Let's Fire Up Those Neurons!

You mean playing guess-who-am-i?
Clue#1: I'm someone who actively participates in the thread
Clue#2: I made a post on {}
(buzzer): surekha

What will happen to the pixie anushkas with letdown news of the changing world. Hope they retain elegant kanjeevaram kurtis if not sarees for the driving anushkas. Lovely and chirpy highlights! A photo delivers a thousand unsaid words but I can forgo the quest for a snap this time from your time-lapsed narration conveying emphatically thousand and one exciting moments.

 

Here’s the solution to Puzzle #5208.

Let’s start from the easiest bit – the middle panel:
There’s a fellow writing on the left, there’s an Emperor (or just another chap) poised with pen and paper on the right, with letters in between. Perhaps we are talking about letters, a correspondence? The puzzle has letters at its center.:eek

The bottom panel:
We see a famous Beatles pic, with George Harrison and Paul McCartney. If you were to try "McCartney + China", you would immediately hit upon the Macartney Embassy, a 1793 mission from King George III to the Chinese imperial court seeking expanded trade privileges. The letter sent in reply by the Qianlong Emperor is one of the most astonishing documents in history, a decision that set the stage for Chinese decline over the next two centuries, one that they are determined to set right now. Qianlong's statement "Strange and costly gifts do not interest me" - remains one of the classic statements of imperial disdain and Chinese mistrust of foreigners. This was a grave mistake, coming as it did a century after Newton and a mere 25 years before the first steam engine. The Macartney Mission was a complete failure. You may have come across this story in high-school world history.

I added Geroge Harrison both to signify George III and to point to the full name of the envoy, Geroge Macartney. (The original photograph has Sir Paul on the left – I flipped it to make things easier for you!).


The other pictures:
Top left: 17[SUP]th[/SUP] century maritime trade routes, including the route from Guangzhou to England.

Bottom right: Map of southern China – should be instantly identifiable, since I chose one that includes Taiwan to the north and Hainan island to the south. The highlighted yellow region is Guangdong province, with a green dot signifying Guangzhou (Canton). All foreign trade in China followed what has come to be called the Canton System. ‘Foreign Devils’ were not allowed to stray beyond Canton.

Bottom left: An early 19[SUP]th[/SUP] century picture of Canton, showing the ‘thirteen factories’, with flags of Spain, the US, Sweden, the UK and the Netherlands. This ‘opening up’ to foreign trade is often seen by nationalists as setting the stage for Chinese ‘humiliation’ that followed with the Opium Wars.

The top panel:
The prominent high-def picture is of the Yongzheng Emperor (1722 – 1735). You could have figured that out by simply looking at pictures of Chinese emperors!

Top left: Tom Cruise playing Claus Von Stauffenberg (film: Valkyrie), a central figure in the assassination plot to kill Hitler in 1944. The plot was foiled and he was executed as a traitor. Some comibination of Tom Cruise, Nazi, eye-patch would have led you to the Satuffenberg story.

Middle left: Jane Fonda – mugshot taken after an arrest on her way to a speaking engagement at an anti-war gathering protesting the Vietnam war. She was labeled 'Hanoi Jane' after a visit to North Vietnam in 1972. She was ridiculed for ‘aiding and abetting’ the enemy and denounced as a traitor. She is reviled as a traitor to this day for her anti-war activism.

Middle right: Movie poster “Enemy of the State” – A straightforward definition of ‘traitor’!:rotfl

Bottom (red-box): There are multiple clues here. Benedict (Cumberbatch) + Arnold (Scwarzenegger) -> Benedict Arnold, who is synonymous with treason in the United States in the same way that Patrick Henry (“Give me liberty, or give me death!”) and Nathan Hale (“I regret that I have but one life to give for my country”) are synonymous with patriotism. Arnold, who, during the revolutionary war, was the commander in charge of West Point (the same garrison which is now home to the US Military Academy) flipped his loyalties to the British.

I chose the Conan the Barbarian image of Schwarzenegger (over ‘Terminator’ or other iconic roles), to point to the Chinese disdain for foreigners , leading into the next puzzle.

The clue word is 'Treason'.

So, in short, ‘Treason’ + ‘Yongzheng’ or ‘Treason’ + ‘China’ + ‘Emperor” would have brought you to one of the most remarkable exchanges in history – a correspondence between Zeng Jing, a traitor railing against the Manchu rulers, and the Yongzheng Emperor himself! This example of a direct political argument between a sovereign and a treasonous subject has no parallels in history. It is well documented by Jonathan Spence, a chinese historian at Yale, in "Treason by the Book" - a volume I would recommend very highly to those with an interest in China.

 

The connection between the two stories is of course that they both involve letters - one a long, strange, unique correspondence and the other, a single missive that changed the course of history.

The picture on the right, middle panel, is actually a portrait of the Qianlong Emperor. I had to search awhile to find one of him with a quill, preparing to diss George III, no doubt! :rotfl

There is another connection as well: Yongzheng, despot though he was, won his opponent over to his point of view after a long correspondence. He forgave the traitorous scholar. However, when Qianlong came to power, he had Zeng Jing executed!:spin

 

The clue pic in #5250 is a cartoon by the caricaturist James Gillray, depicting the Macartney Mission. Gillray is considered to be the 'father of the political cartoon'. The British flag in the Chinese court & the costumes provide easy clues for the period.

The Chinese practice of 'kowtow'ing to the Emperor as a mark of submission became a diplomatic issue during the mission (shown in the cartoon).

 

Soka, I got only one part of the answer. But it was a nice learning. Oh so much of zhong and long in these two days.

Thanks Gauri and Kaniths for the pointers and clues.

 

Welcome back Viswa sir. This thread was very slow in your absence.

It was nice seeing the picture Surekha shared. Thanks Surekha.

 

I wouldn't worry about that - the puzzle is simply an excuse to share interesting stories! Obviously, it would be no fun sharing stories I imagine you already know - hence the effort to present obscure, but fascinating, tales!
:cheers

 

Where do u guys see the pics? I thought I was in her friend list!! ( too scared to check, it could be heartbreaking! ) (but the add me as friend button is missing, meaning am still friends with her?! ) @surekhap pls give me access & link, I ll be a good girl!