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Hello and welcome to the history of China.

Episode 303, The McCartney Expedition

The Scenes and Objects, which the members of the embassy had an opportunity of observing,

left a gratifying and durable impression upon the minds of many of them,

beyond all the events of the former periods of their lives.

The vast extent of the Chinese Empire, the richness of its soil, the variety of its productions,

the industry of its people, and the order and subordination prevailing among them,

could not fail to strike the attention of those who had the opportunity of contemplating them.

Sir George Leonard Staunton, in an authentic account of an embassy from the King of Great Britain

to the Emperor of China, 1797.

The English barbarians, having come from afar to present tribute, have been graciously received

and entertained according to the rights of

guest ritual. Their offerings, though curious, are of no practical use to the empire, and their

requests for altered trade conditions are contrary to our established customs. Let them be

treated with decorum, but firmly guided to understand the proper order of things.

A Qing court memorial recorded in the Qing Veritable Records, or Qing Shilu, dated September 1793.

On September 26th, 1792, two British ships, the Lion, a 64-gun man-of-war, and the Hindustan, an East India Company vessel, departed from Portsmouth, England, bound for Beijing, the capital of the Qing Empire.

Leaving this expedition was Lord George McCartney, a seasoned diplomat tasked with an ambitious

mission to negotiate expanded trade access, secure a permanent British embassy in Beijing,

and collect detailed information about China's economy, infrastructure, and even military

capabilities. This embassy, the first formal British diplomatic mission to China,

...