China in the Late Qing

In 1792 Great Britain, concerned about the security of its tea trade with China and keen to expand British commercial activity throughout Asia and into the Pacific, sent an embassy to China headed by Lord Macartney. Macartney had been instructed to negotiate a treaty of commerce and to obtain permission for Great Britain to accredit a resident minister at the Qianlong emperor's court. He was told to request the opening of ports additional to Guangzhou and the provision of a base for British merchants which was closer to the tea- and silk-producing areas than was Guangzhou. Macartney took with him as gifts samples of British manufactures, including a planetarium, chandeliers, two howitzers, three carriages and items of Wedgwood pottery, hoping thereby to secure new markets in China for British products.