Imperial tours
Cultural policy
Patronage of Chinese traditions
Military Expansion
Conquest of Xinjiang (1755-60)
Zunghar (Dzungar) Mongols
Supply depots
Mongolia
Gansu corridor
At the top of page 99, Elliott writes, “The expansion of the empire was not done in the name of the ‘nation.’ It was done to extol his [Qianlong’s] fame, to demonstrate that the business of the Qing dynastic house and its servants was also Heaven’s business.”
1. A major theme running through the chapter we read today is Qianlong’s concern for self-promotion. What are the various ways that he promoted his role in the arts? Why does Elliott believe that Qianlong’s image as, “a man of letters in fact greatly overshadows his image as a man of war”? (p. 107).
2. More generally, why did absolute monarchs, like Qianlong, feel the need to promote their accomplishments to the people and ensure a historical legacy? Why does Elliott say that Qianlong was following a model of rulership in which the emperor “should be master of everything” (p. 124)? How is this similar and different from leaders of modern nations?
Four Treasuries project
Completed in 1782
10,230 works in 36,000 volumes
538 works destroyed
1. How did Qing diplomacy differ from modern system?
2. How did the Qianlong regulate their foreign trade?
Representative of King George III and East India Company
Superficial motive
Hungli/Qianlong’s 83rd Birthday
True motives
Expanded trading privileges
Embassy in Peking
Exchange of “Gifts” and “Tribute”
Qianlong’s Edict to George III, 1793
"It behooves you, O King, to respect my sentiments and to display even greater devotion and loyalty in the future, so that, by perpetual submission to our Throne, you may secure peace and prosperity for your country thereafter." (For full text see http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/ps/china/qianlong_edicts.pdf).
"The Celestial Empire, ruling all within the four seas, simply concentrates on carrying out the affairs of government properly, and does not set value on rare and precious things…We have never valued ingenious articles, nor do we have the slightest need of your country’s manufactures." (Elliott, Emperor Qianlong, p. 138; Spence, p. 121)
3. How is Qianlong’s edict to Macartney traditionally interpreted? How does Elliott (pp. 139-142) reinterpret Qianlong’s attitude?