The Transmutation Of Traditional Chinese Foreign Relations In The Modern Path

Foreign affairs are the external of the internal affairs of a country. Therefore, the goals, content, system and mechanism of foreign affairs of a country are influenced by its political theory and situation.Modern time ago, there were no so-called foreign affairs, only "Li-fan" in China, for a long time China had been confined to the traditional "Li-fan" system, and the feudal rulers stuck to the position of masters and to the diplomatic theory of ruling and appeasing other countries. To the end of Qing Dynasty, this backward "Li-fan" system was improved and perfected. Before the modern times, the "Li-fan" system had a lot of negative effects on the Chinese society, which hindered China's communication and relation with the outside world and made China lose the historic chance of entrance to the world.The defeat of the Opium War that was from 1840 to 1842 broke the pattern of Chinese foreign affairs under the "Li-fan" system, and produced tremendous impacts on the Qing government's diplomatic theories and systems. Facing the fact that "The changes took place for the first time since thousands of years ago", some advanced patriotic personages took actions to reflect and criticize profoundly the concept of Chinese traditional foreign affairs, and on the basis of this, they rationally absorbed western advanced diplomatic ideas, thus facilitated establishment of modern diplomatic ideas in China, with its domination, the foreign affairs of late Qing government became modernization.In 1861,due to the changes of situation at home and abroad, and changes of part of the top ruler's ideas, the Qing government established the "the Tsungli Yamen" which was the first central diplomatic mechanism in modern China. As the first diplomatic mechanism, "the Tsungli Yamen" inevitably had some weak points, however, it had existed for forty years and played an important role in the Qing Dynasty foreign affairs."The Tsungli Yamen" was the beginning of the diplomatic mechanism in modern China, but after the establishment of which, the Qing government didn't actively sent diplomatic missions to the foreign counties, which had signed treaties with China. Later with the urge of foreign great powers and the domestic foreign affairs officials, the Qing government preliminarily set up the modern diplomatic envoys system in 1876,and step-by-step realized its modernization.In 1901, "the Tsungli Yamen" was transformed into the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, mainly because of the pressure from the great powers and the unequal treaties imposed on the Qing government, however, the establishment of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs conformed to the tendency of the reform and improvement of the modern diplomatic mechanism, and it was an important step in the standardization and internationalization of China's modern diplomatic mechanisms.