The 1700s: remembering Europe’s “Chinese century”

One remarkable aspect of the 18th century in Europe is the almost universal admiration for China and the many influences from Chinese culture, in the fine arts as well as in other areas. Why did China come to play such a prominent role in the European civilization of those days, why was the ”chinoiserie” finally superseded by other trends, and does the story contain any lessons for our time?

Ingemar Ottosson is Associate Professor of history at Lund University where he originally wrote a Ph.D. thesis on international co-operation in the 1930s. Since then he has published extensively on East Asian history. His latest work, ”Power and Beauty. A Journey Through 18th-century Europe” (2022), deals with artistic and intellectual currents in the West.