An Authentic Account of an Embassy from the King of Great Britain to the Emperor of China
Taken Chiefly from the Papers of His Excellency the Earl of Macartney

A two-volume account of Britain's 1792 diplomatic mission to China, published in 1797 by a member of the delegation.

George Staunton (Author)

9781108045605, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 10 May 2012

562 pages, 7 b/w illus.
29.7 x 21 x 2.9 cm, 1.33 kg

George Leonard Staunton (1737–1801) arrived in China in 1792 as a member of a British delegation whose objective was to improve trade and establish better diplomatic relations with the Chinese, who, at the time, restricted economic activity with foreigners to the port of Canton (Guangzhou). Although the group managed to secure an audience with the Qianlong Emperor - to whom the British envoy Lord Macartney famously refused to kowtow - their mission failed. Staunton kept detailed notes throughout his time in China, and in 1797 this two-volume account of the visit was published, and later translated into French and German. Volume 1 begins with a historical account of China's diplomatic relations with Britain and other nations, and then discusses the extensive preparations for the delegation's voyage, and the long journey itself, which took them round the Cape of Good Hope and through South-East Asia before arriving in China nine months later.

1. Occasion of the embassy
2. Preparations for the embassy
3. Passage to Madeira. Notices of that island
4. Passage to Teneriffe
to St Jago. Notices of those islands
5. Passage of the line. Course across the Atlantic. Harbour, city, and country of Rio de Janeiro
6. Passage to the southern part of the Atlantic, and of the Indian, Ocean. View of the Islands of Tristan d'Acunha in the former, and those of St Paul and Amsterdam in the latter
7. Entrance into the Straits of Sunda. Visit to Batavia and Bantam in the Island of Java. View of the southern extremity of the Island of Sumatra. Passage through the Straits of Banka to Pulo-Condore
8. Cochin-China
9. Passage to the Ladrone Islands near Macao
and thence to Chu-San. Transactions and observations there
10. Navigation through the Yellow Sea. Embassador's entrance into the River leading to Tien-sing.

Subject Areas: Asian history [HBJF]