On The Travel And Understanding Of Chinese In Italy In The Late Qing Dynasty

The contacts between China and Italy have a long history.From the Han and Tang dynasties to the late Ming and early Qing dynasties,the traffic between the two countries has been for more than a thousand years.However,the communication between China and Italy in ancient times was mostly initiated by Italy.Therefore,the early Chinese people’s understanding of Italy was mostly hearsay imaginary rumors,and their impression and knowledge of Italy were shallow and untrue.Until the Opium War of 1840,the Qing government began to go through thousands of years of unpredictable changes,and some people with insight began to yearn to understand and re-understand the outside world,and gradually paid attention to and studied Western countries.As a component of the outside world,Italy has gradually entered the horizons of the Chinese,appearing in some early geography works that understand the world.The authors of these works mostly obtained information about Italy through indirect means,and their understanding of Italy is still insufficient.With the further opening of China’s gate,a small number of Chinese people began to go abroad to travel overseas,and have written accounts of what they had seen and heard overseas.In the communication with foreign countries,the Qing government also gradually realized the necessity of sending envoys to foreign countries.During the period of Tongzhi,they finally began to send Bin Chun,Zhi Gang,and others to travel to Western Thailand to investigate foreign affairs.As the first group of Chinese people sent abroad by officials in the late Qing Dynasty,they personally experienced or passed through Italy and felt different customs and customs from China,showing us the image of Italy in the eyes of early overseas Chinese.However,most of them are astray,lacking a detailed study of Italy.After the 1870 s,due to the continuous development of the Westernization Movement and the increasing frequency of China-China diplomatic exchanges,the Qing government gradually changed its diplomatic position,officially sent diplomatic ambassadors to Western countries,and established a mission system.Subsequently,many Chinese,mainly officials of the late Qing Dynasty,went to European countries to conduct field inspections,and recorded foreign experiences.These overseas travel records recorded all aspects of Italian history and geography,politics and economy,culture and education,and local customs,and reflected the journey of travellers to the West.They traveled and inspected in Italy,and their understanding of Italy’s overall situation,religious civilization,culture,and art became increasingly perfect.On this basis,Shiren took a mirror and compared it with China,and reflected on introspection,hoping to learn from it and strive for self-reliance.