Archives of the Afterlife: The Disappearance of the British Empire’s Dead in Twentieth-Century China

For a century, from the First Opium War (1839–1842) to the beginning of the Second World War (1937–1945) in China, cemeteries were established in many Chinese cities for the growing population of foreign dead, the majority of whom were British citizens. However, the retreat of the British Empire, the Chinese Civil War (1946–1949), and the People’s Republic of China’s desire for growth affected British necropolises. This article shows that despite the compassion and efforts of the Foreign Office and consular staff, bureaucratic hurdles and established legal precedents made it impossible to protect British cemeteries, especially after the destruction of the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976). Diving into the archives of the afterlife of the British Empire’s dead, we learn how dead bodies continue to matter greatly in the distant memories of living relatives, in the secularized bureaucratic exchanges, and in the diplomatic power play.