In August 1793, a British ambassadorial mission led by Lord Macartney
arrived at the North Chinese port of Dagu and embarked on the road to
Beijing. His caravan, which included six hundred cases bearing presents for
the emperor, bore flags and banners provided by the Chinese that proclaimed in Chinese
characters “Ambassador bearing tribute from the country of England.” Upon his
arrival in the capital, Macartney refused his hosts’ demand that he perform the kowtow,
a traditional symbol of submission to the emperor. Eventually, a compromise was
reached, according to which he agreed to bend on one knee, a courtesy that he displayed
to his own sovereign, and the dispute over protocol was resolved.
In other respects, however, the mission was a failure, for China rejected the British
request for an increase in trade between the two countries, and Macartney left Beijing
in October with nothing to show for his efforts. It would not be until half a century
later that the Qing dynasty—at the point of a gun—agreed to the British
demand for an expansion of commercial ties.
Historians have often viewed the failure of the Macartney mission as a reflection
of the disdain of Chinese rulers toward their counterparts in other countries and
their serene confidence in the superiority of Chinese civilization in a world inhabited
by barbarians. But in retrospect, it is clear that the imperial concern over the aggressive
behavior of the European barbarians was justified, for in the decades immediately
following the abortive Macartney mission to Beijing, China faced a growing challenge
from the escalating power and ambitions of the West. Backed by European
guns, European merchants and missionaries pressed insistently for the right to carry
out their activities in China and the neighboring islands of Japan. Despite their initial
reluctance, the Chinese and Japanese governments were eventually forced to
open their doors to the foreigners, whose presence
and threat to the local way of life escalated
rapidly during the final years of the century. •
World History
