Skrine at Kashgar: Life, Exploration and Intrigue at an Outpost of Empire. A History in Documents

Abstract

This documentary history of the British Consul-General Clarmont P. Skrine’s service in Kashgar (Xinjiang, China) in 1922-24 draws on his previously unpublished letters, reports and photographs in British archives. The book includes an analytical introduction, edited and annotated letters (in the first instance, his regular correspondence with his mother) and selected reports to the Government of India that illustrate his professional responsibilities to defend the interests of British subjects in China and his collection of political intelligence regarding what was perceived as a threat by Soviet Russia to British interests in the subcontinent. The material complements his own, airbrushed account of his experience (Chinese Central Asia [1926]), self-censored so as not to violate the regulations of the Indian Civil Service. Skrine traveled widely in Kashgaria, the area of his appointment, and apart from his official functions contributed to the exploration and photo documentation of regions and local culture still relatively little known to Europeans. One of his correspondents, the letters included here, was Sir Aurel Stein, known for his exploration and archaeological work in Xinjiang. To facilitate future cataloguing, appendices to the book include chronological tabulations of Skrine’s photos and his wife Doris’s drawings, and the descriptive listings he compiled for his collection. A second appendix focuses on the impact in more recent decades of his explorations in the Pamir mountains south of Kashgar, including a long solo trek by the editor of this volume and important contributions by Russian alpinists. A third appendix reprints the current editor’s essay on Skrine’s predecessor in Kashgar, P. T. Etherton, that study still the most substantial analysis of Etherton’s career there. The book provides insights into a wide range of topics: the lives of British Indian government officials in remote postings; the so-called “Great Game” rivalry between Britain and Russia; Chinese administration in Xinjiang; the culture of the Uyghurs and Kyrgyz of Xinjiang; European exploration and mapping; and the construction of descriptive narrative in the colonial era. Over 360 photographs and maps complement the edited texts.

The editor, Daniel C. Waugh, is Professor Emeritus of the University of Washington in three departments: History, The Jackson School of International Studies, and Slavic.