Emperor Chien Lung and Lord Macartney: early contacts between China and Britain

The early development of Chinese civilization that seemed to tower above its neighbors and to assimilate any military conquerors, in contrast to the warring states of west Asia and later on the European continent, led to a Sino-centric view of the world.  By the 1700s, China was very used to treating most states in contact with it (mostly its Asian neighbors) as tributary states--states that paid tributes and relied on Chinese military protection and political patronage.

        1. Chinese foreign relations in history

China, or zhong guo (center of the world), and its neighbors in history: Friendly, tributary states: Annam (Vietnam), Korea, the Ryukyu Islands, etc.  Barbaric neighbors that conquered China militarily and then were conquered by the Chinese culture: the Huns, Mongols, Manchus, etc.

            2. China’s response to the West

Background of King George III’s Britain: the first European state to undergo the Industrial Revolution.  Need for open markets and free trade around the world.  Emperor Chien Lung’s China: A self-sufficient economy that did not expect to trade; continued to treat any foreign state as a tributary state. The Canton System: To contain Chinese contact with the outside world, starting from the 1600s, only Canton was open for trade with the outside world, hence it was called the Canton System. A whole class of Chinese merchants who served as the go-between of foreign merchants and Chinese merchants outside of Canton arose, called the compradors.

        3. Emperor Chien Lung and Lord Macartney: the tragedy of cross-communication?

Given Emperor Chien Lung's attitude toward foreigners, clash was almost inevitable between him and the British envoy lord Macartney.  Still, the clash was very much culturally oriented.  Pay attention to: The words Chien Lung used to describe Britain and China. If you were a Briton or American in 1793, how would you have reacted to the Chinese emperor? If you were a member of the American government, how would you have dealt with Emperor Chien Lung's words? Do you think there was cultural misunderstanding on the part of the emperor? If so, where? What kind of disadvantageous position did the emperor put China in?