The Qing established a relatively limited system of trade known as the “Canton system,” in which Europeans were allowed only a fixed period every year in which to trade and in which all trade had to be conducted with a licensed group of merchants known as the Cohong
It is interesting because when people think of trade and leadership people think of Europe not China, but this is before Europe gained control.
Despite the pomp and circumstance of the embassy, the Chinese ultimately rejected the British request, stating emphatically that the Chinese were not in need of any British commercial goods and that the British, if they wanted to trade in China, must follow the existing rules
It was likely that due to this attitude by the Chinese government they later fell behind in technological advancements
Many of the Aztec written codices were labeled as works of the devil and destroyed. Between 1540 and 1585 a Spanish priest, Bernardino de Sahagún, worked closely with educated Aztecs and compiled twelve books of information about their culture.
This seems to be a common thread in history, that important works of a culture are attempted to be destroyed, and managed to at least be partially preserved. We saw this in Unit 1 when a copy of the Classic of History was saved