Anglo-Chinese Encounters Before the Opium War: A Tale of Two Empires Over Two Centuries

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Anglo-Chinese Encounters Before the Opium War: A Tale of Two Empires Over Two Centuries studies the fascinating encounters between the two historic empires from Queen Elizabeth I’s first letter to the Ming Emperor Wanli in 1583, to Lord Palmerston’s letter to the Minister of China in 1840. Starting with Queen Elizabeth I’s letter to the Chinese Emperor and ending with the letter from Lord Palmerston to the Minister of China just before the Opium War, this book explores the long journey in between from cultural diplomacy to gunboat diplomacy. It interweaves the most known diplomatic efforts at the official level with the much unknown intellectual interactions at the people-to-people level, from missionaries to scholars, from merchants to travelers and from artists to scientists. This book adopts a novel "mirror" approach by pairing and comparing people, texts, commodities, artworks, architecture, ideologies, operating systems and world views of the two empires. Using letters, gifts and traded goods as fulcrums, and by adopting these unique lenses, it puts China into the world history narratives to contextualise Anglo-Chinese relations, thus providing a fresh analysis of the surviving evidence. Xin Liu casts a new light on understanding the Sino-centric and Anglo-centric world views in driving the complex relations between the two empires, and the reversals of power shifts that are still unfolding today. The book is not intended for specialists in history, but a general audience wishing to learn more about China’s historical engagement with the world. Cover Half Title Series Page Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Contents Illustrations Acknowledgements Introduction: 1583-1840, from cultural diplomacy to gunboat diplomacy 0.1 The old tale and a new narrative 0.2 Structure of the book Notes References 1. Where the tale of the two empires began 1.1 Once upon a time, a British monarch wrote a letter to a Chinese emperor 1.2 The incomprehensible letters 1.3 European sceptre vs. Chinese dragon Notes References 2. The Tributary System and the first Anglo-Chinese encounters 2.1 The Tributary System and its implications on China's foreign relations 2.2 Ming China: Seen, presented and influenced by Westerners 2.3 The Sino-speak vocabulary of outsiders and foreigners 2.4 Exchange ideas, goods or fire? Notes References 3. The earliest Chinese travellers to the Far West 3.1 Shen Fuzong and Thomas Hyde: The first exchanges of a learned nature 3.2 Loum Kiqua and William Hickey: The first taste of Chinese music and Chinese food 3.3 Tan Che-Qua and William Chambers: The first Chinese artistic legacy that can still be seen in the UK today 3.4 Huang Yadong and William Jones: The first English letter exchanged between the two peoples 3.5 The first Chinese travellers who wrote about Europe and Britain Notes References 4. Chinoiserie vs. Euroiserie: Mutual reflections of material culture and perception gaps 4.1 The seemingly Yin-Yang flow between the two empires in material culture 4.2 China's Yuanming Yuan and Britain's Kew Garden and Brighton Palace 4.3 The British perception of Qing China and the perception gap to the real Qing 4.4 The Chinese perception of the British Empire and the perception gap to the real British Notes References 5. When the lion meets the dragon: Lost in translation or beyond translation? 5.1 Tributary System Vs. Westphalian System: Mission impossible for the Macartney Embassy to China 5.2 Gift or tribute: Two words, two worlds 5.3 To kowtow or not to kowtow, that is the question 5.4 Letters, letters 5.5 Change of the mutual perceptions between the two empires Notes References 6. The Amherst Embassy to China, an insurmountable generation gap between the two empires 6.1 The negative assets from the Macartney Embassy 6.2 To kowtow or not to kowtow, was this still the question? 6.3 The Minion culture in the Qing court 6.4 Redrawing Self and Other: New knowledge produced by the Amherst Embassy Notes References 7. From the Tea War to the Opium War 7.1 The story of tea and opium 7.2 The rhetoric war and trade war 7.3 The opium debates 7.4 Falling into the Thucydides Trap? 7.5 Postscript Notes References Conclusion: The two great reversals - Historical implications on the modern-day interactions between a post-Brexit UK and a globalising China Notes References Appendix 1. Queen Elizabeth I's 1583 letter to the Ming Emperor Wanli, discussed in Chapter 1 Original Sixteenth Century Text Translation into modern English Notes Translation into Chinese Appendix 2. Queen Elizabeth I's 1596 letter to the Ming Emperor Wanli, discussed in Chapter 1 Original Sixteenth Century Text Translation into modern English Notes Translation into Chinese Appendix 3. Queen Elizabeth I's 1602 letter to the Ming Emperor Wanli, discussed in Chapter 1 The original Mediaeval English text Source: Lancashire Archives Translation into modern English provided by the Lancashire Achieves is included in Chapter 1 Translation into Chinese Appendix 4. King George III's letter to the Qianlong Emperor, 1792, discussed in Chapter 5 English original Appendix 5. The Qianlong Emperor's Letter to King George III, 1793, discussed in Chapter 5 English translation version 1 English translation version 2 Appendix 6. The Qianlong Emperor's last letter to King George III, 1796, discussed in Chapter 5 English translation Appendix 7. The Jiaqing Emperor's Imperial Mandate to the King of England, 1816, discussed in Chapter 6 English translation Appendix 8. The Jiaqing Emperor's Imperial Decree issued following the departure of the Amhurst Embassy, 1816, discussed in Chapter 6 English translation Appendix 9. Lin Zexu's letter to Queen Victoria, 1839, discussed in Chapter 7 English Translation version 1 Appendix 10. Letter from Lord Palmerston to the Minister of the Emperor of China, 1840, discussed in Chapter 7 English Original Index