Lecture notes 7 PDF

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1. China’s place in the world is viewed as an independent wealthy nation. Qianlong states in his letter to the King, “Our Celestial Empire possesses all things in prolific abundance and lacks no product within its borders” (HR 236). Qianlong repeatedly describes China as “celestial” which shows that he views China as a superior country, and it is “heavenly” and he is the sort of the “God” like figure. He states in his letter that China does not need to trade with Europe, and foreigners who come into Europe should adapt to their customs, making it seem like China and its customs are the right customs and it should be followed by everyone. 2. The letter reveals that Qianlong does not necessarily like foreigners in his land, and that trading with them would make no use for him or for China. Qianlong believes China does not need anything from any other nations and that they are in abundance of goods. He believes that the proposition of the British for the small island near Zhoushan would be useless for their purposes. In overall, the tone that is being portrayed in Qianlong’s letters seems as if the British are a nuisance to China. 3. The stated reasons for rejecting the expansion of trade with Great Britain are that, they did not pay tribute to the emperor as they should have. He stated that “[...]his proposal is not consistent with our dynastic usage” (HR 236) which means that the trade would not benefit China and would have no purpose. Qianlong permitted the importation of tea, silk, and porcelain to Europe, but the new request made by the Ambassador of Great Britain was not accepted, because it “completely failed to meet the Throne’s principles” (HR 236) as Qianlong stated. This meant that Qianlong did not feel respected by the Europeans, since they did not carry out the rituals properly in front of him; these chinese rituals and customs were a big deal to China. Another reason for the rejection was because the Europeans held different beliefs than the Chinese. This

difference between the religion’s of the Chinese and the Europeans was the most important, and the Ambassador of Great Britain requested for its people to spread their own religion. This was not accepted by Qianlong and was said to be unreasonable, because he did not want his people converting, nor being forced to convert to the beliefs of the Europeans. 4. An unstated reason that might have influenced Qianlong’s decision could be that he did not want any sort of diversity in his land. Also he did not trust the Europeans because they were requesting to spread their religion, and Qianlong did not want that....