DISSERTAÇÃO Débora Lopes Do Rêgo.Pdf

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

DISSERTAÇÃO Débora Lopes Do Rêgo.Pdf UNIVERSIDADE FEDERAL DE PERNAMBUCO CENTRO DE FILOSOFIA E CIÊNCIAS HUMANAS DEPARTAMENTO DE HISTÓRIA PROGRAMA DE PÓS-GRADUAÇÃO EM HISTÓRIA DÉBORA LOPES DO RÊGO “OCIDENTAIS A SERVIÇO DO IMPERADOR”: requisitando missionários para a corte em Beijing, 1781-1785 Recife 2019 DÉBORA LOPES DO RÊGO “OCIDENTAIS A SERVIÇO DO IMPERADOR”: requisitando missionários para a corte em Beijing, 1781-1785 Dissertação apresentada ao Programa de Pós- Graduação em História da Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, como requisito parcial para obtenção do título de Mestre em História. Área de Concentração: Orientadora: Profa Dra Christine Dabat Recife 2019 Catalogação na fonte Bibliotecária Maria do Carmo de Paiva, CRB4-1291 R343o Rêgo, Débora Lopes do. “Ocidentais a serviço do Imperador” : requisitando missionários para a corte em Beijing, 1781-1785 / Débora Lopes do Rêgo. – 2019. 137 f. : il. ; 30 cm. Orientadora: Profª. Drª. Christine Paulette Yves Rufino Dabat. Dissertação (Mestrado) - Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, CFCH. Programa de Pós-Graduação em História, Recife, 2019. Inclui referências. 1. China - História. 2. China – História – Dinastia Qing, 1644-1912. 3. Macau (China). 4. China – Relações exteriores – Portugal. 5. Portugal – Relações exteriores – China. I. Dabat, Christine Paulette Yves Rufino (Orientadora). II. Título. 951 CDD (22. ed.) UFPE (BCFCH2020-287) DÉBORA LOPES DO RÊGO “OCIDENTAIS A SERVIÇO DO IMPERADOR”: requisitando missionários para a corte em Beijing, 1781-1785 Dissertação apresentada ao Programa de Pós- Graduação em História da Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, como requisito parcial para obtenção do título de Mestre em História. Recife, 10 de Julho de 2019 BANCA EXAMINADORA ________________________________________________ Profa. Dra. Christine Paulette Yves Rufino Dabat Orientadora (Universidade Federal de Pernambuco - UFPE) ________________________________________________ Prof. Dr. Jorge Manuel dos Santos Alves Membro Titular Externo (Universidade Católica de Lisboa - FCH-Católica) ________________________________________________ Prof. Dr. Marcos Ferreira da Costa Lima Membro Titular Externo (Universidade Federal de Pernambuco - UFPE) ________________________________________________ Prof. Dr. José Maria Gomes de Souza Neto Membro Titular Externo (Universidade de Pernambuco - UPE) AGRADECIMENTOS Um número imenso de pessoas deveria aparecer nesta sessão, mas, em nome da objetividade, farei um esforço para colocar da maneira mais concisa possível. Agradeço, primeiramente, a minha família, por me ensinarem que sucesso e excelência vêm quando realizamos nossas atividades com paixão e dedicação. Por me ensinarem nenhum trabalho é completamente prazeroso, mas que as partes difíceis são essenciais para fazer a experiência valer a pena. Aos meus amigos, que foram muito pacientes ao longo desses dois anos. E que apesar dos meus sumiços, ignoradas e, de forma geral, completo desaparecimento da vida social continuam do meu lado. Me apoiando a cada passo. Comemorando cada vitória e me consolando nos momentos desafiadores. Aos meus colegas do mestrado, que me inspiraram e me encheram de motivação durante este percurso. Vocês são verdadeiros guerreiros acadêmicos. A Felipe. Que ouviu com paciência (repetidas vezes) sobre os temas aqui tratados, mesmo que não entendesse nada do que estava sendo dito. Ele quem aguentou as noites sem dormir, as crises de ansiedade e as (metafóricas) lágrimas de desespero quando eu achava que a conclusão não seria mais possível. Por fim e mais importante, à professora, doutora, mãe acadêmica e guia para a vida, Christine Dabat. Sem ela nada disto seria possível e este trabalho não existiria. Sua luta pelo nosso direito de pesquisar aquilo que amamos, incansável em seus esforços de criar caminhos, possibilidades e oportunidades são uma verdadeira inspiração que seguirá comigo para toda a vida. Sua força, dedicação e perseverança me motivaram a cada passo desta parceria que já dura seis anos. Acima de tudo, sua inabalável crença no meu potencial fez com que eu acreditasse em mim mesma. Sou eternamente grata. “Pode ser, ó Rei, que as propostas acima tenham sido feitas pelo seu Embaixador, descontroladamente, por sua própria responsabilidade, ou talvez tu mesmo sejas ignorante de nossas regulações dinásticas e não tinha nenhuma intenção de transgredi-las quando expressou estas ideias e esperanças selvagens. Eu tenho sempre mostrado a maior condescendência para com as missões tributárias de todos os Estados que sinceramente desejam as bençãos da Civilização, de modo a manifestar a minha gentil indulgência.” (Imperador Qianlong, setembro de 1793) RESUMO No final só século XVIII, a corte do Imperador chinês Qianlong (1736-1795) fez uma requisição à Corte Portuguesa: que enviasse um novo padre jesuíta para que este pudesse substituir o anterior Bispo de Beijing que havia morrido e deixado vago uma posição de matemático na corte chinesa. O banimento da Companhia de Jesus pelo Papa Clemente XIV, em 1773, fez impossível o envio de um jesuíta. A Coroa Portuguesa, no entanto, não demorou em nomear um novo Bispo português para a diocese em Beijing. Em 1783, D. Frei Alexandre de Gouveia partiu de Lisboa carregando consigo uma série de Providências que deveria tomar ao chegar em território Chinês. Três diferentes setores deveriam ser abordados: a administração do assentamento português em Macau, as autoridades chinesas locais e, uma vez em Beijing, os funcionários da corte Imperial. Esperava-se também que o novo Bispo fosse um representante do império e dos interesses portugueses junto ao Imperador Qianlong. Apenas uma parte das instruções - aquelas destinadas à Macau - foram executadas com sucesso. É de central interesse e relevância para este estudo os motivos que levaram ao fracasso das Providências direcionadas às autoridades chinesas. O encontro entre as duas realidades nos ajuda a perceber como que, ainda que encontrassem pontos de interesse comum, ambos os impérios tinham expectativas e perspectivas muito diversas sobre a presença missionária em Beijing. Palavras-chave: História da China. Macau. Relações internacionais. Dinastia Qing. História global. Portugal. ABSTRACT On the of the eve of Nineteenth century, the court of the Qianlong Emperor (1736- 1795) requested for the Portuguese court to send a new Jesuit priest, in order to replace the deceased Bishop of Beijing, and fill in a vacant position as court mathematician. The termination of the Company of Jesus by Pope Clement XIV in 1773 made it impossible to send a Jesuit. Portugal, nevertheless, wasted no time in nominating a new Portuguese Bishop for the Beijing diocese. In 1783, D. Frei Alexandre de Gouveia departed the city of Lisbon carrying with him a series of instructions from the Crown to be executed as soon as he settled in Chinese territory. There were three different sectors in which the instructions ought to be implemented: in the Portuguese settlement of Macao, the local Chinese authorities, and, once in Beijing, the mandarins in the imperial court. It was also expected from the new Bishop that he would act as Portugal’s direct envoy and ambassador in the Chinese court. Only one part of the instructions - the ones destinated to Macao - were successfully enforced. It is of central interest and relevance to this study the reasons that led to the instructions destinated to the Chinese authorities to fail. The contact point between both realities allows us to perceive that although both empires could find common places in their relations both parties had diverging expectations and perspectives about the missionary presence in Beijing. Keywords: Chinese history. Macao. International relations. Qing dynasty. Global history. Portugal. LISTA DE MAPAS Mapa 1 - Rota do Galeão de Manila.................................................................................11 Mapa 2 - Os limites da China Qing, seus vizinhos, sua máxima expansão e os limites da China atual.........................................................................................................33 Mapa 3 - Localização da província de Liaodong na China atual......................................35 Mapa 4 - Península de Macau e a Casa Branca................................................................49 Mapa 5 - Rotas que ligavam a Europa à China através das quais os missionários viajavam ao Império do Meio............................................................................55 Mapa 6 - Mapa Múndi de Matteo Ricci em Beijing, 1602. .............................................63 Mapa 7 - Mapa da província de Guangdong, criado durante o reinado do imperador Kangxi, 1708-1718............................................................................................64 Mapa 8 - Nordeste e Sudeste Asiático. A grosso modo, corresponderiam às regiões da Tianxia...............................................................................................................79 Mapa 9 - Song do Norte em 1111, cercado por dinastias de origem não-han..................81 Mapa 10 - Província de Fujian (Fukien). Em detalhe, Macau e Guangzhou......................87 Mapa 11 - Detalhe da península de Macau e a porta do cerco, cortando de um lado a outro do estreito que separava a cidade do resto do império...............................................................................................................98 Mapa 12 - As rotas comerciais do Mundo Ibérico, em 1600............................................100 Mapa 13 - O Delta do Rio das Pérolas, em detalhes.........................................................101
Recommended publications
  • Houqua and His China Trade Partners in the Nineteenth Century
    Global Positioning: Houqua and His China Trade Partners in the Nineteenth Century The Harvard community has made this article openly available. Please share how this access benefits you. Your story matters Citation Wong, John. 2012. Global Positioning: Houqua and His China Trade Partners in the Nineteenth Century. Doctoral dissertation, Harvard University. Citable link http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:9282867 Terms of Use This article was downloaded from Harvard University’s DASH repository, and is made available under the terms and conditions applicable to Other Posted Material, as set forth at http:// nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:dash.current.terms-of- use#LAA © 2012 – John D. Wong All rights reserved. Professor Michael Szonyi John D. Wong Global Positioning: Houqua and his China Trade Partners in the Nineteenth Century Abstract This study unearths the lost world of early-nineteenth-century Canton. Known today as Guangzhou, this Chinese city witnessed the economic dynamism of global commerce until the demise of the Canton System in 1842. Records of its commercial vitality and global interactions faded only because we have allowed our image of old Canton to be clouded by China’s weakness beginning in the mid-1800s. By reviving this story of economic vibrancy, I restore the historical contingency at the juncture at which global commercial equilibrium unraveled with the collapse of the Canton system, and reshape our understanding of China’s subsequent economic experience. I explore this story of the China trade that helped shape the modern world through the lens of a single prominent merchant house and its leading figure, Wu Bingjian, known to the West by his trading name of Houqua.
    [Show full text]
  • Imperial China and the Silk Roads: Travels, Flows, and Trade
    Anno 2 | Numero 2 (marzo 2019) www.viaggiatorijournal.com Viaggiatori. Circolazioni scambi ed esilio 4 Imperial China and the Silk Roads: travels, flows, and trade a cura di Filippo Costantini www.viaggiatorijournal.com Direttore scientifico Fabio D’Angelo - [email protected] ISSN 2532-7623 (online) – ISSN 2532-7364 (stampa) VIAGGIATORI. CIRCOLAZIONI SCAMBI ED ESILIO www.viaggiatorijournal.com Direttore della rivista: Fabio D’Angelo [email protected] Vicedirettore: Pierre-Marie Delpu [email protected] Segreteria di redazione: Luisa Auzino [email protected] Luogo di pubblicazione: Napoli, Via Nazionale 33, 80143 Periodicità: semestrale (settembre/marzo) ___________________________ Direttore della pubblicazione/Editore: Fabio D’Angelo ISSN 2532-7623 (online) ISSN 2532-7364 (stampa) Pubblicazione: Anno 2, Numero 2, 27 marzo 2019 Deposito legale:____________________________ Comitato scientifico: Mateos Abdon, Anne-Laure Amilhat Szary, Sarah Badcock, Geneviève Bührer-Thierry, Pierre-Yves Beaurepaire Gilles Bertrand, Agostino Bistarelli, Hélène Blais, Alfredo Buccaro, Catherine Brice, François Brizay, Albrecht Burkardt, Giulia Delogu, Santi Fedele, Rivka Feldhay, Marco Fincardi, Jorge Flores, Myriam Houssay-Holzschuch, Mario Infelise, Maurizio Isabella, Rita Mazzei, Rolando Minuti, Sarga Moussa, Dhruv Raina, Sandra Rebok, Fiammetta Sabba, Isabelle Sacareau, Lorenzo Scillitani, Mikhail Talalay, Anna Tylusińska- Kowalska, Ezio Vaccari, Sylvain Venayre, Éric Vial. Comitato di lettura: Irini
    [Show full text]
  • Download File
    Joints of Utility, Crafts of Knowledge: The Material Culture of the Sino-British Furniture Trade during the Long Eighteenth Century Kyoungjin Bae Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 2016 © 2016 Kyoungjin Bae All rights reserved ABSTRACT Joints of Utility, Crafts of Knowledge: The Material Culture of the Sino-British Furniture Trade during the Long Eighteenth Century Kyoungjin Bae This dissertation examines the material culture of the Sino-British furniture trade in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. In the beginning of the eighteenth century, the British East India Company (EIC) began importing a large quantity of furniture made in Canton (Guangzhou), China. As the trade between Britain and China became standardized around 1720, this furniture became a part of the private trade carried out by merchants associated with Company. Unlike other objects of the China trade that fed into the vogue of chinoiserie, export furniture crafted with hardwoods from the Indian Ocean was produced in European designs of the time and thus was often indistinguishable from its Western counterparts. What cultural and economic values did export furniture represent in the early modern maritime trade and how did it reify the trans-regional movement of knowledge and taste between China and Britain? Going beyond the conventional perspective on export Chinese objects oriented toward European reception, I connect production with consumption in order to follow the trajectory of export furniture from its origins in the intra-Asian timber trade to its requisition and manufacture in Canton to its reception and use in both Britain and China, highlighting how this process linked the disparate spheres of commerce, knowledge production and distribution, and cultural practices.
    [Show full text]
  • The Chinese Cornerstone of Modern Banking Legal History Library
    The Chinese Cornerstone of Modern Banking Legal History Library Volume 14 Studies in the History of Private Law Series Editors C.H. (Remco) van Rhee (Maastricht University) Dirk Heirbaut (University of Ghent) Matthew C. Mirow (Florida International University) Editorial Board Hamilton Bryson, University of Richmond – Thomas P. Gallanis, University of Iowa – James Gordley, Tulane University – Richard Helmholz, University of Chicago – Michael Hoeflich, University of Kansas – Neil Jones, University of Cambridge – Hector MacQueen, University of Edinburgh – Paul Oberhammer, University of Zurich – Marko Petrak, University of Zagreb – Jacques du Plessis, University of Stellenbosch – Mathias Reimann, University of Michigan – Jan M. Smits, University of Tilburg – Alain Wijffels, Université Catholique de Louvain, University of Leiden, CNRS – Reinhard Zimmermann, Max-Planck-Institut für ausländisches und internationales Privatrecht, Hamburg VOLUME 6 The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/shpl The Chinese Cornerstone of Modern Banking The Canton Guaranty System and the Origins of Bank Deposit Insurance 1780–1933 By Frederic Delano Grant, Jr. LEIDEN | BOSTON Cover Illustration: Howqua II (Wu Bingjian), 1769-1843. Oil portrait by Lamqua (Guan Qiaochang), ca. 1840. (Private collection. Photograph by permission.) Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Grant, Frederic Delano, Jr. author. The Chinese cornerstone of modern banking : the Canton guaranty system and the origins of bank deposit insurance 1780-1933 / By Frederic Delano Grant, Jr. p. cm. — (Legal history library ; v. 10) (Studies in the history of private law) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-90-04-27655-0 (hardback : alk. paper)—ISBN 978-90-04-27656-7 (e-book) 1. Deposit insurance— China—Guangzhou—History.
    [Show full text]
  • Imperialism 1800‐ 1914: South Asia, Asia Qing Dynasty: 19Th Century Qing Dynasty: Early Global Role
    Impact: Asia (Qing Dynasty) Imperialism 1800‐ 1914: South Asia, Asia Qing Dynasty: 19th Century Qing Dynasty: Early Global Role Western Europe and Global Trade: ‐ China drawn into ‘global systems’ through maritime trade ‐ increasingly with Britain but other European powers also involved (Dutch, later Germans among others) ‐ 18th century, companies like Dutch and British East India Companies, dominating ‘world’ maritime trade from New Worlds to Old… [see ‘Impact: India’; video ‘Story of India’ last lecture] Qing Dynasty: 18th ‐19th Centuries The “Canton System” (1757 – 1842): ‐ Qing Dynasty wished to limit direct influence ‘foreigners’: mid‐18th C. established Canton System ‐ designated Chinese merchants to handle trade ‘Hong’: directed by Chinese official ‘Hoppo’representing Emperor ‐ trade with foreigners confined to Canton, river‐port at confluence Han and Yangze Rivers ‐ Hoppo oversaw affairs of both sides “Canton System” “Canton System” “Canton System” Canton River Port 1840s “Canton System” Hong Merchants lived Opulent Lives “Hong” Merchant, Canton “Canton System” Lavish Living: House of Chinese Merchant, Canton c.1840 “Canton System” Problems: ‐ For Europeans: too limiting ‐‐wanted direct access to interior markets ‐ 1790s missions (McCartney, Amherst) to ‘Open Up’ market failed ‐ Britain’s trade: imports ceramics, silks ‐‐ but most of all, tea “Canton System” 18th Century Tea Plantation, China “Canton System”: Problem of Tea Canton Riverfront: 100,000 houseboats home to Cantonese “Coolies” carrying tea in forefront‐ small crafts
    [Show full text]
  • Download Thesis
    This electronic thesis or dissertation has been downloaded from the King’s Research Portal at https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/portal/ ‘Designs against a common foe’ the Anglo-Qing suppression of piracy in South China Kwan, Nathan Awarding institution: King's College London The copyright of this thesis rests with the author and no quotation from it or information derived from it may be published without proper acknowledgement. END USER LICENCE AGREEMENT Unless another licence is stated on the immediately following page this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International licence. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ You are free to copy, distribute and transmit the work Under the following conditions: Attribution: You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work). Non Commercial: You may not use this work for commercial purposes. No Derivative Works - You may not alter, transform, or build upon this work. Any of these conditions can be waived if you receive permission from the author. Your fair dealings and other rights are in no way affected by the above. Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact [email protected] providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Download date: 01. Oct. 2021 Abstract of thesis entitled ‘Designs against a Common Foe’: The Anglo-Qing Suppression of Piracy in South China Submitted by C.
    [Show full text]
  • Opium Production and Consumption in China 643
    Opium Production and Consumption in China 643 CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO OPIUM PRODUCTION AND CONSUMPTION IN CHINA The imported opium led to a whole gamut of reactions in the Chinese societies: war, criminality, addiction, large profits to new experiments in law and healing practices. First, this word ‘societies’ is written on purpose in the plural, because in an immense country like China with its large ethnic, cultural, and political diversity, a fully unknown product like opi- um must have had very different effects. Hosie already reports that ‘Mahommedans, Thibetans and Mongols are not addicted to the habit, and not more than 1 per cent of the former are thought to be opium smok- ers’.1 They are also inhabitants of China and, therefore, Chinese. Aren’t they? The anthropology of the Chinese opium consumer would be a very interesting chapter in our history, but apart from the few data below, there is nearly nothing known at the moment about this subject. Some compensation for this is given in the first two sections below, before the real production and consumption data are analyzed. In previ- ous parts the health and medical aspects of opium use have been dis- cussed. Some brief remarks about the traditional Chinese medicine and Western medicine in China are made for reasons of comparison to stimu- late more relevant research: Chinese medicine has become world famous through the acupuncture hype and the herbal basis of its prescriptions. But around 1900, what was its relation to Western thinking about health and its practice? More specifically: was there some relation with opium, let alone heroin and other chemical derivatives from Papaver somni- ferum? A very different aspect of the Chinese reactions to the foreign imported opium is the moral-legal one.
    [Show full text]
  • “Barbarian Ships Sail Freely About the Seas”: Qing Reactions to the British Suppression of Piracy in South China, 1841–1856
    Asian Review of World Histories 8 (2020) 83–102 brill.com/arwh “Barbarian Ships Sail Freely about the Seas”: Qing Reactions to the British Suppression of Piracy in South China, 1841–1856 C. Nathan Kwan PhD Candidate, University of Hong Kong and King’s College London [email protected] Abstract Chinese piracy presented numerous problems for the Qing and British empires in Chinese waters, but cooperation against pirates was rare before 1842. The coloniza- tion of Hong Kong and other treaty arrangements after the Opium War enabled the British to take more vigorous action against Chinese pirates. Although such actions impinged on China’s maritime sovereignty and jurisdiction, Qing officials quickly recognized the efficacy of British naval forces in suppressing piracy. Hong Kong and Kowloon developed a system of cooperation for the suppression of piracy. This sys- tem was replicated elsewhere along the coast of Guangdong and beyond. By receiving captured pirates from the Royal Navy, Qing officials effectively used an important tool of British imperialism as a means of enforcing and extending their own authority. At the same time, cooperation became a means for the Qing to engage with emerging international law. Keywords piracy – Sino-British relations – Hong Kong – Qing China – international law – Royal Navy Piracy has been a problem along the China coast since ancient times and became particularly problematic on the coast of Guangdong from the late eighteenth century onwards. In addition to undermining Qing authority and the stability of one of the wealthiest, most populous regions in China, it also threatened maritime trade, the raison d’être for the Western presence in China © C.
    [Show full text]
  • The Root of the Opium War: Mismanagement in the Aftermath of the British East India Company's Loss of Its Monopoly in 1834
    University of Pennsylvania ScholarlyCommons Honors Program in History (Senior Honors Theses) Department of History 5-2-2008 The Root of the Opium War: Mismanagement in the Aftermath of the British East India Company's Loss of its Monopoly in 1834 Jason A. Karsh University of Pennsylvania, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.upenn.edu/hist_honors Part of the History Commons Karsh, Jason A., "The Root of the Opium War: Mismanagement in the Aftermath of the British East India Company's Loss of its Monopoly in 1834" (2008). Honors Program in History (Senior Honors Theses). 13. https://repository.upenn.edu/hist_honors/13 A Senior Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for Honors in History. Faculty Advisors: Siyen Fei and Lynn Hollen Lees This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/hist_honors/13 For more information, please contact [email protected]. The Root of the Opium War: Mismanagement in the Aftermath of the British East India Company's Loss of its Monopoly in 1834 Abstract The histories of the Opium War, of which there are many, have posited that the roots of the conflict are diverse and interconnected, ranging from cultural differences to conflicting perspectives on trade. Many historians even imply that the Opium War was somehow inevitable. They point to the famous Macartney Mission of 1793, in which the first British diplomat ot meet the Chinese emperor refused to kowtow and was subsequently denied formal diplomatic relations with the Chinese. However, in investigating documents of the British East India Company at Canton some years later, the war in no way seemed predestined.
    [Show full text]
  • The Canton Trade and the Opium War
    CHAPTER4 THE CANTON TRADE AND THE OPIUM WAR CHARACTERISTICS OF THE TRADE The essence of the Canton system by which China's European trade was regulated from 1760 to 1834 was hierarchic subordination: first, of the foreign traders to the licensed Chinese monopolists, known collectively as the ' Cohong'; and second, of the Cohong members to the imperially- appointed superintendent of maritime customs at Canton, known to Westerners as the 'Hoppo'. In legal-political terms, power was exerted downward in this hierarchy. The imperial officials at Canton, not only the Hoppo but also the governor of Kwangtung and the governor-general (or 'viceroy') of Kwangtung and Kwangsi, issued orders and regulations to the Cohong members and might jail or disgrace them for non-com- pliance; and they customarily refused any direct contact with the British East India Company's Select Committee at Canton, preferring to transmit orders to them via the hong merchants. In economic terms, however, power was more equitably distributed because of a discrepancy between the formal Confucian rationale for the Canton system and the real interests of its participants. The system had grown up as an expression of China's traditional effort to achieve stability in foreign relations by permitting a limited trade to those who either presented tribute or were quarantined at entrepots on the frontier, as the Russians were at Kiakhta (Mai-mai-ch'eng) and the Europeans after 1760 at Canton. In public Ch'ing policy expressions, commercial interests were subordinated to political raisons d'itat. But in private, even Ch'ing em- perors viewed the Canton trade as an important source of personal profit.
    [Show full text]
  • Reorienting American Trade the Origins of the China Trade and The
    Reorienting American Trade The Origins of the China Trade and the Development Of A National Investment Community Jonathan M. Chu PEAES Postdoctoral Fellow Associate Professor of History University of Massachusetts, Boston Presented to the joint seminar of the Program in Early American Economy and Society at the Library Company of Philadelphia and the MacNeil Center for Early American Studies November 30, 2007 1 “Buy low, sell high. Timing is everything.” --Wong Buck Hung As colonies became states, merchants had to learn to conduct business in new legal and economic environment. In place of the predictable, stabilizing world defined by Navigation Acts and custom, Americans had to operate within new politically decentralized structures that presented both opportunities and unanticipated obstacles. As they adjusted to the new marketplace of independence, merchants also had to balance changes in British, French, Spanish and Dutch policies against familiar personal relationships and find ways to adapt to new circumstances. Their successes or failures were contingent upon, not surprisingly, the confluence of capital, skill, and, above all else, luck. The China trade illustrated all these traits, but it also demonstrated the exploitation of a set of fortuitous circumstances that established a viable, self-sustaining commerce prior to the end of the Confederation Period. Critical to the origins of that trade and of America’s rise within two years to second place among China’s western trading partners was the ability of merchants to adapt their resources, knowledge and skill to exploit a small but lucrative niche in the global marketplace. American ginseng, technically panax quinquefolia induced the same physiological effects as its Chinese cousin panax ginseng , and provided the commodity that reoriented an existing infrastructure to new commercial adventures.
    [Show full text]
  • Artistic Exchange Under Different Royal Patrons in 18Th-Century China and Europe
    Artistic exchange under different royal patrons in 18th-century China and Europe: A comparison between Augustus II’s Meissen porcelain manufactory and Qianlong’s Imperial Household Department clock workshop. Master Thesis Name:Tianyi Huang Student Number: s2077078 Email: [email protected] First reader: Prof. dr. A.T. Gerritsen Second reader: Prof. dr. R.J. Baarsen Educational program and Specialization: MA Arts and Culture, Museums and Collections Academic Year: 2018-2019 Table of Contents Chapter 1 Introduction 1 1.1 Background 1 1.2 Significance of the research 3 1.3 Literature review 4 1.4 Research questions 9 1.5 Methodology 9 Chapter 2 Encounter 12 2.1 Augustus the Strong encountering porcelain 12 2.2 Qianlong Emperor encountering clocks 15 2.3 Comparisons and contrasts in encounters 19 Chapter 3 Acquisition 22 3.1 The acquisition of porcelain 22 3.2 The acquisition of clocks 23 3.3 Discussion 27 Chapter 4 Transformation 29 4.1. Meissen manufactory 29 4.1.1 Motivation 29 4.1.2 Organization and procedures 30 4.2 Imperial clock workshop 32 4.2.1. Motivation 32 4.2.2. Organization and procedures 34 4.3 Discussion 35 Chapter 5 Hybridization and localization 37 5.1 Localization: Meissen porcelain and the public display of ambition 37 5.1.1 From Chinoiserie to Baroque: red dragon tableware and blue onion 1 pattern 37 5.1.2 Displaying ambition in public space 40 5.2 Hybridization: Qianlong Imperial clocks, Ceremonial Paraphernalia and the Miniature Empire 44 5.2.1 Qianlong imperial style: visual hybrid of multi-ethnic elements 44 5.2.2 Ceremonial Paraphernalia and miniature empire 46 5.3 Discussion 49 Chapter 6 Conclusion: Domesticating objects into local political metaphor 52 List of Illustrations 56 Illustration credits 69 Bibliography 71 2 Chapter 1 Introduction 1.1 Background In the 18th century, the global circulation of material culture followed by local transformations and adaptations had become common.
    [Show full text]