Scene Of China Described By Korean Envoys During Late Qing Dynasty(1850-1895)

The relationship between China and Korea is the most important form of diplomacy among East Asian countries during Ming to Qing dynasty.It contributed a lot to the international communication and regional security in a long stage.Stepping into modern age,especially by the time of 1860 s,large numbers of changes appeared in both the inner society and international environment.The envoys from Korea,who maintained and witnessed this kind of relationship personally,may owned keen insight about these differences,for which it is valuable to begin the discussion with their points of view.In the beginning of this study,ti's necessary to review the relationship before 1850 between the two countries,and then the tribute records after that stage,about which we will talking here,are also listed out.Then it comes to 1850-1890 s,the circumstances of China to which the envoys paid more attention mainly including the following aspects:Economic circumstances showed firstly,including commercial trading ? monetary policy ?transportation on the Great Canal and agriculture development of late Qing dynasty,which commonly resulted in a complex fact that it seems like there was some progress when it comes to agricultural commercialization on the one hand,but on the other hand,a serious quake happened in financial system at the same time,canal transportation cannot keep how it used to be,either.Destructive political events occurred frequently in the four decades which refers to wars ?diplomacy affairs ? corruption and social safety problems,are discussed then..All of these problems are closely bound to each other,having direct effect not only on Chinese but also on Koreans.Cultural environment,take religion and folk customs as a example,is what we should talk about in the next part.Resulted from corresponding policy of certain stage,there might be some differences when Korean bystanders thinking about it as time went by.Envoys' impression of people met in China is not forgotten.Koreans kept touching with Chinese with various classes?cultural backgrounds and characters during the journey,and generally improved their attitude to them,tending to showing their respect and agreement.Meanwhile,their cognition of foreigners in China also got deeper than before.From the discourse,we'll know the appearance of Chinese society according to the description of Koreans,and analyse its effect on the adjustment of Korean policy to China,and make a conclusion that these adjustments the centrifugal tendency of Korea to Qing court.