Trade and Diplomacy: The Failure of Preparing for the Chinese Exhibition in the Crystal Palace in 1851

Abstract

This article explores British efforts to organize a Chinese section for the famous Great Exhibition of 1851. It details the difficult negotiations and compromises that took place among British administrators, Chinese imperial authorities, and local merchants in order to secure a Chinese display that promoted the imagined virtues of free trade. The article argues that Britain’s failure to solicit the active support of Chinese elites reflected the strained commercial and political relations in the period between the two Opium Wars. By probing the global origins of Great Exhibition, the article provides a more comprehensive picture of Sino-British encounters in the mid-nineteenth century.