多马·斯当东出生于英格兰索尔兹伯里(Salisbury)附近的一个小镇,他是英国18世纪著名的旅行家和东方学家。1791年,英国首次向当时的清朝政府派遣马戛尔尼访华使节团,并借机要求开放天津、宁波等处为通商口岸,但最终遭到清王朝的拒绝。当时斯当东父子即是该使节团的成员之一。虽然马戛尔尼使团访华失 Thomas Harding was born in a small town near Salisbury in England, a famous British traveler and Orientalist in the 18th century. In 1791, for the first time, Britain dispatched Macartney’s envoy to the then Qing government and took the opportunity to request the opening of the ports of trade such as Tianjin and Ningbo, but eventually it was rejected by the Qing dynasty. Sri Lanka’s father and son were members of the mission. Although Macartney’s mission failed to visit China