Historical Background
Chinese Empire in 18th/19th Centuries geographically wide-spread
isolated suzerainty
Central rule from Peking but variable
effectiveness. Concept of sovereignty
over adjacent territories (e.g.
Tibet, formerly Vietnam)
Vietnam)]
Middle Kingdom attitude of superiority and self sufficiency applied to first contacts: with foreigners.
Desire to keep at arms length. Restrict
trade to a few carefully controlled centres
where foreigners lived on sufferance esp
Canton.
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