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In 1792, a huge fleet, led by the British royal battleship "The Lion", sailed out of the British port of Portsmouth.
On this trip, this fleet was nominally going to China to congratulate the Qianlong Emperor on his birthday, but in fact it was harboring evil intentions.
The British diplomat Macartney came with a mission: to sign a treaty of commerce with the Qing government in order to open up new overseas markets for Britain.
However, as soon as Macartney spoke, Qianlong refused, and wrote a letter to the British king himself, completely cutting off the possibility of trade with Britain.
The British king who received the letter opened it and looked at it, it was 976 words, full of literary words! But after knowing the content of the letter, he laughed and laughed at Qianlong's ignorance.
That letter is still in the British Museum.
What exactly does the letter say?
The British Empire is menacing
In the mid-eighteenth century, Britain went through the Industrial Revolution and became a capitalist power.
The rapid development of science and technology has swelled its ambitions, expanded its colonies everywhere, and transformed into a maritime hegemon, known as: the empire of the sun never sets.
However, the British domestic market could not keep up with the changes in his own economy, and for a while there was actually a bit of a slow-selling of goods. Therefore, the UK urgently needs to expand overseas markets.
They set their sights on a mysterious oriental country, China.
At that time, China, in the eyes of those led by Marco Polo, was a rich and developed place.
At that time there was a saying in Britain: China can pick up gold casually on the road.
From this, we can also see what China was like in the eyes of Britain, which is why they chose China.
But Britain has a big problem in trying to trade with China.
At that time, Britain did not have a comprehensive understanding of China, and did not dare to take measures rashly.
After much deliberation and deliberation, the British king decided to send a mission headed by Lord Macartney to China under the banner of celebrating the birthday of the Qianlong Emperor and promoting trade between the two countries.
Lord Macartney was a well-known young British diplomat at the time, and at the age of 27 he completed his twenty-year treaty of commerce with Russia for Britain.
In October 1792, the British mission officially set out from the port of Portsmouth and embarked on a voyage to China.
The Great Qing Dynasty: The Dream of the Kingdom of Heaven
At this time, China was under the feudal rule of the Qing Dynasty.
The economy and technology, which have long been at the top of the world, have made the Qing rulers feel comfortable. Coupled with being the founder of the Kang Qian Dynasty, Qianlong inevitably "cocked his tail to the sky".
For a while, there were rumors of "the Great Qing Dynasty, the Kingdom of Heaven, and everything is strange".
When the two countries meet each other, there are many contradictions
In 1793, the British mission Lord Macartney and others finally arrived in China after 9 months.
However, just as they were about to go to Beijing to meet Qianlong, they learned that Qianlong was not in Beijing, but was spending the summer in Shunde Villa.
Fortunately, this is not a big problem.
Qianlong learned that Britain on the other side of the ocean had sent envoys to celebrate his birthday, and the dragon heart was very happy, and even summoned Lord Macartney and others to come to face the saint.
However, bigger problems lie ahead.
The Qing Dynasty prides itself on the Kingdom of Heaven, and the emperor, as the ruler of the Kingdom of Heaven, has to kneel three times and bow nine times to show respect.
But Britain did not have such a statement, they could not accept such a way of saluting, Britain was not a vassal of the Great Qing, and as British envoys, there was no need to grovel to the Great Qing Emperor.
Such demands insult their dignity and damage the face of the country. Suddenly, the situation reached an impasse.
Due to the unwillingness of Lord Macartney and others to give in, the time to meet Qianlong was repeatedly postponed.
When Qianlong learned this, he was furious, believing that Lord Macartney and others were disrespectful to him and had blasphemy against him.
So in a fit of anger, he ordered the British mission to return the same way and no longer receive them.
However, how could Lord Macartney and the others be willing to return empty-handed like this?
After deliberation, when the British delegation is consecrated, it only needs to kneel on one knee and kowtow.
This barrier has not easily passed, so will these two countries with vastly different concepts successfully complete this meeting?
Will Lord Macartney and others be able to complete their task?
On August 13, 1793, Qianlong set up a banquet in the summer villa, and Lord Macartney and others finally met the legendary Qianlong Emperor.
According to Lord Macartney's recollection, his first impression when he saw Qianlong was:
"He is an old man who looks very young, and he can't tell that he is in his eighties at the moment."
However, Qianlong's first impression of these foreign envoys who came from afar was not good.
As far as the etiquette of the meeting is concerned, their image has been greatly compromised here in Qianlong.
When the British delegation enthusiastically introduced its country and offered Western gifts brought from thousands of miles away, Qianlong seemed a little uninterested.
For Qianlong, the various astronomical instruments they brought with them were commonplace. Before that, several countries had already presented these "treasures".
As everyone knows, it was Qianlong's slight contempt that exposed the backwardness and ignorance of the Qing Dynasty.
For Qianlong's reaction, Lord Macartney and the others were a little flustered, and they had not expected this before.
So they offered to show Qianlong the power of the long guns and short cannons they bring.
However, Fu Kang'an, a minister who was quite respected by Qianlong at that time, poured cold water on them.
"It's just some firearms, it's the same whether you look at it or not."
But what they didn't know was that by this time, Britain's hot weapons had far surpassed China's.
The spears and swords still used by the Chinese army are not worth mentioning in front of artillery.
Mazarni and others insisted on showing, and Qianlong had to agree.
However, after Mazarny and others demonstrated it with confidence, Qianlong and others were not even interested in the translation of foreigners in the mission.
Even if they were snubbed in the matter of offering treasures, Macartney and others were not discouraged.
After the banquet, they proposed to Qianlong the idea that the British wanted to open trade ports at the coastal mouth of China, and also hoped to provide tax exemptions for British merchants, allowing them to station, stockpile, and live.
When Qianlong heard this, he became furious, ordered the British mission to leave immediately, and wrote a letter to the British king himself.
Shame was thrown abroad
Mazarni and the others were angrily ordered to be expelled by Qianlong.
Although the task of persuading the Qing emperor to open a trade port was not completed, it was not for nothing.
They found that China under the Qing government was not as rich as it seemed.
In the alleys of the city, there are also poor people who starve to death, and there are not a few.
In addition, in order to welcome Mazarni and others, Qianlong held a military exercise in order to demonstrate the military strength of the Qing Dynasty.
In this way, it also clearly exposed the shortcomings of the Qing military power that was still in the era of cold weapons.
The hierarchical life of the common people, the serious backwardness of military power, the ignorant rule of the monarch, all these discoveries made Macartney and others ecstatic.
They thoroughly understood that the Qing Dynasty was only gold and jade at the moment, and it was defeated.
And this is simply better news for an ambitious Britain than China agreeing to open trade ports.
After returning to England, Macartney and his party recounted the trip to China to the British king in detail, and also produced the letter written by Qianlong.
The full text of the letter is 976 words, but it makes the British king feel ridiculous.
"The emperor of Fengtian sent an edict to King Yingqali to know that the king of Zhuer was far away in the ocean, and he devoted himself to the army, and sent a special envoy to pay his respects, sail to the court, and wish for longevity, and prepare the square goods, and use the smoke of the general. Reading the text, the words are sincere, and the King of Er's obedience and sincerity are deeply commended. ”
Qianlong felt that the British sent envoys to curry favor with him.
"How can it be that at the request of King Er alone, even more than a hundred years of law in the Celestial Empire." (Millennial rules can't be changed because of Britain.) ）
Qianlong called the Great Qing Dynasty the "Celestial Empire" and Britain the "Kingdom of Er", and in terms of title alone, he divided Britain into a small subsidiary country of the Great Qing, and he was complacent.
"The Celestial Empire has all the worlds, rare treasures, not precious... In fact, the Celestial Empire Dewei is far away, the king of all nations, all kinds of valuables, ladder voyage, everything. ”
Qianlong believed that the Qing dynasty had all the countries to come to the dynasty, and there was no need to trade with Britain.
He even threw all the artillery and scientific instruments brought by Britain in the Old Summer Palace for decoration.
This seemingly lofty letter reflects between the lines the arrogance, ignorance and ignorance of the Qing government at that time.
Since then, the beautiful image of China in the eyes of the British has ceased to exist, and Chinese has become synonymous with ignorance and backwardness in the mouths of the British.
And that letter has been preserved in the British Museum to this day.
Those invaders were hateful, but if the Qing government at that time was not so pretentious and unsightly, it kept up with the development of the times and changed.
So will there not be so much bitter history of blood and tears in this land?
brief summary
Fortunately, all this has passed.
Now China has shaken off the shadow of weakness and become strong again.
But we must still remember the suffering, we must not repeat the mistakes of the past, and hope that our motherland will become more and more prosperous!