stood at the centre of the world, on the rim of which obscure
barbarian tribes pursued their obscure activities, pausing
occasionally to visit China to pay appropriate tribute to the
Celestial Throne. Theirs was the Middle Kingdom, coterminous
with civilisation. They were self-sufficient, ideologically
and economically. Under earlier dynasties they had been
and technologically advanced, well beyond
inventive
contemporary European standards. Now, though their
population and commerce grew, they were, at official level,
static, effete, but still complacent, unconscious of their
relative decline. The British were a comparatively new
nation, extrovert, dynamic and expansionist, the preeminent
naval power, with trade and possessions across the globe,
leaders of the industrial
technologically
revolution,
advanced and confident in their abilities and strength.
•
The two parties to the encounter knew little about each
other. The Chinese felt no compulsion to study distant
barbarians. Their geographers informed them that England was
a country that belonged to Holland. "England consists simply
of three islands, merely a handful of stones in the Western
Ocean.. The British are skilled in ocean navigation and can
make the voyages as easily as crossing a marshy ground with
weeds." But, the Emperor was assured, they were an
insignificant race. As one of his Censors put it, "True, their
guns are desructive, but in the attack on our harbours they
will be too elevated, and their aim moreover rendered
unsteady by the waves. As for the British soldiers, they
were reliably reported to be so tightly uniformed that once
they fell to the ground they could not get up again. There was