Chapter 7 pride and Prejudice

In 1793, on a sweltering afternoon in August, the British government special envoy Macartney (Macar-tney) led a huge visiting fleet to Macau. The ship was loaded with gifts representing the most advanced industrial civilization in the West. The precious meeting gift given to the emperor of the Qing Dynasty is full of sincerity. The purpose of Macartney's visit to China was simple: to discuss trade matters with China. A few days later, the eighty-three-year-old Emperor Qianlong leisurely read the report of the Governor of Guangdong and Guangxi at the Summer Resort: there were Yuanyi who came to pay homage to birthday and pay tribute.

Macartney's visit to China was obviously to discuss business with the Qing Empire, but the report stated that Mr. Ma was here to pay tribute to his birthday.Why did someone secretly change the purpose of Macartney's visit to China? According to research, the most suspect should be the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi and relevant officials, because they wanted to take the opportunity to flatter Qianlong. Tongtong is the second most suspected.Communication is translation. In the era when there was a lack of talents proficient in foreign languages, it is obvious that they have the ability to influence the results of communication.It is said that they often have a history of random translation out of good intentions or other reasons. For example, officials originally scolded foreigners, "You are so fucking shameless, you are such an asshole", but Tongshi would tell foreigners, "Chinese officials are greeting you. Regards to your mother"...

Thanks to the above-mentioned suspects, the unfortunate party Macartney was "paid tribute". Macartney knew nothing about this, but the problem is that negotiation is an equal dialogue between countries, and tribute is the monopoly of weak countries. The conflicts caused by this artificially created gap in status are often bad things , because it concerns a thing, a thing for which many sacrifice, and its name is dignity. Next, Macartney finally met Qianlong himself. As soon as Qianlong saw a foreigner, he said: Anyone who sees me will kneel down, so let's kneel down and salute first.

Macartney said: We British people cannot kneel down to foreign emperors, at most we can do one-knee salute like the king of England. Qianlong was very dissatisfied, and the two parties broke up unhappy. Not long after, Qianlong made concessions on meeting etiquette after both parties had done a lot of public relations work.Qianlong sent someone to inform Macartney that he would meet them again and would not force them to kneel and salute. Everything seems to be going well, is that really the case?In fact, Qianlong was very angry, and he had already planned how to get back the scene. When he was interviewed by Qianlong again, Macartney stated the purpose of his trip: to establish diplomatic relations with the Qing Dynasty, engage in trade cooperation, and put forward the following requirements:

1. Allow the British to send people to Beijing permanently and open commercial offices in Beijing for trade. 2. Open one or more of Ningbo, Zhoushan and Tianjin as trade ports. 3. Use an island near Zhoushan as a place for British merchants to live and stock.From the perspective of the British, if the emperor of the Ming Dynasty could use Macau for Portugal, it seems that there is no problem for the emperor of the Qing Dynasty to use an island for the use of the British. 4. Choose a place near Guangzhou City for British businessmen to live in, and allow British businessmen to freely enter and exit Guangzhou.

5. Allow Guangdong to disclose trade tax rates, prohibit arbitrary charges, and reduce or exempt British goods taxes. 6. Allow British missionaries to preach in China. After Qianlong met, he did nothing but refute all Macartney's conditions one by one.He said: I am the kingdom of heaven, the co-owner of the world, and I have everything. I don’t need to trade with you. You should go back , to communicate what is there——Qianlong's "Edict to the King of England")! Although Macartney did not give up and worked hard to save, Qianlong was indifferent, and Macartney's trip to China ultimately failed.

However, it cannot be said that Macartney’s trip to China was completely fruitless. He carefully observed the places he passed by, collected a large amount of economic, political and even military information, and after returning home, he sorted out and analyzed these experiences along the way. Published, this allows the West to see a real China, a China that is strong on the outside but capable on the inside!Only then did the Europeans understand: they always thought that China was very powerful and rich, but it turned out that was not the case at all! Soon after Macartney's defeat, Qianlong went to see his ancestor Nurhachi, and Jiaqing succeeded him.

At this time, Britain sent envoys to China again, with the same purpose as the first time.However, Jiaqing's treatment of the visiting envoy was far inferior to that of his father Qianlong, especially on the issue of whether to kneel or not, the two sides were not as happy as last time. The British failed again and left China resentful. If it was a sober court with a sense of crisis, at this time, you should feel that the British are exuding a kind of breath, a very strong and dangerous breath that makes people feel daunting.But the Qing Dynasty was still intoxicated in the dream of "the Kingdom of Heaven". For them, the only meaning of the two visits of the British envoys was that they left two "consensus" that were modified by rumors and became outrageous:

One is that the legs of foreigners are straight and cannot be bent or kneeled down.As long as you knock them down, they can't get up at all. The second is that foreigners look like dogs and sheep, and like to eat beef and mutton, which are not easy to digest. If there is no Chinese tea and rhubarb, they will bloat to death due to constipation.So as long as we don't sell them tea and rhubarb, they'll be done in no time. It would be fine if only some ordinary people believed these words, but if even officials of the Qing Dynasty believed them to be true, then it can only be said that the Qing Dynasty was exhausted.

After the British failed these two times, knowing that the road to peaceful negotiations will not work, what will they do next?