To 1800

"When visited by the British trade mission led by Lord George Macartney, who aimed to show off the best of Western trade and technology, the Qianlong emperor of Qing China was known to have famously replied in 1792 that "Our Celestial Empire possesses all things in prolific abundance and lacks no product within its borders. There is therefore no need to import the manufactures of outside barbarians in exchange for our own produce."2 Qianlong's statement came at the height of Qing's glory, overseeing a remarkable tripling of population and a doubling of territory between the 15th and 18th centuries. No single political entity at the time achieved such size in both geography and population under such stability and durability."