Embassies to China : Diplomacy and Cultural Encounters Before the Opium Wars PDF
Preview Embassies to China : Diplomacy and Cultural Encounters Before the Opium Wars
Embassies to China MichaelKeevak Embassies to China Diplomacy and Cultural Encounters Before the Opium Wars MichaelKeevak NationalTaiwanUniversity Taipei,Taiwan ISBN978-981-10-3971-3 ISBN978-981-10-3972-0(eBook) DOI10.1007/978-981-10-3972-0 LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2017939130 ©TheEditor(s)(ifapplicable)andTheAuthor(s)2017 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher,whetherthewholeorpartofthematerialisconcerned,specificallytherightsof translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval,electronicadaptation,computersoftware,orbysimilarordissimilarmethodology nowknownorhereafterdeveloped. Theuseofgeneraldescriptivenames,registerednames,trademarks,servicemarks,etc.inthis publicationdoesnotimply,evenintheabsenceofaspecificstatement,thatsuchnamesare exemptfromtherelevantprotectivelawsandregulationsandthereforefreeforgeneraluse. Thepublisher,theauthorsandtheeditorsaresafetoassumethattheadviceandinformation in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publishernortheauthorsortheeditorsgiveawarranty,expressorimplied,withrespectto thematerialcontainedhereinorforanyerrorsoromissionsthatmayhavebeenmade.The publisherre-mainsneutralwithregardtojurisdictionalclaimsinpublishedmapsandinstitu- tionalaffiliations. Cover illustration: The emperor of China, frontispiece (detail), Johannes Nieuhof, Het gezantschap der Neerlandtsche Oost-Indische Compagnie, aan den grooten Tartarischen Cham,dentegenwoordigenkeizervanChina(1665).NationalTaiwanUniversityLibrary. Printedonacid-freepaper ThisPalgraveMacmillanimprintispublishedbySpringerNature TheregisteredcompanyisSpringerNatureSingaporePteLtd. Theregisteredcompanyaddressis:152BeachRoad,#21-01/04GatewayEast,Singapore 189721,Singapore A CKNOWLEDGMENTS My greatest debt continues to be to the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) in Taiwan, which has generously funded the research for this book. I have also been helped enormously by excellent researchassistants,includingJui-anChou,LylaXuanHuang,DianaChin, Yi-Wen Wang, Marcus Sim, Kwan Yin Lui, and above all C.J. Sheu, who hasalsoprovidedtheindex.Ialsooweacontinuingdebttotheexcellent staff atthe NationalTaiwan University Library. Ralf Hertel, now at the University of Trier, deserves special thanks for having invited me to the University of Hamburg for a semester in spring 2014,whereweheldasplendidconferenceonfailedencountersatwhichI had a chance to present a version of Chapter 3. An earlier version of Chapter 4 was read for the Amsterdam Centre for the Study of the Golden Age at the University of Amsterdam; thanks to Thijs Weststeijn, nowof the University ofUtrecht, forhiskind invitation. Finally, Emily Sun, Jude Wheway, Brandy Alvarez, and Kirill Thompsonhaveallbeenexcellentfriends.Whatcouldbebetterthanthat? v C ONTENTS 1 Introduction 1 2 Making“Peace”with theEast 13 3 Portugal and“Empire” 39 4 Hollandand“Trade” 65 5 ThePope’s“Religion” 91 6 Russiaand“Diplomacy” 119 7 Epilogue 143 Index 159 vii L F IST OF IGURES Fig.2.1 Güyük’sletter,PaulPelliot,“LesMongolsetlapapauté.” 16 Fig.3.1 PadrãodeSantoAgostinho,LucianoCordeiro,Descobertas edescobridores. 47 Fig.3.2 NicolasdeCanerio,mapofAsia,E.G.Ravenstein,“The VoyagesofDiogoCãoandBartholomeuDias.” 49 Fig.3.3 MapofMalacca,AfonsodeAlbuquerque,Commentaries. 50 Fig.4.1 Titlepage,JohannesNieuhof,Hetgezantschapder NeerlandtscheOost-IndischeCompagnie,aandengrooten TartarischenCham,dentegenwoordigenkeizervanChina. 70 Fig.4.2 Titlepage,GabrieldeMagalhães,“ANarrativeoftheSuccess ofanEmbassagesentbyJohnMaatzuykerdeBadem,General ofBatavia,untotheEmperourofChina&Tartary.” 76 Fig.5.1 Titlepage,Attiimperialiautenticidivaritrattatipassati nellaregiacortediPekinotral’imperatoredellaCina e...CardinalediTournon. 97 Fig.5.2 Titlepage,Brevisrelatioeoru[m],quaespectantaddeclara- tionemsinaru[m]imperatorisKamHi. 102 Fig.5.3 TheRedManifesto. 107 Fig.6.1 Titlepage,Tulišen,NarrativeoftheChineseEmbassytothe KhanoftheTourgouthTartarsintheYears1712,13,14,& 15. 127 Fig.6.2 Titlepage,LorenzLange,Journaldelaresidencedusieur Lange,agentdesaMajestéImperialedelaGrandeRussieàla courdelaChine. 129 Fig.7.1 Titlepage,MichaelBoym,Briefverelationdelanotable conversiondespersonnesroyales,&del’estatdelareligion chrestienneenlaChine. 146 ix x LISTOFFIGURES Fig.7.2 Titlepage,JoachimBouvet,Portraithistoriquedel’empereur delaChine. 148 Fig.7.3 Folio64,JoachimBouvet,“MémoiredeR.P.—–,envoyépar l’empereurdelaChineenFrance.” 150 CHAPTER1 Introduction Embassies and Failures Inthethree-and-a-halfcenturiesbeforetheOpiumWarschangedsomany things about China’s relationship with the West, European governments sentregularembassiestotheMiddleKingdom,hopingtotakeadvantageof its inexhaustible wealth and its seemingly unlimited supply of people and resources.TheWesternerscametoChinawithmanyrequests,mostlycon- cerning commerce but also including aspirations about colonial expansion and the spread of their religious and other cultural norms. The embassies were very carefully prepared and often consisted of large international entourages (sometimes a hundred men or more), replete with secretaries, officers, scientists, artists, physicians, navigators, interpreters, soldiers, and assistantswithawidevarietyoffunctions.IftheyoriginatedinEuroperather than in one of their trading centers somewhere on the way to China, the embassiestraveledonlonganddangerousvoyagesforuptooneyearover water,aroundthesoutherntipofAfricaandontoIndia,thenthroughthe SingaporestraitsandintotheSouthChinaSea,wheretheygenerallymade landfallatMacao,whichfromthemiddleofthesixteenthcenturywasunder Portuguesecontrol.(EventheRussians,whodidnothavetocrossthesea, traveled mainly by river on an arduous journey that occupied some six months.)Theambassadorswereissueddetailedinstructionsaswellasletters ofintroductionandotherkindsofcredentialsfromtheirrespectiveleaders, and the entire proceeding was full of formalities and protocols that corre- sponded to a complex set of rules governing trade, diplomacy, and the processofnegotiationwithforeignlands. ©TheAuthor(s)2017 1 M.Keevak,EmbassiestoChina, DOI10.1007/978-981-10-3972-0_1 2 1 INTRODUCTION Yet what the Westerners soon discovered wasthat China’s ideas about internationalrelationswerejustascomplicatedandfulloftraditionastheir own,andthatinsomanyrespectsthetwosystemsseemedtobeindirect conflict.Europeansthoughtofthemselvesastheheightofcivilizationand the bearers of the one true religion, but they also professed notions of mutualitythatincludedagreements,signedcontracts,andtheruleoflaw. The Chinese, however, assumed an equally haughty self-conception that placedthemselvesatthecenteroftheworldandrenderedeveryoneelsea barbarian outsider. Yet theirs was also a system in which mutuality was impossible, because foreigners were expected to gravitate toward the superiority of Chinese civilization and to pay tribute to the emperor by becoming his symbolic vassal – via carefully worded letters, meticulous ceremonies andgenuflections, andthe presentationofnative gifts. AsfarasChinawasconcerned,inotherwords,foreignambassadorswere subservienttributebearers,notreciprocalenvoys,andsolongasbothsides maintained their respective positions, one might wonder how they could evergetbeyondarestatementofsuchapparentlyirreconcilabledifferences. Wewillseeinthisbook,however,thatthiswasnotsimplyaclashofcultures in which the two sides could only speak at cross purposes. For in each of theseencounters,ChinamanagedtoforceitspointofviewupontheWest farmorethantheotherwayaround.TheWesterners’requestswereinvari- ablydenied,andthevisitorswerealsorequiredtoundergoalongprocessof educationinordertolearnhowtobehaveastribute-bearingnations,which wastheonlywaythey could berecognized at all.Trade mightbepossible but onvery limited terms only. Foreign missionaries mightbetolerated as well,buttheycouldbeexpelledatanytimeandwereunderconstantthreat. Andanysortofpermanentpresence,intheformofacommercialcenterora colonialoutpost,wasnotevenconsidered. Admittedly, there were some exceptions to this rule. A small group of Western missionaries was allowed to remain in the capital and to become theemperor’spersonalconsultantsonmattersrangingfromastronomyto translation. Macao also became a long-term base of operations for the Portuguese, although many details about its early days remain obscure. Other local or illicit trade was certainly carried on as well, although our knowledge about this is even more hazy since the arrangements were rarely recorded. The biggest exception, finally, was Russia, since the tsar was permitted numerous embassies, frequent trading caravans, and a permanent ecclesiastical mission in Beijing all by the end of the seven- teenth century.
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