Text | Gu Xuan said history
Edit | Gu Xuan said history
In 1792, the British sent an embassy to trade, and the two sides had a great disagreement on the issue of three kneels and nine bows, and then Qianlong was also not interested in what they brought, and finally replied to the British with a letter full of pride and arrogance. [Come on]
At the same time, the British also saw the corruption of the Qing government, followed by the introduction of opium to the mainland......
01
The British Mission visited
On September 26, 1792, the British diplomat Macartney sailed out of British ports with a large delegation of more than 700 men aboard three huge ships, the Victoria, the Nipf and the Palpit.
Their destination was China, and the mission, ostensibly to attend the Qianlong Emperor's 80th birthday, was in fact to open up new trade opportunities and seek a treaty of trade with the Qing Dynasty.
What began as a nineteen-month voyage finally reached the mouth of Dagu in Tianjin, China, in 1793.
Preparations had already been made in the Dagukou area, and the Governor Liang Kentang and Changlu Yan Zheng Huirui personally came forward to greet the British mission, and during their entry, the Qianlong Emperor was in Chengde Villa for the summer summer. The Qing cabinet informed Qianlong of Macartney's imminent arrival in China.
Qianlong was looking forward to seeing and talking to the treasures brought by the British mission. The long list of congratulatory gifts, in particular, was particularly attractive to him, and he ordered some of the large items to be shipped to Chengde Villa in the hope of getting a sneak peek.
At the same time, Macartney and his team arrived at the lodge under heavy escort with the congratulatory gifts, but it was not as easy as it seemed.
Just as the two teams were about to meet, a sudden conflict shattered the original harmonious atmosphere, and they rose from the difference in religious beliefs and etiquette between China and England to an insurmountable chasm.
Under the solemn ceremonies of the Qing Dynasty, Chinese envoys were required to perform three kneels and nine bows, and they needed to imply the authority of His Majesty the Emperor.
The Macartney mission, for its part, believed that as an independent British nation, they should not bow to any other country, and while celebrating with China, they insisted on refusing to enforce this etiquette.
The impasse seemed to be insolvable, and when the question reached the ears of the Qianlong Emperor, he was furious at the unyielding attitude of the mission.
The Qianlong Emperor expressed his dissatisfaction with this attitude, and the Qing officials empathized with the emperor and immediately reduced the amount of meals eaten by Macartney and his cronies according to the "will", also to show obedience to the emperor's favor.
When we first came, we also did our best to be the landlords, and prepared a lot of dishes for them with local specialties, and after this happened, not to mention the joy of eating, it was already very good to be able to eat enough.
In order to solve the problem of their starvation, the Macartney mission sent an accompanying interpreter to argue with the Qing officials, but what they did not understand was that the way of dealing with affairs in feudal society was as rigid as rotten wood.
02
The arrogance of the Qing Dynasty
The exchanges during the Qianlong period were more indicative of the arrogance and prejudice of the Qianlong Emperor, who was less interested in visiting the British mission and preferred to show off China's treasures and technological achievements.
When the British mission brought gifts and trade requests from his king, Qianlong was not interested in the gifts, and instructed his minions to open a utility room filled with cobweb-covered machines and firearms.
The move was intended to show the British that the technology and equipment that China possessed were nothing compared to the British equipment.
In addition to flaunting China's scientific and technological achievements, Qianlong also resolutely rejected British trade requests, in a 976-word letter in which Qianlong expressed his deference to King George III of England, but at the same time rejected British requests.
In his letter, he even arrogantly stated that Chinese Confucianism was so quintessential and noble that the British could not comprehend it, and that it would be a waste to teach it to them.
Although the second visit of the British mission was accompanied by Thomas Staunton, who had been to China, in the hope of a friendly exchange with the Qianlong Emperor, it encountered further difficulties.
The mission did not hesitate to refuse to carry out the etiquette of three kneels and nine bows, and was quickly expelled by Qianlong.
and brought back the letter that can be called "the most humiliating letter in British history", although the full text is only 976 words, but it reflects the arrogance of the Qing Dynasty everywhere, and this letter is still preserved in the British Museum.
In short, it means nothing more than that we have a vast land, and you are a desolate place, and these things are not unusual.
Qianlong's arrogance and prejudice, as well as his resolute refusal to trade with the British, deprived the British of the incentive to continue patient negotiations, and eventually, the Opium War broke out in 1840, and the British used military means to force the Qing Dynasty to open the door to trade.
03
Qianlong
During the reign of Emperor Qianlong, the Qing Dynasty was at its peak and its territory was expanding, and he believed that Western countries should bow down to China like tributary states, and look down on the Western powers that he considered "barbaric lands" and were unwilling to trade with them.
After the Macartney mission arrived in Beijing, it was treated well at first, but because of the disagreement, it became a problem to even eat well, and basic respect was not obtained.
A year later, Qianlong personally wrote a letter to the British king, which exuded the atmosphere of ignorance and arrogance of the Qianlong Emperor, who was completely unaware of the rise and strength of Western countries in the industrial revolution and the development of capitalism.
Qianlong's unapologetic refusal of the trade request brought great disappointment and anger to the British, and provoked a backlash from the English king, King York.
Britain began to regard the Korean Peninsula, which was geographically distant and hostile to the Qing Dynasty, as a stepping stone to the East, and intended to attack China, and it was this war that brought Britain the first prosperity of the Sultan and Mingbanin and other misconceptions to resist the British, and it was out of control from then on.
Seeing the proximity of Chinese mainland's cultural domination, British businessmen finally saw that Britain had nothing to supply China. In the trade process at that time, China won, and the Western powers had to use force to open China's door in order to change the passive situation.
This led to the brutal Opium War between China and Britain, in which Britain quickly occupied China's important port cities and weakened the Qing Dynasty's international standing with unequal treaties, which in turn triggered colonization and aggression against China by the world's powers.
The Qing Dynasty paid a heavy price in the war, its national strength was declining, and it was in dire domestic and foreign difficulties.
Although Qianlong made great mistakes in the timing of the rise of the Western powers, he maintained his insistence on the country's territorial and cultural independence.
Although this was reasonable in the feudal society at that time, in view of historical experience and international reality, this strategy of not opening up and sticking to it eventually caused China to miss the process of industrial revolution and modernization, and aggravated the decline of the country.
04
Historical Revelations
In 1792, the British Macartney mission arrived in China in an attempt to establish diplomatic relations and expand trade with the Qing Dynasty, but the Qianlong Emperor rejected their trade demands and arrogantly replied to the English king, showing contempt for the British.
Emperor Qianlong's decision was not unreasonable, as the Qing Empire was in its heyday, with strong economic power and strong military power.
Therefore, he did not take Britain as a "small Western country" in his eyes, and did not see the need to establish diplomatic relations with it, and the Qianlong Emperor feared that the British demand would threaten the territorial and sovereign integrity of the Qing Dynasty.
This decision also had serious consequences, and his arrogant attitude worsened Sino-British relations, laying the groundwork for the Opium War.
Second, he allowed the Macartney mission to return home through the inland route, which gave the members of the mission the opportunity to gain an in-depth understanding of the actual situation in China, which gave Western countries a more realistic understanding of China and changed their views on China.
On their way home, the Macartney mission conducted extensive field trips and gathered a great deal of intelligence, and they found that China's economic and military power was not as strong as it seemed, and that the Qing government's rule had serious problems.
They encountered a journey of thousands of miles, not only through their meticulous study of the Chinese background, but also for discovering the true life of the Chinese people.
Problems such as social inequality between rich and poor, peasant exploitation, and official corruption came into their eyes one after another, which made Western countries have a contempt for China and provided a pretext for later aggressive actions.
When Macartney and others returned to the UK, their report caused a stir, and the West began to realize that China was not as impregnable as they had previously believed.
The true state of Qing rule was exposed, and European countries began to pay close attention to China's dynamics, hoping to use its internal problems to achieve their own interests, which also laid the foundation for the next hundred years of colonial expansion.
In 1840, when the Opium War broke out, Britain opened the door to China with strong ships and cannons, forcing China to trade with it on a large scale, and China was reduced to a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society, and the dream of the Qianlong Emperor was shattered.
The Macartney mission's visit to China revealed the arrogance and prejudice of the Qianlong Emperor, as well as the blind arrogance of the Qing rulers.
05
epilogue
Qianlong's attitude towards the British Macartney Mission was a microcosm of the Qing Dynasty's foreign relations, which reflected the Qing Dynasty's arrogance and ignorance in foreign relations, the rigidity and conservatism of the political system, and the arrogance and backwardness of military technology.
From a historical point of view, this event is not only a matter of interaction between the two countries, but also a convergence and collision of the cultural, political and social systems of the East and the West.
Qianlong's attitude towards the British mission first and foremost showed an all-encompassing arrogance of the Celestial Empire, who not only believed that the territory he ruled was the largest in the world, but also mistakenly believed that his own culture and technology were also leading.
In this state of mind, he was dismissive of the gifts and offers brought by the British mission, including scientific instruments, new artillery, and industrial products.
Since the 16th century, the Ming Dynasty has gradually implemented a policy of maritime ban, and the Qing Dynasty has further strengthened this policy after its establishment.
They believe that they can keep their culture and institutions safe from erosion as long as they do not contact the outside world, but they do not realize that the world is changing rapidly, and closing themselves off will only lead to isolation and backwardness.
Qianlong's rejection of the British mission also reflected the rigidity and conservatism of the Qing Dynasty's political system, and this conservative attitude caused the Qing Dynasty to miss the opportunity to connect with the world and Xi learn from the advanced culture of the Qing Dynasty.
Although the new artillery brought by the British mission caught Qianlong's attention, he did not realize what the technology behind these guns meant, and the Qing army still relied mainly on traditional cold weapons to fight, at a time when Europe had entered the age of firearms. This huge military gap laid the groundwork for the later Opium War.
This incident tells us that if a country fails to understand itself correctly and its relations with other countries, it will pay a heavy price for it.
Taking history as a mirror, we can realize that if a country wants to gain a foothold in the international community, it must keep a clear head and have a correct understanding of itself, and at the same time, it must respect other countries and treat them equally.
Only in this way can a country gain an advantage in international competition and achieve long-term development. At the same time, China should also draw lessons from history, continue to carry out reform and innovation, and enhance its comprehensive national strength in order to achieve true prosperity and development.
Resources
[1] Beiqingwang - Translation problems of the Macartney Mission in 1793
[2] Library of the Chinese Academy of Sciences - Ketu Collection - Overseas Sinology Classics Recommendation: "Documentary of the British Envoy's Meeting with Qianlong"