"The majority of the printed works featured in China on Paper were instigated by European religious missions and trade embassies but shaped their authors' contact with Chinese literati, court officials, and emperors. These books and images targeted different audiences in two distinct cultures and explored a variety of topics, often as much for ideological or political ends as for the education or amusement of readers. These publications were popular, translated into several languages, repeatedly reissued, and influential in Europe. Not only did they enter into debates about good government, biblical chronology, and secular mores but they occasioned the enthusiasm for Chinese-style gardens and chinoiserie decoration in eighteenth-century Europe."--BOOK JACKET.