Page 18 - Export Porcelain and Globakization- GOOD READ

Pic. 5: Western map of Canton at the time of the first VOC embassy to Emperor
Shunzhi, published 1665

The VOC embassy travelled mainly along the rivers from March 1656 and reached
Beijing in July where they stayed until October. The embassy itself was a failure and
the aims could not be realized. The Emperor perceived it as a tributary mission and
granted only very limited direct trade for every eight years. However, for another
reason, the delegation was remarkable for the cultural development of Europe. Part of
the delegation was the Dutch author and traveler Johan Nieuhof (born 1618 in Ülsen
and died 1672 in Madagascar) who wrote a book about the journey through China
with 145 copper engravings on the basis of his drawings: An embassy from the
East-India Company of the United provinces to the Grand Tartar Cham Emperor of
China, published in 1665 in Dutch and 1669 in English. The book and these pictures
built up the European image of China for more than hundred years and it is amazing
that even in the mid-18th century most depictions of China were mere copies of these
old copper engravings.

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