On September 26^th, 1792, Lion, Hindustan and several other ships from the British Royal Fleets with a large delegation on board sent by King George III as a diplomatic mission to China were ready to set off. Headed by Lord George Macartney with Baron George Staunton as the Secretary, there were altogether over 800 people in this delegation, all of whom attended the 83^rd birthday celebration of Emperor Qianlong in the Qing Dynasty

The British fleet carried with them 19 packages of gifts including over 590 items, all of which were the choice goods of Britain at that time and also the representative masterpieces of British advanced science and technology. In return, the Qing court granted the British King and the embassy over 3000 items including silk, china, jade articles and a variety of other craftworks.

During their stay, Macartney submitted a letter from the King of Great Britain to Emperor Qianlong. Extremely irritated by the request in the letter that permanent British ambassadors should be allowed to stay in Beijing, Emperor Qianlong said furiously, "This is against the system of the Imperial Court; it is by every means forbidden."

The visit of Macartney to China turned out to be a failure. However, the contact with conflicts this time enabled the two great nations in the east and west to get an initial understanding of each other, which would bring about profound influence on the development of Sino-British relationship in the future.