The Diplomacy Of Qing Dynasty To Small And Weaker Nations In Euro-America After The Opium War

Eighty years' history of the later Qing Dynasty, to a certain degree, is the history of its diplomatic affairs. The study on later Qing Dynasty' diplomatic events with big powers in Euro-America has gone deeply enough, and it is all sided; while the study on its policies to small and weak nations in Euro-America has scarcely been made and it is far from enough, systematical. The present thesis is trying to make a breakthrough on this andto rethink some questions concerned.From forties to fifties of the nineteenth century, Qing Dynasty still conceitedly thought of itself the "Divined Dynasty" superior to all others in the world. Its diplomatic policies followed its tradition way of "li fan" . Accordingly, small and weak nations in Euro-America were treated equally to other big powers. As a result, those small and weak nations like the Union of Sweden and Norway, Belgium, easily obtained many privileges big powers got by means of war except indemnity and ceded territory.From sixties to the middle of nineties of the nineteenth century, Qing Dynasty's diplomatic policy with small and weak nations in Euro-America began its hard shifting from the traditional to modern pattern. From the sixties on, Qing Dynasty began to pay more attention to the world situation, sending Bin Chun to the west and a delegation of Anson Burlingame to small and weak nations having treaty relations, introducing International Laws. From the seventies on, Qing Dynasty gradually had its conception of modern country, roughly understood where the true benefits of a nation and its people lie, started to emphasize the defend of a nation's rights and benefits in modern sense, struggled with Peru and Brazil and eventually succeeded in signing relatively equal treaties, protecting its own rights andbenefits in terms of overseas Chinese protection, limitation to the ambassador's qualifications and jurisdiction.After Sino-Japanese War of 1894, Qing Dynasty further upgraded its diplomatic policies to small and weak nations in Euro- America. When it was in XuanTong Times, the diplomacy of Qing Dynasty to small and weak nations in Euro-America had nearly been modernized. For the diplomacy to small and weak nations in Euro-America, based on its actual national power and the world situation, Qing Dynasty strongly safeguarded nation's territoryand economic benefits by following the international usual practice. In view to Italy's real power, Qing Dynasty rejected Italy's request for borrowing or renting China's San Men Gulf. Qing Dynasty also succeeded in making telecom loan with Denmark with an equal and mutually beneficial base, perfectly answering the questions on China's territorial sea from Brazil, properly dealing with the case that overseas Chinese people were tortured and murdered in small nations of America.All in all, after the Opium War, Qing Dynasty lost power and insulted its country continually in the process of the diplomacy to the small and weak nations in Euro-America, and the main reason lies in that the diplomacy thought fell behind; however, it once defended the national rights to a certain degree, and the main reason consists in that the diplomatic thought was modernized gradually. After the Opium War, the diplomacy of the Qing Dynasty to small and weak countries in Euro-America shows us: it is one of the very important means to keep up with the times in the diplomatic idea to guard the national authority and benefit.