Person1737 – 1806
George Macartney
Also called: Earl Macartney, Lord Macartney
British diplomat who led Britain’s first embassy to China in 1792–1794 and met the Qianlong Emperor at Rehe, but was refused wider trade
Where they went
1 related event
- 1
In 1793 Britain’s Macartney embassy met the Qianlong Emperor at Rehe and asked for wider trade and a resident envoy; the emperor refused everything, declaring that the Celestial Empire “possesses all things in abundance”.
People who appear alongside
- Qianlong Emperor (Gaozong of Qing)1711 – 1799
Sixth Qing emperor (r. 1735–1796), who destroyed the Dzungars and conquered Xinjiang, giving the Qing its greatest extent, and had the Complete Library of the Four Treasuries compiled
Themes this person appears in
- Ming, Qing and Edo Japan1500 – 1800
The age when the Ming, shaken by northern raiders, southern pirates and the silver economy, fell to Li Zicheng’s rebels, and the Manchu Qing reached its greatest extent and prosperity under Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong — as Japan was unified out of the Warring States into the Edo shogunate’s bakuhan order and closed country, and Joseon, after two great wars, met its neighbours through embassies to Edo and the Northern Learning