Tonio Andrade - The Last Embassy: The Dutch Mission of 1795 and the Forgotten History of Western Encounters with China

IN 1794, the Qianlong emperor prepared to mark his sixtieth year on the throne. It was an auspicious anniversarysixty years is a complete cycle in Chinas calendarand he was a revered ruler, having shepherded the realm through a period of unprecedented prosperity and expansion. His subjects proposed a New Years extravaganza: feasts, fireworks, poetry parties, and plays. Dukes and princes and great ministers would offer congratulations. Gifts worth fortunes would be bestowed in the worlds most magnificent palaces and gardens. Among the celebrants would be exotic guests: Mongol princes, Manchu nobles, Uighur chieftains, Tibetan lamas, and Korean gentlemen. The emperor took joy in the variety of humanity. He conceived of himself as a universal monarch, his court the center of the diverse, multiethnic, and multireligious world of his time.

Although he insisted that he didnt want ostentatious festivities, he did like to be celebrated, so he was delighted to learn that a country from across the Western OceansHollandwanted to send congratulations. Europeans were among the most exotic people in the world, with their curly hair, tight pants that looked like underwear, and strange manners. The ambassadorsa Dutch scholar named Isaac Titsingh and a crafty businessman named Andreas Everardus van Braam Houckgeesthad sent a letter begging for the favor of gazing upon the imperial visage. The emperor wrote an affirmative reply: Let the ambassadors come to the capital and present themselves, to satisfy their countrys sincere feelings of admiration.

Thus the emperor set in motion one of the most intriguing episodes of East-West relations in premodern history. The little-known Dutch embassy of 1795 was the last European delegation to be received in the traditional Chinese imperial court. The next imperial-level diplomatic audiences wouldnt occur until after the Opium War of 18391842, when China was forced to sign a series of infamous Unequal Treaties.

Oddly, however, this Dutch mission has been largely forgotten. There are no book-length studies and few articles about it in any language.

How surprised I was, then, to find out not just how important the mission was in its day, but also that it left troves of documentation in Dutch, French, Spanish, Chinese, and Korean sources. As I began exploring these rich records, I discovered that the story is dramatic, with colorful characters, a harrowing voyage, and interpersonal intrigue, all set against a fascinating backdrop: China was about to erupt into rebellion, while in Europe, French armies were marching on Amsterdam. I realized it would make a compelling narrative history.

But The Last Embassy is intended as more than an immersive story. The Dutch mission of 1795 also offers new perspectives on eighteenth-century China and Sino-Western relations, helping us step decisively beyond the culture-clash narrative that still pervades our understanding both in China and the West. Thats because, in contrast to other embassies from this period, the Dutch embassy was successful. The Qianlong emperor was delighted with it, granting favors and access never extended to other European envoys. The ambassador and his bosses felt they had achieved a triumph, especially compared to what had happened to British ambassador George Macartney two years previously.

Lord Macartneys mission to China is as famous as the Dutch embassy is neglected, and it had a very different outcome. Its failure is one reason that historians came to view the history of Sino-Western diplomacy as a culture clash.

Macartney arrived in China in 1793, bringing expensive gifts, a huge cortge of artists, scientists, and musicians, and a list of bold proposals that would, he felt, help place Britain and China in a mutually beneficial relationship: two great powers working together. But the emperor and his court didnt trust Macartney, who refused to carry out the requisite kowtow bows and made extravagant requests. They were concerned because the British had a reputation as an aggressive people, who attacked and pillaged in the Western Oceans and, quite possibly, near the land borders of the Great Qing itself. They decided to dismiss Macartney early and get him out of China as soon as possible. His lordship returned to England with little to show for his efforts but a couple imperious letters to his king.

Although Macartney tried to put a brave face on it, he and others in his entourage felt humiliated. Stung by criticism in Europe, they increasingly blamed their failure on the Qing court, which they portrayed as arrogant and inflexible, blind to Britains virtues.

This negative perspective on China not only influenced the British public and British policy makers. It also influenced generations of historians, who came to see the history of Sino-Western interactions as a culture clash. According to this view, the Chinese World Order or tribute system was incompatible with the Western diplomatic system of independent states. The result, the story goes, was conflict. Europeans, frustrated that they were unable to interact with China on the basis of equality, concluded that China must be broughtforcibly if necessaryinto the Western international system, which they conceived to be the natural mode of interstate interaction. This dynamic supposedly helped lead to the bitter Sino-European conflicts of the nineteenth century: the Opium War, the Arrow War, the Sino-French War, and the Boxer Rebellion, among others. Western and Chinese scholars argued that Qing inflexibility was one of the major reasons for Chinas tumultuous and bloody nineteenth century.