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Brazilian Orientalism and Sinology in 19th Century
Article in Academia Letters · August 2021
DOI: 10.20935/AL2844
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ACADEMIA Letters
Brazilian Orientalism and Sinology in 19th Century
André Bueno, UERJ
A topic widely debated among specialists is whether Sinology would have - or not - influence
from 19th century Orientalism. Authors such as Simon Leys[2] categorically refuted this
idea, while Adrian Chan[3] identified how the colonial and imperialist agenda profoundly influenced the strategies of research on China. In this brief article, we will discuss how Sinology
and Orientalism were connected in 19th century Brazilian thought.
Asians on the Brazilian scene
To begin this analysis, it is necessary to understand that Brazil has an old relationship with
Asian civilizations, since the time of the Portuguese empire. There was an intense population
transit within the colonial world, with profound reflexes in the Brazilian scenario. The studies
by Gilberto Freyre[4], José Leite[5] and Júlio Bandeira[6] reveal subsidies of a remarkable
Chinese presence spread in the most diverse expressions of Brazilian art, such as the sculptures of Baroque from Minas Gerais. Recently, Paulina Lee[7] made a more complete list of
these transits and appropriations in our culture. In especial, Freyre even argued that Brazil
would not exist without Arab, African and Asian influences, and that European culture only
effectively entered the country with the arrival of the Portuguese court in 1808. The silencing
of Asian influences was perceived by this author before Edward Said launched his critique
of Orientalism: “[Freyre] created a kind of Orientalism in reverse, in that he reversed the
signs of Orientalist discourse, associating the positive value with the Orient and the negative
value with the West. After making this inversion, Gilberto Freyre associates the Brazilian
conformation – in its roots, trends and characteristic values – with the Orient, a term that in
the symbolic economy of the author of Sobrados e Mucambos involves everything that is or
means ‘non-European’ or ‘anti-European”’.[8]
Academia Letters, August 2021
©2021 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0
Corresponding Author: André Bueno, antigauerj@gmail.com
Citation: Bueno, A. (2021). Brazilian Orientalism and Sinology in 19th Century. Academia Letters, Article
2844. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL2844.
1
The importance of this idea can be seen in the analysis of the case of the Chinese: they
have spread to Brazilian society, being gradually assimilated. The term ’Chim’ [in plural,
‘Chins’] became widespread, indicating the Asians who traveled in Brazil, in the most diverse regions. Even so, this did not imply building a deeper knowledge about China; and
the arrival of the Portuguese court in Brazil, in 1808, renewed the intention to Europeanize
the customs and habits of colonial society.[9] Even so, Brazil was the first colony in all the
Americas to officially receive a batch of workers from China. The Judge João Rodrigues de
Brito, in 1807, had already proposed the arrival of Chinese labor to Brazil.[10] An unprecedented movement, which took place in 1812, arose with the interest of Dom João VI (King
of Portuguese Empire) in starting a tea plantation in Rio de Janeiro.[11] Around four hundred workers were brought in, starting a cultivation that was not successful. This episode
- often cited, but whose details still need to be further explored - meant a milestone in the
relationship with China, embracing the idea of transforming free Chinese labor into an alternative to slave labor, which would be eagerly explored by American countries later.[12]
This question allows us to understand the reasons that led Brazilians to think about importing
Chinese workers throughout the 19th century, especially after the country’s independence in
1822. However, this movement was greatly hampered by the relationship between Brazilian
Orientalist views and the nascent sinology of the empire of Brazil.
Brazilian Orientalism
To understand how Brazilian intellectuals and politicians at the time read China, we must also
return to the important concept of Orientalism, redefined by the work of Edward Said, in his
book Orientalism in 1978.[13] Said advocated that Orientalism was essentially an intellectual
movement interested in standardizing the relations of knowledge between Europe and the East,
through a cultural hierarchical theory. The homogenization of Asians, combined with the
spread of prejudices, made them a single subject, whose domination was justified by their
supposed cultural and intellectual inferiority.
It is practically impossible to deny that this heavy load of racism and prejudice dominated
imperialist thinking in the 19th century; but as Robert Irwin[14] rightly pointed out, Orientalism cannot be understood as a single movement, but as a set of varied initiatives, interested in
producing legitimate knowledge about Asian diversity. This consideration is pertinent, given
that access to nature and the origins of Asian cultures was still restricted both in extent and
in methodology. Let us remember that, for a significant time, the predominant view of the
East was religious, of missionaries, for the purpose of conversion; now, there were multifaceted approaches, based both on economic and political views and on human, literary and
Academia Letters, August 2021
©2021 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0
Corresponding Author: André Bueno, antigauerj@gmail.com
Citation: Bueno, A. (2021). Brazilian Orientalism and Sinology in 19th Century. Academia Letters, Article
2844. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL2844.
2
anthropological initiatives.
Furthermore, Orientalism was designed as a system for reading otherness. In the case of
Imperial Brazil, Orientalism acquired its own nuances, which Maffra and Stallaert[15] (2016)
named Creole Orientalism. This Orientalism can be understood from the need to examine how
Asian heritage has permeated the formation of Brazilian culture and society since colonial
times. The empire Brazil was formed based on a national project with complex characteristics.
Brazilian society had been constructed in a very different way: while a myth of “Harmony of
the three races” - Portuguese, African and indigenous - was outlined in romantic literature,
the cultural practices was continue associated with slavery and the imposition of Catholic
religiosity, naturally excluding cultural differences that were not marked by a Eurocentric
orientation. Edward Said’s consideration is pertinent in this case: the Brazilians, grounded
on the surface of this Orientalism, were reticent about the possible Asian influences on their
social and cultural imagery (although they lived with Chinese and other peoples of the Middle
East), tending to deny - by ignorance, or by attitude - any deeper Oriental influences on our
civilization.
The ultimate example of the orientalist initiative was the emperor Pedro II, a renowned
orientalist and classicist, who mastered several languages such as Hebrew and Sanskrit, and
spent his time translating classics from Oriental literatures. The sovereign undertook an expedition to the Middle East, leaving rich documentation on his travels.[16] José Abreu, the Baron
of Marajó, also made a trip to Egypt, comparing the Amazon to the Nile - a rich example of
the worldviews initiated by these Brazilian intellectual elite.[17]
A brief conclusion
Therefore, Brazilian thinkers, even if they were Eurocentric, did not ignore the importance of
Asian studies; and when the ‘Chinese question’ broke out in 1878-79, several studies about
the Chinese culture and society were already underway.[18] Until then, Sinology was a field
practically dominated by the Portuguese, Spanish, English and French missionaries and academics[19]; a ‘new sinology’ was needed to understand better the Chinese civilization, and the
implications to bring thousand Asian workers to Brazil. Brazilian scholars carefully sought
to reconcile their China fascination with the awareness of serving the state. This condition
was present in Brazilian thinking in 19th century; the Orientalism so specific to Brazilian culture effectively imposed itself as an essential condition for the production of knowledge about
the China. Brazilian Sinology was inevitably Orientalist, in its own sense; and that would
decisively influence the design of the Brazilian thinking about China in the future.
Academia Letters, August 2021
©2021 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0
Corresponding Author: André Bueno, antigauerj@gmail.com
Citation: Bueno, A. (2021). Brazilian Orientalism and Sinology in 19th Century. Academia Letters, Article
2844. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL2844.
3
References
[1] Prof. Adj. in State University of Rio de Janeiro [UERJ]. This research was funded with
support from the Fundação Biblioteca Nacional, oct.2018-oct.2019
[2] Simon Leys. ’Orientalism and Sinology’, in The Burning Forest: essays on Chinese
culture and Politics. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1985.
[3] Adrian Chan, Orientalism in Sinology. Palo Alto: Academica Press, 2009.
[4] Gilberto Freyre. China tropical: e outros escritos sobre a influência do Oriente na cultura
luso-brasileira. Brasília: Editora Universidade de Brasília, 2003.
[5] José Roberto Teixeira Leite, A China no Brasil: influências, marcas, ecos e sobrevivências
chinesas na sociedade e na arte brasileiras. Campinas, SP: Editora da Unicamp, 1999.
[6] Júlio Bandeira. O Brasil na Rota da China. Rio de Janeiro: ArtePadilla, 2018.
[7] Ana Paulina Lee. Mandarin Brazil: Race, Representation, and Memory. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2018.
[8] Valéria Torres da Costa e Silva. Orientalismos brasileiros: Gilberto Freyre e a peleja
entre Vênus e a Moura Encantada. Recife: Carpe Diem Edições e Produções, 2011, p.61.
[9] Patrick Wilcken. Império à deriva: A corte portuguesa no Rio de Janeiro, 1808-1821.
Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, 2005.
[10] João Rodrigues Brito. Cartas Economico-politicas sobre a agricultura e commercio
da Bahia pelo Desembargador João Rodrigues de Brito, Deputado das Côrtes. Lisboa:
Imprensa Nacional, 1821 58.
[11] Leandro Sacramento. Memoria econômica sobre a plantação, cultura e preparação do
chá. Rio de Janeiro: Typ. Nacional, 1825.
[12] José Inácio de Andrade. Notícia sobre o chá, sua cultura e manipulação, extraída das
“Cartas escritas da Índia, e da China nos anos de 1815 a 1835”. [Manuscript] 16p. Rio
de Janeiro: Biblioteca Nacional, 1835; Carlos Francisco Moura. Chineses e chá no Brasil
no início do século XIX. Macau/Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Internacional de Macau/Real
Gabinete Português de Leitura, 2012.
Academia Letters, August 2021
©2021 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0
Corresponding Author: André Bueno, antigauerj@gmail.com
Citation: Bueno, A. (2021). Brazilian Orientalism and Sinology in 19th Century. Academia Letters, Article
2844. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL2844.
4
[13] Edward Said, Orientalismo – A invenção do Oriente pelo Ocidente Rio de Janeiro: Companhia das Letras, 1998.
[14] Robert Irwin, Pelo amor ao saber: os orientalistas e seus inimigos. São Paulo: Record,
2008.
[15] Adriana Mafra e Christiane Stallaert, “Orientalismo Crioulo: Dom Pedro II e o Brasil
do Segundo Império” In Iberoamericana, Pittsburgh XVI, n.63, 2016: 149-168.
[16]Bergonha Berdiaga, Diário do Imperador D. Pedro II: 1840-1891 Rio de Janeiro: Museu
Imperial/IPHAN, 1999.
[17] José Coelho da Gama e Abreu, Do Amazonas ao Sena, Nilo, Bósphoro e Danúbio:
Apontamentos de Viagem. Tomos I-III. Lisboa: Typographia Universal, 1874-76.
[18] See André Bueno, Sinology in The Brazilian Empire. Academia Letters, n.2565, http://
doi.org/10.20935/AL2565, 2021.
[19] António Aresta, “A Sinologia portuguesa: um esboço breve” In Revista de Cultura do
Instituto Cultural de Macau. Macau, vol.32, 1997, 9-18; Charles Le Blanc, Profession
Sinologue. Montréal: Presses de l’Université de Montréal, 2007, 19-34.
Academia Letters, August 2021
©2021 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0
Corresponding Author: André Bueno, antigauerj@gmail.com
Citation: Bueno, A. (2021). Brazilian Orientalism and Sinology in 19th Century. Academia Letters, Article
2844. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL2844.
5
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