Historical Interpretations On Lord Macartney’s Embassy To China In West

Lord Macartney’s embassy to China was a major diplomatic activity in the reign of Emperor Qianlong and also an official mission for the first time.The knowledge and understanding of the ancient oriental country in UK had been deepened since this visit.However, Qing Dynasty would be forced to compromise in the face of western advanced cannons and warships in less than half a century.Thus,many western historians have done a lot of research based on the background,motivation and its impact of failure of this incident in multiple dimensions.In contrast,most of the domestic scholars held the attitude not to be skeptical and relevant monographs were limited and confined to a theoretical framework.This article will help to increase the understanding of the incident by way of analyzing and combing the western historical interpretations,which will also offer important lessons for historians in China.The article is divided into four chapters.Chapter one discusses the socioeconomic situation in China and the United Kingdom in the late18th century generally and describes the historical background of Macartney’s embassy to China.The preliminary understanding through travel,missionaries and other informal means acquired by the West before the visit were also introduced. The mission started a comprehensive study under the very influence of this early image of China.Based on the literature data,section two will make some rough description about the process and analyze the focus of contradictions——"etiquette" in respect of the two sides in order to highlight the differences and conflicts of each other’s cognitive.Finally,the article attempts to reveal the envoy in the eyes of the group members through raw materials such as diaries and documentary files,and then summarizes their intuitive experience responses.The understanding of Qing Dynasty was deepen by the members’ observation and actual contact and those people who involved in this journey began to construct a new identity cognitive. Chapter two mainly discusses the western interpretations in the framework of modernism.The historical interpretations of the incident has become relatively systematic since the tributary system was put forward by Fairbank.This unique mode of foreign relations blends of structure-function system theory and western social science research method.Macartney’s embassy to China has been described as the first positive impact of the West to the traditional order in Qing Empire,which covers political,economic,cultural and other aspects.In essence,it was a dispute between "tradition and modernity".In this context,the western studies were deepened.Under its influence,Peyrefitte had the western interpretations be fully established among the models of "impact-response" and "tradition and modernity". As he emphasized repeatedly,this mission reflected that an advanced society suffered a traditional society and failed ultimately,due to the cultural spirit and structure unable to pass through. Section three mainly explores the intrinsic correlation between the two explanations and the significance of the Western’s shaping the image of "the other".To sum up,in the context of modernization,the historical interpretations are filled with strong ideological color.On the basis of criticizing "western centrism",Chapter three firstly thinks about the transformation of research perspective brought out by Cohen.He came up with the idea of "China Center" and stressed the importance to re-evaluate the Qing Dynasty mode.Finally,this approach helps us to cut into Hevia’s postmodernism interpretation.As the most representative work of postmodern style studying Lord Macartney’s embassy to China,"Cherishing Men From Afar" is the focus of this chapter.Hevia presented a brand new concept of "Multiple Master System" and explored its relationship with "Guest".Eventually,from a postmodern perspective he found a different approach to give his explanation.However,like the previous theories,it also exists some kind of loopholes and defects which make him to be blamed.Each era’s historical interpretation differs due to the accumulation of knowledge and the transition of the understanding.The academic community has been seeking to give a more reasonable explanation. There are many reasons why western historical interpretations on Macartney’s embassy show a hierarchical and diversified trend.The fourth chapter discusses a few of these,including the extension of the raw material,the steering of epistemology and the introduction of interdisciplinary research methods. All of them play a significant role in the evolution of this theory.