Macartney Embassy

Macartney Embassy, British mission that traveled to China in 1792–93 in an attempt to secure more favourable trade and diplomatic relations for the United Kingdom. Headed by George Macartney, it was sent by King George III to the Qianlong emperor. The mission was marked by a series of misunderstandings between the British and the Chinese, and the Qing state ultimately rejected all British requests, an outcome that would prove to be one of the factors that contributed to the beginning of the Opium Wars in the 19th century.

Beginning in 1760, at the order of the Qianlong emperor, all trade between China and Western countries was confined to the port of Canton (Guangzhou). This foreign trade was also subjected to numerous regulations and taxes by Chinese officials, and Western merchants were allowed to trade in Canton for only five months of the year. A trade deficit between Great Britain and China soon developed, with British traders buying far more goods than they were able to sell in China. Discontent with this situation led George III to send what came to be known as the Macartney Embassy to China. This mission was backed by the British government and funded by the East India Company, and it sought more favourable trade and diplomatic relations for Great Britain. Among its goals were opening more Chinese ports to British merchants and placing a British ambassador at the Qing court.

The Macartney Embassy consisted of more than 600 people, including, among many others, illustrators, a watchmaker, a mathematical instrument maker, and translators. George Macartney—who had been chief secretary for Ireland and governor of Madras, among other roles, prior to this mission—was chosen as its leader because of his previous successful diplomatic experience. In September 1792 the mission departed from Portsmouth in three ships: the warship HMS Lion; the Hindostan, owned by the East India Company; and the brig Jackal. Two more ships joined this group en route to China. The Macartney Embassy was determined to showcase British achievement and wealth. British-made clocks, watches, pottery, and carriages were among the gifts on these ships intended for the Chinese emperor. The mission also carried with it commodities such as amber and ivory in hopes of increasing trade and decreasing the British trade deficit.

The Macartney Embassy’s ships reached China’s coast by June 1793, and the mission arrived in Beijing in August. The British were received by the emperor and his court in September 1793. The meeting between Macartney and the emperor was filled with misunderstandings. Macartney viewed the meeting as one in which two equal partners, Britain and China, were negotiating terms. The Qianlong emperor, by contrast, viewed Macartney’s presents as “tribute presents”: he and his court considered themselves the superior power, and Macartney and his contingent were offering gifts that expressed Britain’s submission to China. (The tributary system was the model by which China had conducted foreign relations for centuries. Tributary states to China, such as Korea, would present gifts to the emperor, and the emperor would in turn present them with gifts of his own. This system expressed the emperor’s belief that China was culturally and materially superior to all other states, and it required those who wished to trade and deal with China to come as vassals to the emperor, who was the ruler of “all under heaven.”) This clash of worldviews between the British and the Chinese was expressed most clearly in the performance of the kowtow (keitou). The kowtow, in traditional Chinese culture, was an act of supplication made by an inferior to one’s superior; the inferior person knelt three times and touched their head multiple times on the ground. Macartney was expected by his hosts to perform this act to the emperor in acknowledgment of the emperor as the “son of heaven” (tianzi) and of China as the Central Kingdom (Zhongguo). He refused to kowtow, however, and instead went down on only one knee, as he would before a British monarch.

Ultimately, the mission was, from a British perspective, a failure, as the Qing state denied all British requests to increase trade and expand political relations. In a letter, the Chinese emperor wrote to George III that “[a]s your Ambassador can see for himself, we possess all things. I set no value on objects strange or ingenious, and have no use for your country’s manufactures.” As Macartney indeed saw, the wealthy Qing court already possessed many of these “strange or ingenious” items, including clocks and lanterns, some of which had been presented to them by tributary states, other European states, and missionaries. Macartney’s mission did, however, enable the British to gain direct information about China. Previously they had relied on information from missionaries, such as the Jesuits, and from others.

After the Macartney Embassy returned to Britain in September 1794, British traders were still restricted to Canton. Growing British dissatisfaction with this arrangement combined with ongoing trade deficits and increased opium smuggling by British and other Western countries and, ultimately, led to the Opium Wars, the first of which began in 1839.