How Isolated China Was In The Macartney Embassy? Essay

Western countries developed rapidly in the wake of the Industrial Revolution during the 18th-19th centuries. These countries produced a wide variety of goods, Britain especially, was very eager to sell their manufactured goods in the vast China market. AD 1793-1794, a group of British who were hopeful about their trip to China, but eventually left disappointedly. They wished to develop a modern diplomatic relationship with this ancient country, i.e. setting up embassies in each others’ territories, expanding the trading relations: open more trading ports, free trade. However, these seem reasonable requests in today’s world had all rejected by the Qing Emperor, Qian Long. Britain failed to open the door of China via a modern diplomatic way, 46 years later, this long-cherished wish has finally come true by gunpowder. The Macartney Embassy to China has always been seen as one of the dramatic event as well as the beginning of modern Chinese history. Critics on China’s historical isolationism, Sino-centricism and independence from the outside world have always been denounced, which caused China had gradually lagging behind the world, resulting disastrous and humiliated consequences in the end. However, does the West really understand China? Others historians argued that it is unfair to criticize China from preconceived Western notions, so whether China was fatuous is still controversial. This paper, therefore, is going to discuss whether it is true that China’s isolationism and independence was shown in the Macartney Embassy with reference to Sino-foreign trade and the kowtow controversy.

The divergence between East and West can be found in the Macartney Embassy. Although Lord Macartney’s was not the first European embassy to China, it was certainly the largest and the most formal one for such two big country (one is the strongest in Europe and the other is in Asia). It is normal for these two countries diverge greatly to each other with totally different cultural...