J.A.G. Roberts writes that Macartney presented the emperor with a planetarium, a chandelier, two howitzers, three carriages, and items of wedgewood pottery ( Roberts 162). The emperor accepted the gifts out of "affectionate condescension" (Fay 32) but refused any ideas on changes to foreign policy. This was due partly to the failure of Lord Macartney to follow the rituals that were to be performed in the presence of the emperor. According to Peter Ward Fay, the ritual known as kowtow, in which all subjects had to kneel three times before the emperor and place their face on the floor each time, was one that Macartney dejected. He performed the kowtow half heartedly, which insulted the emperor greatly; this only strengthened the Chinese conviction of viewing foreigners as "barbarians". As a result, this meeting only heightened the suspicion of the Qing court on foreign relations. Consequently, traders were restricted to Guangzhou for trading and had to follow the Eight Regulations. According to one historian, the Eight Regulations confined the traders to certain areas for trading; and allowed them to reside in the ports only during trading season ( Roberts, 164). .
In order to offset the trading deficit, raw cotton was exported from India to China by private Britain merchant ships. These ships also carried aboard them small amounts of opium that was smuggled into China. This, according to J.A.G. Roberts, began the illegal importation of opium into China (Roberts 164). Peter Ward Fay adds that by the 1820s five thousand chests of opium were imported into China every year (Fay 43). Soon the upper classes started smoking opium along with the officers in the emperor's palace. Peter Ward Fay also goes on to point out that the trading of opium was beneficial to all parties involved except for China. The opium that was sold in Calcutta to British traders brought in revenue for the government of India.