Up the Coast of China and Arrival at Tianjin

Abstract

On 13 July 1816, five British ships left Hong Kong Island and set a course for the Gulf of Bei Zhili in northern China.1 The initial British encounter with China after the embassy arrived in the north and before it was embroiled in the kowtow controversy was largely informal and cordial. Ensuing stressful confrontations with Chinese officialdom, however, simply reinforced British stereotypes of the Chinese. Perceptions of China soon came to duplicate Barrow’s views portrayed in his book Travels in China (1804). This account functioned as a primer assisting British understanding of the novel environment in which they now found themselves, and was referred to constantly by members of the Amherst Embassy during their journey.