Two profound concerns of A Voyage to China, the political and the economic life of China, merit particular attention from the reader, if only because few other foreign accounts of pre-1800 China rival it as a treasure trove for first-hand testimony and insight on these aspects of Chinese life (among the multitude of foreign accounts of China its main competitors are the travel account of Marco Polo, the writings of Ricci on late sixteenth century upper-class China, and the diaries of the Japanese Buddhist monks Ennin from the 840s and Jōjun from the 1070s. But these generally lack las Cortes’ detail and analysis.

Please note that the book is only available in paperback binding.