La Chine, rêves et cauchemars

At the beginning of the 19th century, China, considering itself the most spiritually advanced country on the planet, barred those it deemed "barbarians"—Indians, Arabs, or Europeans—from entering its empire. From Canton and Macau, its only two international ports, cargoes of tea, porcelain, and silk, prized by Westerners, were exported. The Manchu Qing dynasty, in power for two centuries, ruled unchallenged over 400 million subjects belonging to the Han ethnic group.