The last embassy: the Dutch mission of 1795 and the forgotten history of western encounters with China

Cover -- Contents -- List of Maps -- A Note to the Reader -- Prologue: A Clash of Cultures? -- Chapter 1. The Center -- Chapter 2. The Amateur -- Chapter 3. Man Proposes, God Disposes -- Chapter 4. The Delta -- Chapter 5. Canton -- Chapter 6. A Dreadful Prospect -- Chapter 7. The Imperial Way: By Boat through Southern China -- Chapter 8. A Walk into Winter -- Chapter 9. Beijing -- Chapter 10. Ice Games -- Chapter 11. Favored Guests of the Emperor -- Chapter 12. A New Year -- Chapter 13. The Purple Ray Pavilion, A Good Death, A Tour of Temples -- Chapter 14. Stately Pleasure Gardens: Yuanmingyuan -- Chapter 15. The Lantern Festival -- Chapter 16. Goodbye, Beijing -- Chapter 17. By Land through Beizhili and Shandong -- Chapter 18. Sailing into Spring: By Canal through the Lower Yangtze -- Chapter 19. Zhejiang and Jiangxi -- Chapter 20. An Uncertain Future -- Conclusions: A Contested Embassy and the History of Sino-Western Relations -- Acknowledgments -- A Note on Place Names, Transliterations, Terms, and Sources -- Abbreviations -- Notes -- Index.

Frontmatter -- Contents -- List of Maps -- A Note to the Reader -- Prologue: A Clash of Cultures? -- Chapter 1 The Center -- Chapter 2 The Amateur -- Chapter 3 Man Proposes, God Disposes -- Chapter 4 The Delta -- Chapter 5 Canton -- Chapter 6 A Dreadful Prospect -- chapter 7 The Imperial Way -- Chapter 8 A Walk into Winter -- Chapter 9 Beijing -- Chapter 10 Ice Games -- Chapter 11 Favored Guests of the Emperor -- Chapter 12 A New Year -- Chapter 13 The Purple Ray Pavilion, A Good Death, A Tour of Temples -- Chapter 14 Stately Pleasure Gardens -- Chapter 15 The Lantern Festival -- Chapter 16 Goodbye, Beijing -- Chapter 17 By Land through Beizhili and Shandong -- Chapter 18 Sailing into Spring -- Chapter 19 Zhejiang and Jiangxi -- Chapter 20 An Uncertain Future -- Conclusions: A Contested Embassy and the History of Sino-Western Relations -- Acknowledgments -- A Note on Place Names, Transliterations, Terms, and Sources -- Abbreviations -- Notes -- Index -- A note on the type

Cover -- Contents -- List of Maps -- A Note to the Reader -- Prologue: A Clash of Cultures? -- Chapter 1. The Center -- Chapter 2. The Amateur -- Chapter 3. Man Proposes, God Disposes -- Chapter 4. The Delta -- Chapter 5. Canton -- Chapter 6. A Dreadful Prospect -- Chapter 7. The Imperial Way: By Boat through Southern China -- Chapter 8. A Walk into Winter -- Chapter 9. Beijing -- Chapter 10. Ice Games -- Chapter 11. Favored Guests of the Emperor -- Chapter 12. A New Year -- Chapter 13. The Purple Ray Pavilion, A Good Death, A Tour of Temples -- Chapter 14. Stately Pleasure Gardens: Yuanmingyuan -- Chapter 15. The Lantern Festival -- Chapter 16. Goodbye, Beijing -- Chapter 17. By Land through Beizhili and Shandong -- Chapter 18. Sailing into Spring: By Canal through the Lower Yangtze -- Chapter 19. Zhejiang and Jiangxi -- Chapter 20. An Uncertain Future -- Conclusions: A Contested Embassy and the History of Sino-Western Relations -- Acknowledgments -- A Note on Place Names, Transliterations, Terms, and Sources -- Abbreviations -- Notes -- Index.

"In the typical narrative of modern Sino-European relations, George Macartney's disastrous 1793 mission to China plays a central role. His failure to open China to trade and diplomatic relations with Britain sets the stage for a long and bitter clash of cultures that led to the Opium Wars of the nineteenth century and perhaps even to the mistrust that still pervades relations today. In this book, Tonio Andrade draws on a wealth of neglected archival material to tell a very different story: that of the last European delegation that was ever received in the traditional Chinese court, the Dutch mission of 1794-95"--