A Study On The Foreign Concepts Of Yuan Shih-Kai

Yuan Shih-Kai served as Trade Affairs Minister on Joseon,the Governor of Shandong,the Governor-general of Zhili Province and the Minister of Beiyang,the Grand Councillor of State and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,the President of the Republic of China and so on.Yuan Shih-Kai played a significant role in the relations between China and foreign countries in modern.After the First Opium War,China were opened up by the foreign countries' strong guns,than the foreign civilizations runs through China and Chinese traditional foreign concepts was challenged.In the change situation,Yuan Shih-Kai gradually changed his traditional foreign concepts.This article will discuss Yuan Shih-Kai's foreign concepts from those aspects:the formation and development of his foreign concepts,the cognition about the western civilization,the understanding of the international order,the change from advocating war to supporting peace,the attitude about treaty relations and international law.Yuan Shih-Kai's external concept is deeply influenced by his educational background,growth experience,and experience of his appointment.The traditional concept also has a profound influence on him.It mainly come from class officials,foreigners,overseas students,old-style members,ambassadors,new style newspapers,and translations.In terms of the cognition of the western civilization,including political,economy,military and education culture,etc.In terms of understanding the international order,he insisted on suzerain-vassal relations early.After the Sino-Japanese War of 1894,the suzerain-vassal relationship has been broken,he gave up the suzerain-vassal relationship.Then he recognized the world rules is Power doctrine and "law of the jungle".In the same time,he advocated the alliance gradually,and opposed the world war in order to maintain peace.In terms of the choice of peace and war,the Sino-Japanese War of 1894 was a boundary.He experienced a transition from belligerent to peace-loving.Before the war,he advocated the handling of Chinese and foreign conflicts by the war.After the war,he tried to avoid wars and sought to reconcile.This choice based on the judgment of Chinese and foreign powers and the consideration the interests of the regime.In terms of the attitude about treaty relations and international law,Yuan Shih-Kai insisted on that the treaty must be adhered and it can be amended,but cannot repealed.He also advocates the use of treaties and international law to safeguard national interests.Under the treaty relationship,his diplomatic etiquette changed from the traditional to the modernized features,but it still keeps the traditional color.Yuan Shih-Kai has an open-minded attitude toward the outside world.He advocated opening to outside world and introduced Western advanced civilizations.However,he was a member of the old-style.bureaucracy,so that he was obviously conservative and still cannot completely accept modern civilization.His foreign concepts had national sovereignty consciousness.At the same time,it had compromise due to the need to self-interest and the reality of a poor country.His foreign concept promoted the development of modern China and maintained a peace relationship between China and foreign countries slightly.However,the national rights of modern China were still harmed seriously because of historical and personal limitations.