Sangam: A Confluence of Knowledge Streams

The “Inner Kowtow Controversy” During the Amherst Embassy to China, 1816–1817

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dc.creator Gao, H
dc.date 2018-11-30T16:33:25Z
dc.date 2016-12-14
dc.date 2018-11-30T16:33:25Z
dc.date.accessioned 2022-05-27T01:03:21Z
dc.date.available 2022-05-27T01:03:21Z
dc.identifier Vol. 2 (4), pp. 595 - 614
dc.identifier 10.1080/09592296.2016.1238691
dc.identifier http://hdl.handle.net/10871/34953
dc.identifier 0959-2296
dc.identifier Diplomacy and Statecraft
dc.identifier.uri http://localhost:8080/xmlui/handle/CUHPOERS/241941
dc.description This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Taylor & Francis via the DOI in this record
dc.description The Amherst embassy has a long-standing reputation as a diplomatic failure in Britain’s early relations with China. This analysis concentrates on a greatly overlooked aspect of the Amherst mission—the controversy within the embassy’s leadership about whether to perform kowtow before the Jiaqing emperor. George Thomas Staunton, basing his arguments on some “local inside knowledge,” successfully prevailed on Amherst to refuse to kowtow. This decision directly resulted in the rejection of the embassy from Beijing. To explain this unpleasant outcome, both sides of the controversy downplayed the importance of their decision and, instead, constructed a capricious image of the Chinese emperor, which helped to lay the foundations for the deterioration of Sino–British relations in the run up to the Opium War.
dc.language en
dc.publisher Taylor & Francis (Routledge)
dc.rights © 2016 Taylor & Francis
dc.rights http://www.rioxx.net/licenses/all-rights-reserved
dc.title The “Inner Kowtow Controversy” During the Amherst Embassy to China, 1816–1817
dc.type Article


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