A Tentative Study On The Open Door Policy Of The Great Britain To China In The Middle And Later Period Of 19～(th) Century

Scholars usually acknowledge that the Open Door Policy belongs to the US,because it was the US that publicly announced and established this policy amongPowers at the end of the 19th century. In fact, British government had alreadyimplemented the policy since the Opium War was broken out between Qing Dynastyand British government in the middle period of the 19th century. Due to various reasons,people always misunderstand it deeply so that it is studied scarcely among thespecialists at home and abroad. This situation directly leads to further research less tothe British policy to China and the characters of Powers' policies that were implementedin the middle and later period of the 19th century. Therefore, the research of this Britishpolicy is of great importance. The present dissertation attempts a study on describing itsevolution, generalizing and analyzing its characters, then giving it an objectiveevaluation. There are four parts in the paper: Because this policy is always being misunderstood, the first part introduces thebasic meaning about the Open Door Policy, and illustrates thoroughly why it was Britishpolicy to China during the middle and later period of the 19th century. By this way, itcan clear away the misunderstanding that the Open Door Policy belongs to the US. The second part is a very important one that describes the evolution during themiddle and later period of the19th century. Its evolution could be divided into threestages: at first stage, it was formed preliminarily. At second, it was entirely formed. Atthird, it was publicly announced at first, then varied by British government. In the end itwas established by the US among Powers. Like the part two, the part three is also a main part in this thesis. It displays that theOpen Door Policy has two main characters. First, various colonial means were usedsimultaneously, and these means affected one another. In the mean time, some othermeans contrary to the Open Door Policy were used as its promoting strength. Second, itwas of the pragmatism character that reflected the historical tradition and nationalcharacter of the Great Britain. The last part makes a simple evaluation on the Open Door Policy. It was of theobvious character of that age, and was British selfish policy reflected its benefits, andwas also of the character of both encroachment and hypocrisy. In the same time, it madedifference in the international relationship among Powers during the middle and laterperiod of the 19^th century.