Word: qianlong
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Then it was Great Britain that was the superpower, flexing its muscles across the globe, and imposing its sense of its own destiny on the world. China, however, was proving stubborn, intensely aware of the vulnerability of its borders and equally self-conscious about its prestige. The reigning Qianlong emperor, as part of the process of expanding and consolidating China's borders, had also restricted trade with the Western powers to a small perimeter outside the city walls of Canton. The British chafed at this limitation, and sought a wider zone of commercial operations. They also sought, in vain...