In the fifty-eighth year of Qianlong, the visiting team of the British envoy Ma Jiaerni arrived in the Qing Dynasty and brought a large number of gifts. The actions of the British lifted Qianlong's appetite. So as soon as the Macartney team came ashore, they were warmly welcomed.
However, this enthusiasm did not last long, and when the Macartney team saw Qianlong, the two sides broke up unhappily.
First, the conflict between cultural etiquette and etiquette
Magalni and the others had already done their homework before the trip, and when they saw Qianlong, unexpected things still happened.
After the Qing officials settled the British envoys, they mentioned to them one thing: When you see our Qianlong Emperor, you must kneel three times and prostrate nine times
Macartney listened and was dumbfounded. Three kneels and nine knocks? What are you when we Are The British? When we visit the Qing Dynasty, we want to negotiate trade and establish equal diplomatic relations.
When the Qing officials heard this, they were equally dumbfounded. Equal diplomatic relations? We are the kingdom of heaven, how can we be equal with you? Aren't you supposed to pay tribute like a vassal state?
The more Macartney listened, the more he did not understand that we were the most powerful British Empire in the world, fighting invincible hands all over the world, how could we be subject to the Qing Dynasty.
At that time, Britain, after the Renaissance and the Enlightenment, had entered modern civilization, and they could only kneel to God, and they could not understand the etiquette of kneeling in the interaction between countries.
Under the China-centered tributary system in East Asia, Qing officials understood diplomacy as a matter of course for foreign envoys to kneel before the Emperor of the Central Plains. The foreign envoys they had received before were all following this set of etiquette, and they could not understand the equal diplomacy of the British.
This matter was so deadlocked, shocking the government and the opposition. In traditional society, etiquette means order, representing the norms, and is a matter of great importance, and it is impossible to give in. Therefore, Qianlong immediately sent his right-hand man, He Yan, to deal with the matter.
For the sake of a kneeling issue, Hezhen and Macartney engaged in several rounds of negotiations, and neither side refused to budge. For the Qing Dynasty, this was related to the status of the Heavenly Dynasty; for Macartney, it was related to the dignity of the British Empire.
At this point, no one wants the negotiations to break down. The British were full of hope, and they traveled thousands of miles to China, not wanting to see Qianlong because of a small detail; the Qing Dynasty had already informed the whole country that if the British went directly, Qianlong's face would not pass.
Finally, Hezhen proposed a compromise: each side gave in one step, and the British agreed that when all the envoys of all countries were saluting, they would mix in the crowd, kneel on one knee, bow down with the crowd, kneel three times, bow down nine times; the Chinese did not force the British to touch their heads to the ground.
In the eyes of the Qing monarchs, the British also performed the ritual of three kneeling and nine kowtows, at most it was "barbarians are uncivilized, do not know the etiquette", not very standardized. Ma Garni saw Qianlong to achieve this.
The gifts brought by the British, because of the problem of translation and understanding, caused Qianlong to be not interested, and even disappointed.
Without kneeling, the gift could not satisfy Qianlong, so Qianlong was very resistant to the British envoys. However, at this time, Macartney also wrote a letter to Qianlong through Hezhen.
Second, when Qianlong saw the letter, he knew the true purpose of the British, resulting in a complete inability for the two sides to communicate
On the same day that Qianlong received the letter, he issued an edict to the British, which read as follows:
Regarding the British wanting to exchange diplomatic envoys with the Qing Dynasty, Qianlong said that it was absolutely impossible to be at odds with the system. We cannot undermine our centuries-old laws because of the demands of one of your countries.
Regarding the opening of open ports: Zhushan, Ningbo, Tianjin, Qianlong said that Guangzhou's trade has been smooth for many years, so it cannot be changed.
The British wanted a small island to place goods, and Qianlong said that every inch of our territory in the Qing Dynasty was sovereign, and there was no room for negotiation.
Regarding the improvement of the lives of British merchants living in Guangzhou, changing the trade system and tax rates in Guangzhou, Qianlong also cannot be changed.
In short, Qianlong refuted Ma Garni's demands one by one and vetoed them all. Through this edict, Qianlong announced to the whole world that there was no hope of establishing equal diplomacy with the Qing Dynasty through peaceful negotiations.
Qianlong did not understand the general trend of the world, completely unaware that Britain had surpassed the Qing Dynasty in all directions, and he could not keep pace with the times. In his later years, Qianlong was arrogant and arrogant, and when he reveled in the dream of the heavenly kingdom and rejected foreign civilizations, he also missed the opportunity to integrate into the world.