When we stand hundreds of years later and look at the earliest Sino-Portuguese exchanges, it seems that the contradictions and conflicts that caused them were all trivial, which were not a problem at all, but at that time, they actually caused an uproar. Let's take a few examples to see how the contradictions between the two sides manifest and the crux of the problem.
For example, when the Portuguese ship entered the port, it used to fire a salute three times, and the Western etiquette has always been like this, paying tribute to the port that arrived, but did not expect the rumbling cannon sound, which shook the officials and people of the city. Because according to China's official etiquette, what officials need is "silence" and "avoidance", and the people cannot easily see officials, and they must kowtow when they see officials. Western ships, on the other hand, set off earth-shaking salutes in a lively manner, which Ming officials considered to be a matter of picking quarrels and provoking trouble. In fact, this contains a very heavy official cultural factor, no wonder the Chinese side has repeatedly mentioned it in various anthologies, and it must never be forgotten.
In addition, the Portuguese diplomatic envoy was Pires and the fleet commander was Andrade, although both belonged to the Kingdom of Portugal, but the fleet and the Pires mission belonged to two different systems. Andrade was sent by the Governor of Malacca to trade and sell pepper, and he was only responsible for sending Pires to China to complete the mission, and was not under the jurisdiction of the Pires Mission. Pires was armed with the edict of the Portuguese king, but his purpose was only to send diplomatic missions to China. Moreover, his social status is lower than that of Ander, the two sides are only carrying the relationship this time, there is no question of who manages whom, who must obey whom, for them, the relationship between the two sides of the cooperative division of labor is clear.
But for the Ming Dynasty, this was a new problem, and it also gave rise to misunderstandings. Because the Ming Dynasty promoted tributary diplomacy, the envoy was sent by the emperor and accompanied by a large number of rewards and guards, whether zheng he went to the West, or sent envoys to Korea, the western regions, etc., it was impossible for a few lonely people to carry an official letter, even if they made clear their attitude and position. In the eyes of the Ming officials, since Pires was carrying the edict of the Portuguese king to China, he was of course, like Zheng He, the general responsible for the entire mission, including the fleet, and was not only responsible for the diplomatic mission, but also commanded the fleet. The original Portuguese dualistic structure, due to different Chinese customs, was mistaken by the Ming Dynasty as a mixture.
For example, Portuguese envoys came to China to negotiate on behalf of the King of Portugal, and the customs they followed were of course Western. European countries are divided into big and small strength and weakness, which is a de facto inequality, caused by the strength of the state, military wins and losses. However, kings and kings were equal in etiquette, and there was no case of the Portuguese king prostrating himself before other European kings, so the envoy could not prostrate on behalf of the king.
But for the Ming Dynasty, as long as any foreign emperor came to China from afar, as long as it represented the behavior of the state, the premise was that there was an inequality between China and foreign countries, just like the stars and the moon, and the status of the Chinese emperor was higher than that of the foreign monarch. Compared with the West, the biggest difference in China's tributary diplomacy model is the inequality of etiquette, even if it represents the king, it must kneel three times to the Chinese emperor. Because he did not understand Chinese rules, the Portuguese general (translator) was beaten with twenty sticks, and then he still had to abide by the etiquette of the Heavenly Dynasty. Otherwise, don't say that when you see the emperor, no one will dare to pick up such a thing as sending the letter of state.
Moreover, China does not receive every country, but first look at the "Daming Society" and diplomatic documents, which record the tributary state recognized by the Chinese side. If it is convinced that the other party is not a tributary state recognized by China, then it may be an abuser, it may be a pirate group that occupies one side, the Chinese side can ignore it, and it will be very difficult to communicate again, unless it is approved by the emperor.
Finally, of course, Portuguese envoys could not come empty-handed, and in addition to giving gifts to the emperor, they also had to pay a large amount of bribes to local officials. This is not seen in Chinese historical documents, and who is willing to mention in their collected notes that they accepted silver from Portugal. But foreigners, writing about this history, mentioned that after the ships of the Pires mission entered the Chinese field of vision, they aroused the suspicion and curiosity of Chinese because of the huge Portuguese ships and the strange appearance of the Caucasians. The Portuguese had just arrived, and their outwardly gentle demeanor, especially the generous gifts from the commander of the fleet to the Imperial cruisers, had finally won their trust. Because the monthly salaries of Officials in the Ming Dynasty were very small, they could not live a decent life without bribery. Chinese Ming dynasty officials generally accepted bribes, and it was precisely because the Portuguese seized this feature that they paid bribes again and again, which eventually led to portugal winning the colony of Macau without a war.
When guangzhou officials received Pires, they found that Portugal had not filed a record in the "Great Ming Society", that it was completely from a strange country, and that the diplomatic fleet did not hold diplomatic credentials. According to the customs of the tributary system, Portugal was an uninvited guest and was not included in the reception of the imperial court.
The Ministry of Rites therefore sent a note to the Portuguese envoy, making the following demands: first, because Portugal did not belong to a tributary state, the imperial court refused them to come to Beijing; second, the Portuguese side brought some diplomatic gifts, and the Municipal Shipping Department in charge of receiving them in Guangzhou was purchased according to a certain value; third, all the personnel of the Portuguese delegation were required to return to China on their own and not to continue to stay in China. This is the main point written in the previous "Records of Emperor Mingwuzong".
When Pires heard the news, he was quite disappointed in his heart, but he did not show it on his face. He had a very good way of dealing with the world, and he also understood China's experience in handling affairs, and he understood what the problem of this note was, so he could not obey the will of the imperial court. After consulting with Andrade, Pires decided to separate the two sides. Andrade was originally coming to China for business, and he could drive the fleet to Dongguan Tuen Mun and leave China as soon as the goods were sold. The Pires mission remained in Guangzhou, which reduced the target and eased the psychological pressure of the local officials in Guangdong, and then waited for a new opportunity to meet the Ming Emperor and complete the tasks assigned by the Portuguese king.
Andrade sent the rumbling ship to Dongguan, a move that won the favor of Guangzhou officials, and with the benefits already received, it was soon decided that these Flangers had a good attitude. The Portuguese were also worth the trip, the pepper they brought was very popular, the low price of the Chinese goods carried on the return voyage, coupled with the honest and trustworthy business style of the Portuguese merchants, made the trade trip a complete success. Ender picked up the honor and goods and returned to Malacca smoothly.
The fleet was gone, but Pires and his translator, Yasan, were still in Canton, and they had not completed their mission and remained behind to continue to seek new avenues, hoping to open up the situation soon. Pires wandered among bureaucrats, never went empty-handed, and they tasted the sweetness of the first bribe, and it seemed that this trick was very effective. After that, bribery appeared frequently and tried and tested, becoming the basic means for Portugal to enter China and disintegrate the Ming bureaucracy. The Gifts given by the Portuguese are not valuable, but nothing more than glass colored balls, prisms and so on that China does not have. The brilliant sunlight passed through the prism and suddenly became colorful, which amazed the officials who had never seen the Western scenery and collected them as rare treasures. The stubborn big country started like this from the beginning, not with cannons, but with the means of villains to seek national interests.
Pires discovered that Ning Cheng, the eunuch who guarded Liangguang, was a powerful figure who was most likely to succeed in paying him bribes. The eunuchs who held this position were almost all red people around the emperor, and they entrusted him to hand over the book upwards and request to enter the capital, and this trick really worked, and finally got the emperor's edict to enter the capital. But the Zhengde Emperor was out on patrol, not in Beijing, but in Nanjing. In this way, Pires and his party rushed from Guangzhou to Nanjing, and according to the custom, they once again clung to the emperor's side under the door of another You Xing Jiangbin. The villain's method is bound to please the villain, and the success of the villain is also the defeat of the villain, which lays the groundwork for the diplomatic failure of the Pires mission.
The Zhengde Emperor was fond of playing among the Emperors of the Ming Dynasty, and did not like to sit alone in the cold Forbidden City, and the folk widely circulated the legend of his dragon playing with the phoenix. At this time, during the southern tour, because of Jiang Bin's introduction, the Zhengde Emperor first met with Pires's translator, Yasan. Portuguese phonetic grammar, including pronunciation, was characteristic, especially the heavy use of tongue-playing sounds, which intrigued the Zhengde Emperor and occasionally imitated them for fun. The fireman Yasan seized the Zhengde Emperor to learn foreign languages, practiced the art of villains, befriended Jiang Bin, stayed by the emperor's side, and became a red man. However, Pires never had the opportunity to see the emperor diligently, so he had to wait to return to Beijing.
The weather is unpredictable. The Zhengde Emperor's southern tour ended, and when he first returned to Beijing, he was sitting in a small boat drinking and fishing, the boat overturned, and he fell into the water and almost drowned. Frightened by falling into the water and his frail health, Emperor Myeongmujong, who was only 29 years old, died in April of the sixteenth year of Zhengde (1521). After his death and before Emperor Mingzong Zhu Houxi ascended the throne in Beijing, a series of power struggles began within the court. Jiang Bin committed many evil deeds and was eliminated by empress dowager Zhang Shi and the university scholar Yang Tinghe. This sudden event affected the Portuguese mission.
Among the sixteen emperors of the Ming Dynasty, the Zhengde Emperor was by no means competent, especially in terms of pro-villains, and was even more criticized by posterity. In the "History of Ming", it is evaluated that the Zhengde Emperor is close to the group, and Jiang Bin is the first to recommend Jiang Bin, and Jiang Bin leads to the translator Yasan who is around Pires. Because the fireman Yasan had also offended the wrath of the people, both men were soon executed.