The article is concerned with the Swedish East India Company and with Sir Anders Ljungstedt (1759-1835), a pioneer historian of Macau of Swedish extraction. It sums up the main points of Ljungstedt’s life and work. The article also places his achievement into the context of previous Swedish explorers, traders and scientists to China, paying special attention to the “Letters from China,” a collection that has hitherto not been known outside Sweden.