Arguably the earliest communication between a monarch of China and the ruler of a European country, Qianlong’s letter to George III was the official response to Lord George Macartney’s mission, sponsored by the British East India Company in cooperation with the British government, to secure diplomatic relations and improved trade conditions with the Qing Dynasty. From its establishment in 1600, the British East India Company was a major exporter of silk, tea, porcelain, and lacquerware from China to England and the rest of Europe. Beginning in the mid-eighteenth century, the East India Company also attempted to sell English and European goods, most of them manufactured products, to China in order to offset a mounting trade deficit. Before the Macartney embassy, the company had sent emissaries to China, hoping to broaden trade relations and gain better access to the Chinese market. None of them was successful.