Chapter 35 Chapter 32 Negotiations between China and the West in the Early Stage

Nothing in the world remains the same. People, because they are slow in feeling, or their behavior is sluggish even though they have feelings, will not pay attention to the changes in the outside world and accumulate small amounts to make them feel difficult. Just like the house we live in, we refuse to clean it until New Year's Eve, so the dust accumulates, and we have to work hard to clean it.This has already been said in the introduction.Since the history of China, it can be said that the environment has not changed greatly.There are some nomadic peoples in the north who invade our borders by force, but because their culture is relatively backward, they cannot change our way of life, and they have to abandon their way of life to follow us, so after several years After that, it is assimilated by us.When they are not assimilated, because of their small number, there is a limit to their tyranny and plunder, and it cannot last for a long time.So we never thought it was a huge problem, but fundamentally changed our way of life to deal with it.As for foreign civilizations, not all of them were imported into China.The dearest of these is, of course, the religion of India.The second is the ancient Greek civilization, which was spread in the East, and it was imported after the transportation between China's land and the Western Regions, and the sea and the Southwest Ocean.Afterwards, the civilization of Dashi was also imported into China.But after all, religion is a superstructure, and the foundation of life remains unchanged. It is not accurate to say that a religion will really have a great impact on the whole society.Therefore, after Buddhism was introduced into China, it failed to Indianize the lives of Chinese people. On the contrary, Buddhism itself changed to suit our lives.Read the fifty-fourth chapter can be seen.The rest of the civilization, whether it is material or spiritual, has a more "detailed" impact on society.Therefore, although China has been in constant contact with the outside world, it has received very little external influence.The civilization of modern Europe and the West can change the basis of life, so that our way of life has to undergo a complete change, and the difficulties we have to deal with begin from then on.But the hope of a brighter future and greater happiness rests on this great change.

There are two ways for Westerners to come from the east: sea and land.And the sea route is divided into two routes: 1. Travel eastward from the Atlantic Ocean, bypass the Cape of Good Hope in 1516 AD, and then go to Southeast Asia, India and China.2. Traveling westward from the Atlantic Ocean, discovered America in 1492, and circled the earth in 1519, all of which happened during the reign of Emperor Wuzong of the Ming Dynasty.In the early days, it was Spain and Portugal that dominated the sea. Later, Britain and the Netherlands took over, and their power was overwhelming.But in China, because the Portuguese monopolized Macau, its power still surpassed other countries. This was the situation in the late Ming Dynasty.In the early Qing Dynasty, due to the agreement with the Dutch to attack the Zheng family in Taiwan, their merchant ships were allowed to go to Guangdong every eight years. However, their power was far from the enemy of Portugal.We tried to read the older books, and when we talked about the so-called Westernization at that time, we always used the four words "commercial mission" at the same time.Indeed, our initial contacts with Westerners involved nothing more than these two things.Commerce is a way of benefiting both, but the import and export products at this time are still of a luxury nature and are not necessary for the people of the whole country. However, we have always been afraid of him from the beginning when the Westerners came from the East in modern times.Why is this?First, China fears pirates militarily.Because the navigation skills in the past were not good, it was not easy to overthrow the pirates' bases, and it was even impossible to find their bases.2. Although China invented gunpowder, it failed to make modern guns.The guns and cannons of modern times were indeed made by Westerners, and their ships were taller than ours, so they were invincible militarily.3. People from the West who come from the East are naturally adventurers, and they will inevitably behave violently.And because of preaching, the fear of China has been increased.The spread of modern Christianity in the East was started by the Jesuits.Its follower, Matteo Ricci, first arrived in Macau in 1581, which was the fifth year of Ming Shenzong Wanli.Later, it was offered to the Beijing court, and Shenzong allowed it to build a Catholic Church.At that time, the missionary work of the Christians was based on science, and they followed Chinese customs. The Chinese could not help but worship the heavens, ancestors, and Confucius.As a result, two factions emerged in China's reaction: One, like Xu Guangqi and Li Zhizao, obeyed their science and therefore believed in their religion.The second is like Yang Guangxian in the early Qing Dynasty, who were particularly suspicious because of his proficiency in learning skills and enthusiasm for preaching.At that time, the value of science was not easily recognized by ordinary people, and the views of the latter school naturally gained power easily.However, civilization imported from foreign countries has a long history in China.At that time, the old Muslim calendar was not as good as the Western calendar, and it was enough for the Chinese to use priests. What's more, the war with the Manchus was so fierce that priests were needed to make guns?Therefore, in 1616, after the spread of Christianity was banned for a time, in 1621, the ban was lifted because the priests were ordered to make guns.Later, he was quoted in the calendar.In the early Qing Dynasty, Tang Ruowang (Joannes Adams Schall Von Bell) was also appointed because of the calendar.In the early years of Shengzu, he was attacked by Yang Guangxian and lost power for a while.Later, he died due to the shortcomings of the old law, and Nan Huairen (Ferdinandus Verbiest) was reappointed.The Holy Patriarch was quite interested in science, and he quoted a lot of priests during his reign. However, he still had a fundamental fear of Westerners.Therefore, in his imperial anthology, he once said that "Western countries, after thousands of years, China will suffer from them."This was unsurprising under the circumstances at the time.On the one hand in China, there is this kind of mentality lurking, but in the West, there is another school of priests who attacks Matteo Ricci and the Pope, saying that they sell their teachings for glory and allow Chinese believers to worship idols.So the Pope sent Tourmon to China to ban it.How could this be explained clearly in China at that time?So the Holy Patriarch was furious, and returned Doro to Macau, and ordered the Portuguese to take care of it, and made all the priests who did not abide by Matteo Ricci's last law quit (the Pope still did not change his opinion, and he would not punish the priests from now on with breaking the door. The priests who preached to China were no longer able to obey the habits of the Chinese, which was also one of the reasons for the estrangement between China and the West).In 1717, Chen Ang, the general of Jieshi Town, said: "Catholics gather in churches in various provinces, especially inside and outside Guangzhou, which may cause trouble. Please strictly prohibit the old rules." Xu Zhi. In 1723, the governor of Fujian and Zhejiang requested that all the people except those who had been sent to serve in Beijing be resettled in Macau; the Catholic churches in all provinces were also allowed to be converted into public houses.Christianity has since been banned from spreading, but its secrecy remains the same.In Chinese society, there used to be a so-called cult, whose content was only obtained from legends, which was very bizarre (from this point of view, knowing the legends of so-called cults in the past, there must be many slanderous remarks), so all of them were Attached to Christianity; coupled with the shame of the defeat in the war, the mission was allowed because of the defeat, and there was suspicion of using military force to spread it, so it lay down the roots of the teaching plan for decades.As for trade, it seemed politically unnecessary to maintain it at the time.Since there is a mentality of fearing evil outsiders, it is forbidden, and it is not impossible.But this is based on reasoning. In fact, the handling of a matter is always dominated by the opinions of powerful people.Although the commerce at that time had little to do with the national economy and the people's livelihood, it was a great benefit for officials and businessmen. How could it be prohibited?Since it is preserved for self-interest, it is natural to refuse to exploit outsiders, which lays down the bane of the subsequent five-port trade.In the early days, the transportation by sea was only related to commercial and missionary affairs, but when it came to land transportation, it had political connections from the beginning.The invaders in the north were peoples from the Mongolian plateau, not Siberia. This has been a constant historical situation for thousands of years.But when the influence of modern Europe developed outwards, the situation changed. At the end of the 15th century, the Russians broke away from Mongolia and became independent.At that time, the Kazak people also attached to Russia (Kazak, that is, Cossacks), and they were slightly eastward.So the vast land of Siberia was occupied successively.By the end of the Ming Dynasty, it reached the Sea of ​​Okhotsk, harassed and reached Heilongjiang.At the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, due to the unrest in the country, there was no time to take care of the foreign turmoil. When the San Francisco was leveled, the holy ancestor used troops abroad.As a result, there was the "Treaty of Nerchinsk" in 1688, which stipulated that the Ergun River in the west, the Geerbiti River in the east, and the Waixing'an Mountains be the boundary. Russian merchants could go to the capital every three years.This treaty allowed China to gain a vast territory, but the Russians believed that it was made by coercion with military force, and they were dissatisfied with it. However, China was unable to manage its border areas with strength, so it lay down the root of the two treaties of Wuwu and Gengshen in Xianfeng.When the "Treaty of Nerchinsk" was signed, the border issue between China and Russia was still limited to the northeast.Afterwards, Outer Mongolia surrendered to China (the former Mongolia had trade relations with the Qing Dynasty, but it was only a prison), so the border affairs between Russia and Mongolia became the border affairs between China and Russia.In 1727, there was the "Treaty of Kyakta", which stipulated that the border west of the Ergun River ended at Sabinda Baha.Since then, the west is still an undetermined boundary.From 1755 to 1759, China successively pacified the Zhunbu and Huibu, especially the borders between the Northwest and Russia, and the boundary problem was not resolved until Xianfeng.

Modern Europeans came to Guangdong to seek trade in 1516, and it has been more than 300 years since the five-port trade.But before the five-port trade agreement, China did not feel that it was in a different world, and it still kept its old tradition of being closed and independent.In 1685, the sea ban was opened in the Qing Dynasty, and four customs were set up in Macao, Zhangzhou, Ningbo, and Yuntai Mountain.Later, Ningbo's trade was moved to Dinghai, and the trade was most prosperous in Guangdong.At that time, in China, the power of trade was in the hands of the public, and the exploitation of outsiders was quite deep.The outsiders feel grievances, so they unite with Guangdong and tend to Zhejiang. In 1758, Emperor Gaozong of the Qing Dynasty ordered the customs of Zhejiang to be closed and expelled to Guangdong, so the grievances of outsiders became even worse.The United Kingdom sent envoys to China twice in 1792 and 1810 to request improvement of trade methods, but no results were obtained.At that time, Chinese officials could not manage outsiders and left all their affairs to the public bank.All negotiations between officials and outsiders are indirect.Since 1781, the British trade in China has been exclusively controlled by the East India Company.His agent is called Taipan in China, and all negotiations are done with him. In 1834, the company's patent rights were annulled.China said that it was inconvenient for scattered merchants to control them, and ordered them to send another big class.The British sent commercial supervisors and consuls here one after another, but the Chinese still regarded him as Taipan, and the government refused to negotiate with him on an equal footing.Occasionally, opium is imported too much, and because the import and export do not balance, the export of silver is very large.Silver was used as currency in the Qing Dynasty, and the shortage of silver was so severe that the finances were first affected by it.Then there was the burning of Lin Zexu in 1839, which led to a war between China and Britain. As a result, a treaty was signed in Nanjing in 1842.China ceded Hong Kong and opened five ports of trade with Guangzhou, Xiamen, Fuzhou, Ningbo, and Shanghai.Abolish the merchants.Chinese and British officials have stipulated communication etiquette.As a result, the British used to regard themselves as the Celestial Empire, and the British had no base on land, and the restrictions on trade were removed.After the British agreement, France, the United States, and Sweden also entered into treaties with China one after another.But the Russians are still not allowed to do business in Haikou.The long-standing estrangement between China and the West can be resolved in a short time without the use of military coercion.Then came the conflict of 1857.Guangzhou fell and extended to Beijing and Tianjin.Emperor Wenzong of the Qing Dynasty went to Rehe for it.As a result, there were two treaties of Tianjin and Beijing in 1858 and 1860.This is the so-called Xianfeng Wuwu and Gengshen battles.The two Anglo-French treaties concluded the rights acquired by outsiders after five ports of trade.Consular judgments, customs agreements, inland commerce, travel, missionary work, and foreign envoys are all regulated in these two treaties.Although the "Tianjin Treaty" of the United States was exchanged in peace, because each treaty has a most-favored-nation clause, the United States can enjoy the rights enjoyed by Britain and France without a single soldier.As for Russia, since the 19th century, it has gradually managed the East with its strength.By 1850, the land in the north of Heilongjiang was practically exhausted.In 1858, he coerced Heilongjiang general Yishan and concluded the "Aihui Treaty", cutting off the north of Heilongjiang and taking the land east of Wusuli River as a joint administration of the two countries. In 1860, under the pretext of mediating the war between Britain and France, he established the "Beijing Treaty" and cut off the east of the Ussuri River.As for how the northwest boundary should be divided, a rough outline is also stipulated in this covenant.First, Yili and Talbahatai have allowed Russia to do business, and then opened Kashgar, and the right to trade and preach in Haikou is also the same as that of other countries.Moreover, it is stipulated that Russians can enter Beijing from Kyakta via Kulun and Zhangjiakou.Official documents between the capital and Kyakta have to travel through the station.As a result, the gates of Mongolia and Xinjiang were also opened.To sum up: from 1838 when Lin Zexu was sent to Guangdong to investigate the Haikou Incident, to 1860 when all countries signed the "Beijing Treaty", China's initial negotiations with foreign countries came to an end.It involves: (1) Westerners can do business in Haikou, (2) go to the inland for business, travel, and missionary work, (3) taxation, (4) trial, (5) coastal navigation, (6) Sino-Russian land route Trade, and (7) border issues.