The perils of interpreting: the extraordinary lives of two translators between Qing China and the British Empire

Lives that crossed the world. The Li family of Liangzhou ; George Leonard Staunton of Galway ; Li Zibiao's education in Naples ; George Thomas Staunton's peculiar childhood

Li Zibiao and Lord Macartney's embassy. Finding an interpreter for an embassy to China ; Crossing the oceans ; Other possible interpreters ; Li Zibiao as interpreter and mediator ; Speaking to the emperor ; Becoming an invisible interpreter ; Li Zibiao after the embassy

George Thomas Staunton and the Canton trade. George Thomas Staunton becomes an interpreter ; Sir George Staunton, translator and banker ; The British occupation of Macao and its aftermath ; A linguist and his troubles ; The Amherst embassy

Exclusion. Li Zibiao's last years in hiding ; Staunton in parliament ; The opium war ; Forgetting.