Title: How Did They Blow Their Own Trumpet? An Analysis of the Embassy’s Chinese Translation of the List of Presents from Lord Macartney to Emperor Qianlong, 1793

Abstract: The Macartney Embassy to China from Britain in 1793 is no doubt one of the most important events in Sino-British history. As the embassy was sent under the pretext of offering belated congratulations on the eightieth birthday of Emperor Qianlong, the British brought along expensive presents. Yet Qianlong was not impressed. After reading the Chinese translation of the list of presents, he made severe criticisms that the faraway barbarians were merely blowing their own trumpet to exaggerate the value of the presents. Working on the recently identified Chinese translation of the list of presents prepared by the embassy, this paper examines the reasons why Qianlong felt offended. The recently identified translation will also be compared with the one collected in the archives of the Grand Council to demonstrate how and why it was amended by the Chinese.

Keywords: Macartney Mission, 18-19th century Sino-British relations, studies of translation history

Author: Hongzhi Wang, Professor, Department of Translation, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.

DOI: 10.19967/j.cnki.flc.2021.04.07