Episode 27: Coming In Arrogance: The British Macartney Embassy

By the late 1700s, the United Kingdom was by far China's largest European trade partner. Millions of tons of Tea, Porcelain, silks, and other goods came from China every year on British ships, creating vast wealth both in trade, and in taxes, for the Crown.

Despite this, relations with the Qing court remained, as ever, frosty. To remedy this a grand embassy was sent from London to Peking, in order to cement a deeper relationship (and acquire a large number of financial and territorial goals).

Despite its lofty goals, arrogance, cultural misunderstandings, and simple overreach would plague the mission, perhaps even dooming it from the start.

Supplemental Reading:
A Narrative of the British Embassy to China in the Years 1792, 1793, and 1794: Containing the Various Circumstances of the Embassy, with Accounts of Customs and Manners of the Chinese and a Description of the Country, Towns, Cities &c. &c