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Andrew Mitchell
History 1510-003
Emperor Ch’ien Lung’s Letter to King George III
In 1793, King George sent an expedition, led by Lord George Macartney, to Peking in
order to negotiate the expansion of trade with China. In response to the Macartney expedition,
Emperor Ch’ien Lung sent the voyage back to England with a letter written to King George.
At the start of the letter I felt that the tone was mild, however arrogant on the part of the
emperor. The way he viewed himself and his "celestial dynasty" was apparent in the rhetoric he
used in reference to his empire.
The expedition was set up to expand trade with china due to the high demand of
Chinese goods, which the emperor makes very clear are abundant and of high quality. He
displays this when he says:
"...the tribute offerings sent by you, O King, are to be accepted, this was solely in the
consideration for the spirit which prompted you to dispatch them from afar. Our dynasty's
majestic virtue has penetrates unto every country under heaven, and kings of all nations have
offered their costly tribute by land and sea. As your ambassador can see, we posses all things."
The emperor knows he has nothing to gain from the agreement, which could have been
a factor in the attitude he displayed in the letter. He then shows this by saying "...and have no use
for your country's manufactures."
The emperor feels a sense of superiority over England and other European countries.
He uses terms such as "barbarians" throughout the correspondence to express his feelings about
western civilization. The emperor sees England as a "lonely" island, "cut of from the world by
intervening wastes of sea". He sees his position as preventing a conflict between the Chinese
and European merchants, notably in the fact that he had the merchants "restricted within the
limits of their appointed residences".
The differences between western and eastern religion also play a role in the emperor’s
position to keep the two cultures separated. The worship of the "Lord of Heaven" clashes with
moral system "bestowed on China" by sage emperors and wise rulers sine the "beginning of
history". Ch’ien Lung states that the Europeans in China are not to propagate their religion to the
Chinese.
It is apparent that the emperor sees the English as barbarians, lacking the majesty of
Chinese culture. He sees foreign goods, religion, and culture as less than those of Chinese origin.
These views contribute to the emperor not expanding upon trade with England. He doesn’t want
their culture, their goods, or their religion mixing in with his own “celestial dynasty”.
The tone of the letter shows Ch’ien Lung’s sense of superiority and hostility toward
Europe. His display of any willingness to concede to the proposed expansion of trade with
England is summarized eerily in his closing statement:
“Tremblingly obey and show no negligence!”