Most people are familiar with the Macartney Embassy of 1792-94 for two reasons.
First, the response by Emperor Qianlong to the British request to open China to British traders.
Qianlong had rejected the request and explained that the “Celestial Empire possesses all things in prolific abundance and lacks no product within its borders” and saw no need to import foreign goods.
What is the second reason Lord Macartney’s embassy is famous for?
An excellent book on this embassy is The Collision of Two Civilisations by Alain Peyrefitte, 1989 French original, 1993 English translation.
