Chen Qi / 陈琪
Among all the Chinese delegates to St. Louis, Chen Qi’s journey was by far the most consequential.
A well-educated, but minor Chinese provincial official, Chen was tasked with curating the Hunan province portion of the Chinese exhibit. He was also given the opportunity to tour the U.S. and Europe. Returning to China in 1905, Chen published a memoir of his travels, and the fourteen-volume book: An Account of the St. Louis Exposition in the New World.
Biography
Born: 1878, Qingtian county, Zhejiang province
Died: 1925
Education: Jiangnan Military Academy (Nanjing, China)
Studied physics, geography, cartography, Chinese and Western histories, military tactics, and languages such as English, German, and Japanese.
Planner for the 1910 Nanyang Exposition (Nanjing, China)
Director of Chinese delegation, 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition (San Francisco, U.S.)
Publishing the Fair
Along with listing every exhibition at the St. Louis Fair, Chen's book critiqued several displays associated with China. He pointed out that several times items such as seized opium pipes or small shoes for bound feet showed China in a negative light. Chen argued these “disgraceful” displays occurred because foreign staff at the Imperial Maritime Customs Service, instead of Chinese locals, were responsible for the arrangement of exhibits.
Chen’s observations helped transform how China participated in other international expositions after 1904.
