Andreas Everardus van Braam Houckgeest
Andreas Everardus van Braam Houckgeest (1 November 1739 in
Early career
In 1757, van Braam joined the
In 1773, van Braam left China and the following year, he settled in a county-seat near
Embassy to China
Having learned about the British Macartney Embassy to the Qing court in 1793, he requested that the commissioners-general in Batavia send a VOC embassy to the court of the Qianlong Emperor for the celebration of his sixtieth year on the throne.[1] Batavia accepted the suggestion, but appointed the chief of the Dutch trading mission in Dejima, Isaac Titsingh (1745–1812) as head of the Dutch embassy instead of van Braam.[2]
In November 1794, the embassy, which included van Braam and Chrétien-Louis-Joseph de Guignes (son of Joseph de Guignes) left Guangzhou and it arrived in Beijing in January 1795, just in time for Chinese new year.
In Beijing, the embassy was received together with representatives of other tributary countries and the members of the embassy performed the kowtow in front of the emperor according to Chinese custom. Van Braam distinguished himself when his hat fell off while bowing, causing the emperor to laugh.[3][4] Van Braam had retained his US citizenship and thus became the first American to meet a Chinese emperor. The embassy was lavishly entertained for the remainder of their stay and they were allowed to have additional audiences with the Qianlong emperor at his palace outside Beijing.[5][6]
Later life
Upon the embassy's return to Guangzhou in March 1795, van Braam was unable to find a ship bound for the Netherlands and chose to board a ship to Philadelphia, where he arrived in 1796.[7] Van Braam's arrival in the city attracted a lot of attention and he published an account of his journey, which he dedicated to George Washington. Van Braam decided to stay in the area and settled in Bristol outside the city. In 1798, he decided to leave the United States for unknown reasons, and after short stays in Germany and England, he bought a small property in Amsterdam, where he died in July 1801.
In 1797, van Braam was elected as a member of the American Philosophical Society.[8]
Works
- van Braam Houckgeest, A.E. (1797). Voyage de l'ambassade de la Compagnie des Indes Orientales hollandaises vers l'empereur de la Chine, dans les années 1794 et 1795. Philadelphia: M.L.E. Moreau de Saint-Méry.
- _______________. (1798). An authentic account of the embassy of the Dutch East-India company, to the court of the emperor of China, in the years 1794 and 1795, Vol. I. London : R. Phillips. [digitized by University of Hong Kong Libraries, Digital Initiatives, "China Through Western Eyes." ]
See also
Notes
- ISBN 9780307961730
- ^ van Braam Houckgeest, Andreas Everardus. (1797). Voyage de l'ambassade de la Compagnie des Indes Orientales hollandaises vers l'empereur de la Chine, dans les années 1794 et 1795; see also 1798 English translation: An authentic account of the embassy of the Dutch East-India company, to the court of the emperor of China, in the years 1974 and 1795, Vol. I. Archived 2009-02-15 at the Wayback Machine also: Google Books version
- ^ van Braam, An authentic account..., Vol. I (1798 English edition) pp. 238-9.
- ISBN 9780307961730
- ^ van Braam, An authentic account..., Vol. I (1798 English edition) pp. 283-284.
- ISBN 9780307961730
- ISBN 9780307961730
- ^ "APS Member History". search.amphilsoc.org. Retrieved 2021-03-31.
References
- Duyvendak, J. J. L. "The Last Dutch Embassy to the Chinese Court (1794-1795)." T'oung pao 34, no. 1-2 (1938): 1–137.
- de Guignes, Chrétien-Louis-Joseph (1808). Voyage a Pékin, Manille et l'Ile de France. Paris.
- Rockhill, William Woodville. "Diplomatic Missions to the Court of China: The Kotow Question I," The American Historical Review, Vol. 2, No. 3 (Apr., 1897), pp. 427–442.
- Rockhill, William Woodville. "Diplomatic Missions to the Court of China: The Kotow Question II," The American Historical Review, Vol. 2, No. 4 (Jul., 1897), pp. 627–643.