The Voice Of Germany In Chinese Customs Between 1861 And 1917

The modern China began to lose its unification and independence and became a victim of the occident after the Opium War, so was the Chinese customs. Because of the involvement of the occidentals, Chinese customs became a special organization in modern China. Its organization was in China, It belonged to China and most of its workers were also from China. But it was conducted by a few foreigners and operated by foreign methods. From the viewpoint of the Qing Government, that design could solve the financial problem and pacificate the occident; from the viewpoint of the occident, that design could guarantee their vested interests. It was advantageous to have an efficient customs and both only had limited interference. Thus it was kind of an independent bureau. Its westernization and internationalization was a long process which were full of conflicts between the Qing government and the Occident and among the occident themselves. It seemed to be the effort the inspector general of customs himself, but indeed it represented the contest between the occident in China. When the British and the German competed with each other in the customs, the British were in a dominant position all the time while the German were only in a subordinate position. The occident considered the customs as a means to maintain its vested interests, not a means to regain new interests, thus its main purpose was to guarantee that it could run smoothly under the treaty. But the Chinese modernization provided an opportunity for the foreigner in Chinese customs, thus the customs and the foreigner in it became the intermedium of the Chinese modernization. The foreigners entered the Chinese customs in different ways with different purposes. They had to consider not only their own interests, but also the interests of their own country. They were always potential threats due to their nationalities. But they were indispensability due to the need of the Chinese modernization. How to balance them was a complex and subtle question, history here provided us a vivid scene. This article mainly study the German of the Chinese Customs, in order to find out how they choose under that circumstance, thus provide some history experience for the present.