In the impression of the Chinese people, it is generally believed that the Opium War opened the door of the mainland, and since then, the Western powers have entered the territory of the mainland and begun to plunder wantonly. The first time Westerners came to China, it may be around this point in time. In fact, as early as the Han Dynasty more than 1,000 years ago, Westerners first set foot on the land of China.
In 166 AD, the mainland was in the Eastern Han Dynasty, and the European Romans came to the mainland, claiming to be the emissaries of the empire and were warmly welcomed by the Eastern Han Emperor, and these Romans were also called the Great Qin people.
This was the first time that a foreign mission came to China as recorded in the history books. Not to mention the controversial Marco Polo, after the opening of the Silk Road, there was a steady stream of foreigners coming to China, and the mainland also showed the great power style of the country of hospitality and etiquette.
Of course, in the early years, these foreigners came to the mainland, basically for business. Barter was the most common form of foreign trade in ancient times, with mainland porcelain, tea and silk being their sought-after goods, and their spices lacking in China.
How much do Westerners like mainland porcelain? At that time, the European aristocracy saw the exquisite porcelain and fell in love with it, setting off a wave of porcelain collection. Nowadays, China and porcelain are one word in the English language, which is enough to see the influence of Chinese porcelain in Europe.
Since porcelain could only go to Europe by sea at that time, the sea wind and waves were large, and the loss rate of porcelain was quite high. Therefore, porcelain was sold quite expensive in Europe, also because it was expensive, and later it was directly traded with gold and silver. During the Yuan and Ming dynasties, the mainland earned a net of 1.1 billion taels of silver by exporting Western porcelain alone.
But this is not the way to go, especially since the Qing Dynasty, Europe entered the capitalist industrial revolution, it is the time when gold and silver development is needed. The merchants were pursuing profits, and they did not want the porcelain technology to be occupied by China all the time, so they sent undercover agents to the mainland to steal the mainland porcelain making technology.
At that time, the French emperor sent a missionary, Yin Hongxu, to the mainland, and the Qing Emperor at that time happened to be Kangxi. As we all know, France is rich in wine, and this missionary brought the finest wines to China and offered them to the Kangxi Emperor. After tasting it, Kangxi was fascinated by the mellow aroma of the wine and praised Yin Hongxu. And Yin Hongxu also took the opportunity to say that if His Majesty wants to drink, I will continue to provide it.
Kangxi Longyan was overjoyed and decided to reward Yin Hongxu again. But Yin Hongxu didn't want anything, and he made a request to Kangxi, that is, he wanted to go to Jingdezhen to preach. Kangxi approved his request without even thinking about it, and also bought a real estate for Yin Hongxu in Jingdezhen and built a church to facilitate Yin Hongxu's activities.
After that, Yin Hongxu took root in Jingdezhen, where he preached and took the recipe for porcelain from the mouths of Chinese believers in the name of the church. Years later, Yin Hongxu compiled this information into a book and brought it all back to France.
Seeing Yin Hongxu, who had returned from a full load, the King of France was overjoyed. He published all of Yin Hongxu's materials in the newspaper, and now all French merchants would make porcelain. After this, France gradually replaced the mainland and became the main supplier of European porcelain. Later, the technology spread throughout Europe.
Coupled with the technological innovations of the Industrial Revolution, Europeans produced porcelain far more efficiently than China. In capitalist society, efficiency is everything, and soon mass production made porcelain popular in the West, and mainland porcelain was no longer a strange commodity. It was this technical leak that allowed the Qing Dynasty to earn hundreds of billions of dollars less in silver revenue.
Who can blame this? To blame can only be blamed on the sip of wine that Kangxi drank at that time, a mouthful of wine lost hundreds of billions of income, which can also be regarded as a legend in history.