Page:Eminent Chinese Of The Ch’ing Period - Hummel - 1943 - Vol. 1.pdf/383

 chi, 16 chüan, printed in 1795; and Yü (餘) chi, 2 chüan, printed in 1800. His six collections of verse, making a total of 454 chüan, bear the titles, Ch'ing Kao-tsung yü-chih shih (詩) ch'u chi, 44 chüan, printed in 1748; Êr-chi, 90 chüan, printed in 1761; San-chi, 100 chüan, printed in 1771; Ssŭ (四) chi, 100 chüan, printed in 1783; Wu (五) chi, 100 chüan, printed in 1795; Yü-chi, 20 chüan, printed in 1800. In addition there are several small editions of his verse on special subjects, among them the 盛京賦 Shêng-ching fu, a long poem about Mukden, printed in 1743. The total number of poems attributed to him exceeds 42,000. If he himself wrote them all—as he almost certainly did not—he was by far the most prolific poet in Chinese history. But he was essentially not a poet, and what he wrote is valued chiefly for the light it throws on the cultural and historical background of his time.

The scholars whom the emperor patronized were kept busy compiling and editing official works of which the most outstanding was the Imperial Manuscript Library, comprising more than 36,000 volumes and known as the Ssŭ-k'u ch'üan-shu (see under ). About eight titles in this work were compiled or edited under his special direction and these are both well done and informative. But it can scarcely be maintained that in ordering the compilation or the revision of certain works he was motivated solely by a desire to promote sound historical scholarship. He had a strong desire to expunge from them all slanderous references to the Manchus, and for this purpose alone many works were revised. Even early Manchu chronicles, and their Chinese versions, were rigorously checked, and the Chinese words chosen for transliteration of Manchu names were often changed to avoid any covert disrespectful meaning. At the same time, the emperor was very harsh in punishing writers who made remarks, however unintentional, which might be interpreted as prejudicial to the Manchus. From 1774 to 1782 hundreds of works were ordered to be totally destroyed and banned, or were listed as partially or wholly objectionable. Because of these restrictions doubtless many men of letters refrained from writing on political or economic subjects, finding it safer to devote their time to less dangerous pursuits such as the collating of ancient classical texts (see under ). One consequence of this was a dearth, for many years, of able statesmen in the empire.

Trade between China and Europe, which since the sixteenth century had been carried on with the Portuguese and the Dutch, increased rapidly in the Ch'ien-lung reign-period. The English, through the East India Company, gradually became the dominant traders at Canton and in other ports of South China. They were dissatisfied, however, with the restrictions on trade and on the freedom of their nationals in China which the Co-hong system and the closing of all ports except Canton entailed (see under ). To eliminate these restrictions and to extend the market in China for England's growing industries, a British Embassy, under the leadership of Earl George Macartney (1737–1806) was sent to Peking to present petitions. The envoys landed at Taku on August 5, 1793 and were later quartered at the Hung-yü Yüan 宏雅園, a garden south of the Yüan-ming Yüan. They then proceeded to the summer palace at Jehol and were granted two audiences with Hung-li on September 14 and 17, the latter date being Hungli's eighty-third birthday. The Embassy was received with courtesy and hospitality, and splendid gifts were exchanged. After returning to Peking Macartney presented on October 3 England's petitions regarding trade which, however, were either rejected or were only vaguely acknowledged. Four days later the Embassy left Peking with a reply that promised nothing, and with a letter to King George III. Hung-li, however, was not unaware of the political consequences of the mission, for on October 4, when he decided to reject England's requests, he secretly ordered the governor-general at Canton to take certain precautions; and told him that in view of England's naval strength and her predominant position in trade at Canton, merchants of other European countries should be approached to prevent them from joining England in case that country should create trouble.

Hung-li's attitude towards the missionaries differed little from that of his father or his grandfather. Europeans were allowed to live and work in Peking, some being employed as astronomers or artists. In the provinces missionary work was not officially tolerated, but was not actively hindered except in a few cases when some zealous official invoked the law to have foreigners expelled. The decline of the Roman Catholic Church in China in the Ch'ien-lung period must be, attributed chiefly to conflicting policies in Rome and to the dissolution of the Society of Jesus in 1773.

From the beginning of his reign in 1735 Hung-li wished to emulate, and perhaps to surpass, 371