In 1733, the mechanic Kaye invented the "flying shuttle", which greatly improved the efficiency of weaving; 32 years later, the British weaver James Hargreaves invented the "Jenny Loom", which replaced some of the labor, saving time and effort, and unveiling the prelude to the first industrial revolution.
Since then, there have been many advanced machines in Britain, coal mining, metallurgy and other industries, and have begun to use machines to produce, while in the Eastern countries, China is in the period of the rule of the Qianlong Emperor, and there is a reputation of "Kangqian's prosperous life" in history, but the Qianlong Emperor believes that China is a vast land and does not need to be linked with foreign countries, so as to fully implement the closed country.
At that time, China was indeed still the envy of everyone in the world, the famous Italian traveler Marco Polo said in the "Marco Polo Travels" that china is full of gold, and our country is very developed in porcelain, silk, etc., and the development of the industrial revolution, must need the market, Britain opened the map, thought of our country.
On September 26, 1792, the British king sent people to China with 600 boxes of gifts such as looms, battleship models, howitzers, etc. In order to better reflect the sincerity, all the specifications were superior, and the emissaries were huge, with more than 700 people, including young nobles, moonstones, painters, etc., and the main messenger was George Macartney.
Because of the long distance and taking into account china's national conditions, Ma Garni avoided the arrival of the envoy group in China, the Qing Emperor did not know why, so when Ma Garni set out, someone first sent the letter of King George III of England to china in advance and handed it to the Qianlong Emperor.
George III said in the letter: "China has a vast market, Britain has a large number of high-quality and cheap goods, and the two countries will achieve a win-win situation if they achieve trade exchanges." Of course, the King of England did not do it for the development of our country, and also mentioned many conditions that were superior to Britain.
In order to achieve greater possibilities for exchanges with our country, Britain chose the time of the Qianlong Emperor's eightieth birthday, and Macartney also thought that he would be able to fulfill the task entrusted to him by the British king, but when Ma Garni arrived in our country, he found that it was not the same thing.
First of all, the Qianlong Emperor thought that Ma Garni was a messenger sent by the British to pay tribute, and asked them to plant the flag (English tribute envoy) on the ship, so there was an unpleasant situation at the beginning, and later Ma Garni met with the Qianlong Emperor, according to the Qing Dynasty regulations, it was necessary to perform three kneeling and nine prostrations, but Ma Garni believed that the two sides were equal, so things were even more unpleasant.
In the end, it is needless to say that the Qianlong Emperor also regarded the gifts brought by the British envoy group as garbage, so that the advanced Fang Ming in the West did not have the opportunity to show it in the Qing Dynasty, so the envoy group led by Ma Garni touched a nose and returned to Britain, but did not stop the development of the British industrial revolution, and what our country lost was an opportunity to rewrite history.