S01E06 The Macartney Expedition Pt 2

Chinese Revolutions: A History Podcast

The Macartney Expedition, Part Two

In this episode, we get to see how it actually went, when Macartney's embassy made it to China. Because of a lot of "lost in translation" and incongruent notions about how diplomacy is supposed to go, it went down in flames.

What the British Brought

The British brought an array of scientific and military technology to show off their advances to try to impress the Chinese. They sent their cutting edge stuff: a huge mechanical planetarium, modern guns, luxury carriages for the Chinese emperor, hot-air balloon demonstration, and more.

They also sent a letter from King George III to Emperor Qianlong. Although it overdid some of the respectful verbiage toward the Chinese emperor, it was nevertheless a letter proceeding from a place of admiration and respect for Chinese civilization.

The British also brought Chinese educated in Europe by the Catholic Church to be interpreters and translators. Since James Flint's ill-fated attempt to make direct contact with the Chinese government, the East India Company stopped encouraging employees to learn Chinese.

Meeting the Emperor

In essence, Sir George Macartney managed to offend Emperor Qianlong through his negotiations about the kowtow ritual of submission to the Chinese emperor. Although there was some interest in the technological stuff, the British were in the end told to go with none of their requests granted.

They basically set the precedent of "these people are REALLY REALLY hard to talk to" rather than setting the foundations for successful future negotiation and relationship adjustment.

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