In 1275, a European named Marco Polo set foot on Chinese territory for the first time and began his 17-year travel to China. After seeing the strength of the Yuan Empire, he returned to Venice and wrote the famous "Travels of Marco Polo" by the Italian writer Rustician through oral accounts.
In the book, Marco Polo describes China as a "country of gold everywhere", and since then China's gorgeous silks, silky tea leaves, and attractive treasures have set countless European adventurers on their journey to the East.
At first, China also took the initiative to join the team of exploration and exchange around the world, and in the early Ming Dynasty, Ming Chengzu sent Zheng He to lead a caravan to the West seven times to do business with all countries in the world.
However, in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, due to the peak of the self-sufficient small peasant economy and the continuous border and sea disasters, The Chinese rulers wavered in their policy of opening up the country.
During the Ming Jiajing period, the "sea ban" policy was thoroughly implemented, and Sino-foreign trade was once frustrated. Although there was a brief "Longqing switch" after that, from a general point of view, "pieces of armor must not go to the sea" still ran through the middle and late Ming Dynasty, and this phenomenon continued until the Qing Dynasty...
The Qing Dynasty's "Closed Country"
In 1644, the Qing army, led by Wu Sangui, entered the customs and entered the city of Beijing, becoming the new ruler of the Central Plains. In order to continue to eliminate the remnants of the Ming regime in the south, the Shunzhi Emperor continued to implement the policy of sea prohibition in the late Ming Dynasty, which made the exchange between China and foreign countries more closed.
During the Kangxi Dynasty of the Qing Dynasty, the Zheng regime in Taiwan disobeyed the Qing court, and the Qing court sent general Shi Lang to carry out operations against Taiwan.
In order to ensure the safety of the lives of the people along the coast, and also to prevent the Zheng regime from colluding with the people along the coast, the imperial court ordered the residents of Fujian, Guangdong, Zhejiang and other places to be relocated to the interior for tens of miles, and strengthened the policy and regulations of the sea ban.
Until the reconquest of Taiwan and the establishment of the Taiwan Government in Taiwan by the Qing court, the policy of sea prohibition was not substantially abolished, but the Kangxi Emperor still opened the customs offices of Guangdong, Fujian, and Shandong for maritime import and export trade, while other regions still pursued a strict policy of sea prohibition.
In the early days of the Qianlong Emperor's reign, the Qing Dynasty's national strength reached its peak, and the self-satisfied Qianlong Emperor closed all the treaty ports in Fujian, Zhejiang, Shandong, and other places in the name of the Qing Dynasty's "Heavenly Dynasty and The Kingdom Has Everything", leaving only Guangzhou alone to be responsible for foreign trade, and set up a particularly cumbersome foreign trade system, which seriously restricted the normal economic exchanges between foreign businessmen and China.
At that time, nearly one-third of the world's silver flowed into the Qing Dynasty in different forms, and the Qing Dynasty also entered the "Kangqian Prosperous Era", with the population soaring, the land was reclaimed in a large area, and the market demand continued to expand.
Magalney "eye-opening"
In the 1870s and 1880s, due to the expansion of Britain's overseas colonies, the productive forces of the country could no longer meet the needs of the vast areas of the colonies, and a bottom-up socio-technological revolution was launched in the working class, known as the "Industrial Revolution".
At a time when the Industrial Revolution was vigorously underway, the British colonial movement was also in parallel, from Africa to Latin America, from North America to India, the British flag was planted on four oceans and five continents, and they forcibly procured production materials and labor in the colonies through colonial plunder, and delivered a steady stream of capital and commodities to Britain itself.
With the advancement of technology, there was also an oversubordination of goods, and in order to open up new markets and earn more capital, Britain set its sights on the mysterious land of China, which was ancient and rich.
In contrast, the Qing Dynasty in the same period was still immersed in the dream of "heavenly kingdom", and the transformation of the capitalist state at this time was equally strange to the feudal Qing Dynasty.
By the end of the 18th century, the great ship of the Qing Dynasty had staggered downhill under the leadership of the old emperor Qianlong. In 1793, in order to open up the vast Chinese market, britain sent diplomat George Macartney to lead a delegation to China to discuss trade matters.
This was the first official contact between a capitalist country and our country, and Britain attached particular importance to this representation, and Macartney, as the most prestigious British diplomat at that time, naturally shouldered the diplomatic task of sending envoys to the Qing Dynasty.
When Ma Jiaerni arrived in China, it was during the eighty-second birthday of the Qianlong Emperor. For Macartney, this is the best time to write to the Chinese emperor to lift the sea ban and open the external market.
Soon, the British delegation arrived in Zhoushan, and when meeting with local Chinese officials, Macartney presented the British steam engine, cotton spinning machine, and gunpowder gun to China, all of which showed the advanced British industry at that time.
But what makes them stunned is that in the eyes of Chinese officials, these so-called "industrial products" are nothing more than some "barbarian tricks."
In his contacts with Chinese officials, Macartney wondered why its ministers, the great eastern power that earned the world's silver, were so ignorant and proud. Obviously, negotiating with these officials to open ports will inevitably play the piano to the cattle, and there will be no progress at all.
Therefore, soon after, the British delegation went north to the capital and decided to discuss trade with the Qianlong Emperor personally. The Qianlong Emperor attached particular importance to this visit, because in the records of foreign affairs in the Qing court, the country of "English" never appeared, and the Qianlong Emperor became deeply interested in it.
In order to show the national prestige of the Qing Dynasty, the Qianlong Emperor ordered a welcome line along the coast where the British mission passed. In the eyes of the Qianlong Emperor, the Qing army, which had just won the Nepal War a few years ago, was invincible and the world's first mighty division, while in the eyes of Ma Garni and his party, the Qing army was like a monkey selling art on the streets of London.
Not only that, in the process of going north to Beijing, Ma Garni saw the living conditions of the commoners of the Qing Dynasty, they were all ragged, there were countless beggars along the streets, and even the soldiers were as tall as topaz and thin.
The backwardness, ignorance, and pride of the Qing Dynasty were vividly displayed in front of Ma Garni's eyes. At this moment, he began to have a new understanding of this empire...
Seeing the Qianlong Emperor "Hit a Wall Everywhere"
After arriving in Beijing, Macartney was told that the Qianlong Emperor was playing in the summer resort and asked them to wait for some time. During this period, Macartney met with Fu Kang'an, the most famous general of the Qing Dynasty at that time, and asked for a detailed introduction to the British cannons.
However, in the eyes of this hundred battles general, the English cannons were not suitable for the real battlefield, and in the end, Fu Kang'an arrogantly rejected Ma Garni and his party, and Ma Garni was completely disappointed in the officials of the Qing Dynasty, and his only hope was placed on the old emperor Qianlong.
Soon, an official named He yan, the plenipotentiary representative of the emperor of the Qing Dynasty, told Macartney that when meeting the emperor, the mission would perform the ritual of three kneeling and nine kowtows. This was a great humiliation for the British mission, which Macartney flatly refused.
The Qianlong Emperor, who considered himself a heavenly kingdom, actually regarded Britain only as a vassal state like the surrounding vassal states. In fact, the entire ruling clique of the Qing Dynasty at that time did not have the concept of "equal diplomacy".
After a back-and-forth lobby by Macartney and back-and-forth lobbying by Hezhen, the two sides finally reached an agreement:
Respecting the dignity of the British nation and reflecting its sincerity of consultation, while following the etiquette of the Great Qing Dynasty, the British delegation knelt down on one knee when visiting, and did not have to perform the prostration ceremony.
On September 14, Ma Garni and his party were finally able to meet the ruler of the empire, the Qianlong Emperor, and when submitting the credentials of the country, the Qing officials deliberately translated the Letter of the British King in a very flattering, cowardly, and touted tone, and the Qianlong Emperor could be said to be overjoyed when he heard it.
When Macartney presented the scientific and technological achievements of Britain, he did not expect that the old emperor satirized the gifts brought by the British mission with an arrogant and arrogant attitude. Like other officials, they are regarded as "strange tricks" that mislead people and mislead the country.
During the formal negotiations, the Qianlong Emperor rejected all the requests made by Ma Jiaerni and others for trade, the establishment of a museum, the division of the business community, and the exemption of additional taxes, and said with great pride: "My heavenly kingdom is rich in goods and has all the products, so why should I communicate with small countries such as Ru." ”
The talks broke up unhappily, and the Qianlong Emperor also issued an edict to Daqing that he would no longer accept Ma Jiaerni to come to China for a visit. After the Qianlong Emperor left, the Qing officials ordered the British delegation to leave immediately to return to the territory on the pretext of wishing for the birthday ceremony, and soon after submitted the Qianlong Emperor's "State Letter".
The Qianlong Emperor in the "Book of Nations" even presented himself as the "King of Ten Thousand Kings", so that the British king could guard his territory, did not have to communicate with the Qing Dynasty, and did not need to pay tribute in peacetime, just to come to the book to celebrate his birthday, and his words showed ignorance and arrogance.
After returning to China, Ma Garni commented on the Qing Dynasty as follows: "It is a tattered first-class warship, and the reason why it did not sink is simply because of the support of a group of lucky people, it is better than the neighboring ship, only the size and appearance, whoever wants to give it a kick will completely fall apart."
Macartney's visit to China can be said to be a turning point in the modern diplomatic history of Britain and even the West, and since then the image of China's eastern power has ceased to exist. In the eyes of Westerners, qing officials did not understand what "diplomacy" was, and they knew nothing about modern technology.
Their craftsmen are starving, and their peasants are hungry and smelly, which is very different from the China described in the book, and the strange thing is that the poor in this country seem to have become accustomed to all this. Daqing seems to be powerful, but it is actually propped up by a group of walking dead people.
This period of history, for China, is another opportunity to modernize. The arrogance and self-guidance of the Qianlong Emperor was the direct cause of the whole thing, and the backwardness and ignorance of the feudal system were the deepest reasons.
This was The first time Ma Jiaerni came to China, and in his dealings with the Civil and Military Officials of the Qing Dynasty and the Qianlong Emperor, he predicted that the Qing Dynasty would surely perish!
History is also exactly what he expected, only 50 years later, the British with a strong ship cannon blasted open the gate of this ancient empire, the great Qing this huge ship slowly sank, but the Chinese nation, the sleeping beast is also slowly waking up...