What were chinas reasons for rejecting british offers of trade?

For a long time China was self-sufficient and did not need to import goods from other countries. Chinese goods were in great demand in Europe, and China could therefore simply export goods and use the profits to buy the few things it did want from other countries, such as gold and silver.

By the eighteenth century China was also the centre of a vast trading network that stretched from Europe to Japan. This network was based on the exchange of goods rather than money, and China was able to use its position within this network to protect itself from foreign influence.

In addition to these economic and political reasons, the Chinese also had cultural reasons for rejecting British offers of trade. The Chinese considered themselves to be the most civilised people in the world and they believed that they had nothing to learn from Western barbarians. They also believed that the British were morally corrupt and that trading with them would have a negative impact on Chinese society.

As a result of these economic, political, and cultural factors, China rejected British offers of trade until the mid-nineteenth century. When China was finally defeated in the Opium Wars, the British were able to force China to open its ports to foreign trade and to grant them special trading privileges.