued teaching and writing until his death in 1884, leaving behind a body of work that shaped early American sinology.