Kowtow - Georgian Britain, Imperial China and the Irishman Who Introduced Them

In 1793, George Macartney became Britain's first envoy to imperial China, and set off one of the greatest power shifts in history. The impasse that resulted from Macartney's refusal to agree to kowtow to the Emperor Qianlong causes great reverberations even today, and is still a source of tension between Beijing and the West.