Writing about the changing world of the eighteenth century, Jawaharlal Nehru drew attention to the Macartney embassy in 1792-93, in which George III tried in vain to build friendly relations with China. Nehru quoted at length from the Emperor’s letter to King George, in which he treated the British king as a suppliant and dismissed his offers of trade.

The Chinese Emperor ended his letter by advising King George to be more submissive and quick to obey. Nehru wondered how such scolding was received in London, and reflected that that Chien Lung was totally unaware of how the world outside China was changing, and of economic tides that would soon flood China too.

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