A Multitude of Lords: Qing Court Ritual and the Macartney Embassy of 1793

Vol. 10, No. 2 Late Imperial ChinaDecember 1989 A MULTITUDE OF LORDS: QING COURT RITUAL AND THE MACARTNEY EMBASSY OF 1793* James L. Hevia In 1793, the 58th year of the Qianlong emperor's reign, the king of England , George III, sent an embassy to China under the direction of George Lord Macartney, for the purpose of negotiating alterations in the condition of relations between Great Britain and the Qing empire. On September 14, 1793, Lord Macartney was received in audience at Rehe by the emperor in a round tent that had been set up in the Garden of Tenthousand Trees. Macartney, carrying a jewel-encrusted gold box containing a message from his king, entered the tent where the emperor sat on a raised platform. He proceeded up a side stairway (probably on the east) and went directly before the emperor. Kneeling down on one knee, Macartney passed the box into the hands of the emperor, stood up, and retreated to the left (east) side of the tent where he and his retinue were seated for a banquet. ' * I wish to express appreciation to Angela Zito for many stimulating comments and to Charlotte Fürth whose editing and suggestions were always extremely helpful. Finally, special thanks go to Judith Farquhar who read and commented tirelessly on numerous versions of this manuscript. 1 This description is taken from Macartney's journal in Cranmer-Byng, ed. 1962:122-123. In his account of the embassy, the vice-ambassador, Sir George Staunton, 1797, 2:231-232 and 1978, 3:37-39 made the following observation: This mode of reception of the representative of the King of Great Britain, was considered by the Chinese court, as particularly honourable and distinguished: Embassadors being seldom received by the Emperor on his throne,or their credentials delivered into his own hands, but into that of one of his courtiers. These distinctions, so little material in themselves , were however understood by this refined people as significant of a change of opinions of their government in respect to the English; and made favourable impressions upon their minds. Anderson 1796:219-221, was present at Rehe but does not mention the ceremony. Barrow 1804:1 17-118 was at the Yuanming yuan while Macartney was in Rehe; he notes that a great uproar occurred there, especially among Western missionaries, when word arrived that Macartney had not kotowed. Pritchard 1943:190 notes that Chinese sources in the Palace archives indicate that the particulars of an English ceremony were presented to the emperor prior to the audience. The Qing shi gao [Draft History of the Qing Dynasty] Beijing 1928, "Li zhi" [Annals of Rites], Juan 10:4a-b adds that a special edict was issued allowing the Western ceremony. Neither of these originals have been examined by contemporary scholars. The Libu zeli [Precedents of the Board of Rites], Beijing 1820, juan 180:10a notes that the British ambassador knelt (gui) in delivering his king's message, but does not mention him either passing it into the emperor's hands or that he was in front of the emperor. Late Imperial China 10, No. 2 (December 1989):72-105 e by the Society for Qing Studies 72 A Multitude ofLords: Qing Court Ritual and the Macartney Embassy of179373 The particulars of the Macartney audience outlined here have long been interpreted as a pivotal moment in relations between imperial China and the West. Crystallized in Macartney's simple act of kneeling upon one knee, rather than kotowing, is a whole history of the struggle between modern diplomatic practices and Chinese "isolation" and "sense of cultural superiority." As such, Macartney's mission has been interpreted as a failure, since it left the "tribute system" intact. But it also has signified a challenge, beginning a process that eventually toppled the "tribute system," a mode of subjection that has been seen as the very essence of the Sinocentric character of "traditional" Chinese foreign relations. These assumptions are challenged by a closer look at the ritual context of the mission itself. While Macartney's account and imperial court records about the audience of 1793 corroborate each other on many points, the form the audience took was from the...