What kind of influence did the foreign policy of the Qing Dynasty have on our country?

According to its historical development process, the evolution of Qing foreign policy can be roughly divided into four historical periods:

In the first period, 1840 before the Opium War, the Qing Dynasty maintained long-term peace with neighboring countries. At that time, the Qing Dynasty thought that China was superior and powerful, and it was the center of the world. The neighboring countries and even overseas countries were backward and barbaric, and they should pay homage to China. From the beginning of Sino-foreign trade, the rulers of the Qing Dynasty regarded westerners coming to China as barbarians who were not of their own race, and thought that strict precautions should be taken. Under the control of this consciousness, the Qing dynasty basically implemented the policy of closing the country to the outside world at the beginning of the19th century, but still kept Guangzhou as a place for foreign trade and refused to communicate with other countries. It only emphasizes that the other party must admit that China is a country of China, pursue nominal suzerain-vassal and tributary relations, and attach importance to birthright etiquette and other details.

In the second period, the 40' s and 50' s of 19, the Qing Dynasty lacked the concept of sovereignty, but increased its awareness of opening to the world. After the Opium War, western colonialists flocked to China. China's initial reaction was mainly to treat the western invasion from two aspects: race and culture. The purpose of foreign negotiations is not to damage the sovereignty of the country and the actual interests of the nation, but to be content with its own traditions and outdated systems. Therefore, there is often a sad situation of exchanging sovereignty for customization. During the signing of the Wang Xia Treaty, caleb cushing, the American special envoy, threatened to go to Beijing (violating the so-called tributary system) in exchange for the Qing court's concessions on consular jurisdiction, MFN treatment and many other rights. Another typical example is that after the signing of the Beijing Treaty, Emperor Xianfeng hid in the summer resort. He did not grieve to cede Kowloon, and he did not spare huge compensation. However, he believes that sending personnel to Beijing is "the most harmful thing to China", because the ambassador's presence in Beijing is a challenge to the Qing system.

At the same time, due to the invasion of western powers, the Qing Dynasty had a sense of crisis. Stimulated by the Opium War, a group of patriotic enlightened people developed a strong thirst for knowledge. They began to open their eyes to see the world, understand the international situation and study foreign history and geography. Unfortunately, books such as "Map of the Sea Country" and "A Brief Introduction to the World" have not received enough attention in China.

In the third period, 19, from 1960s to 1980s, we organized westernization to strengthen ourselves and controlled foreigners to maintain peace. During this period, under the threat of western military forces, the Qing Dynasty successively implemented passive opening and active introduction. The mainstream of westernization consciousness has also changed from China's foreigner consciousness to westernization consciousness with the west as the object of study and negotiation. In the Second Opium War, the British and French allied forces invaded Beijing and burned the Yuanmingyuan, which completely broke the dream of the rulers of the Qing Dynasty and admitted that they had suffered a "thousand-year-old change" and had to re-understand the world. During the Second Opium War, under the strong protest of western powers, the Qing government stipulated that "foreigners" were called "foreigners" and "westernization" was called "westernization". This is not only a change in name, but also a change in foreign policy. The Tianjin Treaty allowed the Foreign Minister to stay in Beijing, which indicated that western powers began to interfere and control China's internal affairs and diplomacy. The Qing government set up the Prime Minister's yamen to manage all foreign affairs. China Westernization School started a large number of Westernization under the slogan of "self-improvement" and "seeking wealth".

Since the middle of the19th century, the Qing government has mainly relied on the traditional technology of controlling foreigners to handle Sino-foreign relations. The main diplomatic strategy is to control foreign countries and balance diplomacy, that is, to use contradictions between big countries to contain each other. However, the diplomacy of controlling foreigners and balancing power must take interests as bait and lose national interests, and it is only the lesser of the two evils, and the result can only be humiliating the country again and again.

In the fourth period, 19, from the 1990s to the early 20th century, the map reform failed and gradually lost confidence in resisting foreign powers. The way China people resist foreign forces has changed. In the Sino-Japanese War of 1894- 1895, the Qing Empire was defeated by a small Japanese country living here and was forced to sign the treaty of shimonoseki to pay reparations for the ceded land. This not only made the people of China feel great shame, but also stimulated the awakening of the Chinese nation. At the same time, it also triggered a frenzy of the great powers to carve up China. The survival of the Chinese nation is seriously threatened. The introduction of the theory of evolution has made China people feel a stronger sense of crisis. Kang Youwei initiated the National Assembly to restore sovereignty. He studied the historical experience and lessons of political reform in various countries, and finally chose the path of Meiji Restoration in Japan and Peter the Great in Russia, pointing out that "the heart of Peter the Great in Russia is the mental method, and the Meiji government in Japan is the political law". He also asserted: "I am reforming North Korea, but in view of Japan, everything is enough." They don't know that China and Japan have different national conditions. The failure of the Reform Movement of 1898 was due to the conservative forces far exceeding the reformist forces. In the19th century, China lost the last chance to take the initiative to change and choose its own development direction.