Before the Opium War, China had two official exchanges with Britain, the first being the Macaniel Mission, which was more famous, in the name of wishing the Qianlong Emperor a happy birthday, hoping to establish official communication channels between China and Britain, and also sent a large number of gifts, including the most advanced muskets and artillery.
The second Sino-British exchange was not very conspicuous, and the British Amistad mission was sent back without even seeing the Chinese emperor. The reason for the collapse was that Amistad refused to perform the kneeling prayer, which angered the Jiaqing Emperor.
In fact, Ma Jiaerni also had this problem when he visited Qianlong, but it was only after the center of hezhen's mediation that it was finally resolved by Ma Jiaerni on one knee to pray. The Jiaqing Emperor did not have the strength of his father Qianlong, and did not have the spirit of a person like He yan, which led to the expulsion of the Amistad mission.
The Amestrian mission itself did not produce any results, but it led to an anecdote that Chinese relished, that is, Amistad met Napoleon in captivity on his way back to England. Na Huang told Amistad that China was a sleeping lion, and if it woke him up, it would definitely shock the world.
In fact, Napoleon has another sentence below, not many people know. When he heard that the mission had failed because Ofester refused to kneel, he couldn't help but say: If the British were to kiss the emperor's ass, would Amister still have to rip off the Chinese emperor's pants?
The words are not rough, the emperor is indeed deliberately mocking the British, but he told the truth, the British are too arrogant, refuse to abide by the etiquette of others, always push the responsibility on others, and then pretend to be moral.
Now some people think that China and Britain missed two opportunities for exchanges, which led to the Opium War. In fact, the Qing Dynasty certainly had a thousand mistakes, but the British definitely had responsibilities. Why? Take a closer look at the two British missions.
The Macaniel mission seemed humble but in fact aggressive, and their specific demands included the lease of an island, consular jurisdiction, and the opening of a treaty port, which could almost be said to be a rehearsal of the Treaty of Nanking.
The British were connoisseurs of this game, opening the doors of many countries in a similar way, using trade as an excuse, and then stationing merchant groups and armies until they "protected" the local country. India, Brunei, Bahrain, etc. all fell into colonies in this way.
As for the Amistad mission, it was even more uneasy and kind, and after being rejected by the Jiaqing Emperor, Amistad recorded in detail the defense situation from Tianjin to Humen on the way back, the number of soldiers' artillery, the situation of the forts, and the ability of the commander, which was a real pre-war reconnaissance, which showed that the British were very serious about preparing for war against China.
Therefore, even without Lin Zexuhumen selling cigarettes, the Sino-British war is likely to be unavoidable.