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Thomas Manning was the first
Englishman to visit the Tibetan capital of Lhasa. Yet before
this achievement many regarded him as a hopeless eccentric with
as much hope of reaching Lhasa as of travelling to the moon.
Manning was a brilliant academic and a friend of the essayist
Charles Lamb and the poets Wordsworth and Coleridge. He was a
classical scholar versed in Latin and Greek and taught mathematics
and algebra at the university level. While studying at Cambridge
University he began to brood over the mysterious empire of China
and studied the language and arts of that country. He resolved
at all costs to enter China, at that time a country firmly closed
to foreigners.
He studied Chinese in Paris,
then the European centre of Oriental studies. When war broke
out between France and England in 1803, such was the esteem in
which Manning was held among French orientalists and mathematicians
that he was the only Englishman to be allowed to leave France
-- with a passport personally signed by Napoleon.
With a letter of recommendation
from the great scientific patron, Sir Joseph Banks, in 1806 Manning
sailed for Asia, where he resided first in the East India Company
trading outpost on the outskirts of Canton and later in Calcutta.
In Canton he immersed himself in Chinese culture, wrestling with
"veiled mysteries of the Chinese language" and even
adopting Chinese dress to the dismay of other expatriates. He
also wore a full and flowing beard.
Frustrated in his objective of
entering China from Canton, he proceeded to Calcutta in 1810
where he appealed for assistance from Lord Minto, the Governor
General of India. Unfortunately, he was ignored by the government
and was given no recognition of any kind. The result was that
Manning decided to undertake on his own and in disguise a journey
to Tibet and hopefully from there to Peking. Amazingly he succeeded
in reaching Lhasa, where he resided for several months and where
he had interviews with the Dalai Lama. Though he did not succeed
in the rest of his plans, what he actually did achieve places
him in the first rank of English travellers.
Manning left a diary of his journey
which was discovered and published 26 years after his death.
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