莎士比亞沒到過中國，甚至連出國都沒有，但他對東方著迷，一如許多同時代的人。本文審視莎士比亞戲劇和詩作中出現的歐洲以東的地區和民族：亞瑪遜、塞西亞、中國、土耳其、韃靼、阿拉伯、東印度和西印度。一般說來，距離英國越遠，莎士比亞的語言越是強調陌生、遙遠、他者。對於莎士比亞和他的觀眾而言，東方無限豐饒、殘酷專制、崇拜偶像、天真無知、武功超群、性能力強，更是個奇妙世界。

Shakespeare never got to China, of course, may never have gotten overseas at all, but he was fascinated by the East, as were many of his generation. This essay surveys the references in his plays and poems to lands and peoples lying to the East of Europe: Amazons, Cythians, Cataians (Cathayans), Turks, Tartars, Saracens, and Indians both of the East and West Indies. Generally, the further we get from England, the more Shakespeare’s language emphasizes strangeness, remoteness, and otherness. The world to the East is, for Shakespeare and his audience, a world of unimaginable wealth, of cruelty and despotism, of idolatry, of credulous naivete, of military and sexual prowess, and above all of wonder.