An 18th century Chinese snuff bottle. On the front side depicted and amusing looking “foreign barbarian” admiring a vase with a stem of coral – both of these are Chinese objects; and a strange unknown “foreign beast” recumbent along side him. On the back it says the following: 萬國來朝, 大慶天下太平 which means something along the lines of “Nations from everywhere come to pay tribute, with a great celebration of universal peace & prosperity.”

Basically to paraphrase the “vibe” of this one could easily translate it to “look at the strange inferior foreigners who also come to pay tribute to us because we are so amazing and have the mandate of heaven”

In fact, its quite evocative of the Qianlong era (Qing dynasty) court painting “The Tribute of All Nations,” which resides in the collection of the Palace Museum (pictured). The painting depicts representatives of vassal states and foreign envoys, all gathering outside Taihe Gate, their hands full of tributes of rare and precious goods for Emperor Qianlong. Here too we can also see the strange looking barbarians” lining up with gifts in hand hoping to ingratiate themselves with the “emperor of all things under heaven.”

In present day, not much has changed once you look below the surface, with the Chinese communist party grafting itself onto the old system and just “rebranding.” Foreign leaders and business men are still lining up to pay tribute to the great emperor Xi; and still bowing down hoping to get trading rights.