 Hastings then lost no time in appointing Bogle to undertake a diplomatic and fact-finding mission "to chart the unknown territory beyond the northern borders of Bengal", with a view to opening up trade with Tibet and possibly establishing a back-door trade relationship with the Chinese Qing dynasty who tightly controlled foreign trade at Canton (now Guangzhou) under the Canton System.Hastings instructions to Bogle, given on 18May 1774, were as follows