Question

The Qing had a variety of methods by which they conducted foreign affairs. Looking at the time period from the formation of the dynasty until 1839, discuss the different foreign affairs strategies used by the Qing, any underlying ideologies, and their significance/impact for post-1839 foreign interaction

Answer 1

China’s resurgence as an economic powerhouse in recent years has
engendered a flurry of research and journalism, which tries to pinpoint the
elusive cause for such a steady and methodical growth of their GDP. 1 China’s
consistent yearly growth has stunned and awed the world.Westernized nations,
who continually struggle with the cyclical – boom and bust - nature of modern
economics, have found a contemporary miracle in the rapid growth and
development of China. Furthermore,Westernized nations have recently turned
to China for financing as their own economies teeter on the verge of global
meltdown.2
It is evident, through historical analysis, that this is not the first
time China has been an economic powerhouse; history certainly has a tendency
to repeat itself.
At the height of the Qing Dynasty, 250 years ago, China had its first
formal contact with European nations.The Qing ruled over the most
economically prosperous empire of that time.Through sheer size, the Qing was
able to expand its sphere of influence throughout Eastern Asia.3
The Qing, an
established military and ruling dynasty, were the purveyors of fine silks and
spices,coveted by Europeans. However, these initial economic transactions set
into motion a domino effect of change, that no Qing magistrate or political
figure could have anticipated – the permanent end of the dynastic cycle.
A recent influx of research into the developments of information and
attitudes towards foreign policy, towards the end of the Qing dynasty, questions
the traditional assumptions that the Qing were delayed in responding to the
foreign threat ofWestern nations, as previously believed. In fact, these new
revisionists’ arguments posit that the Qing adapted creatively,considering theconfines of an age-old system.Through the use of four primary dissertations
that highlight cutting edge research in this new revisionist camp, this paper will
analyze Qing relations with India and Korea, and the ground breaking
establishment of the ZongliYamen – the first foray in establishing effective
methods of foreign policy.
The four primary dissertations addressed in this paper all touch upon
the new school of thought that analyzes the late Qing through a revisionist lens.
Each paper focuses not on the inevitable collapse of the Qing, but instead on the
success within the last period of their reign.Traditionalist views of history seem
to be constrained around a winner-loser system, and furthermore are meant to
be a linear progression of events.Though it is impossible to say that history is
not without winners and losers, or that basic historical events seem to follow a
linear progression; I believe that it is presumptuous to disregard the
advancements that took place in the late Qing period.Arguably, if it were not
for these improvements and additions perhaps the Qing dynasty would have
ceased to exist fifty years earlier.All four dissertations generate new discussion,
as well as shed positive light upon late Qing China’s foreign policy efforts.

Historians, such as John K. Fairbank, have credited the demise of the
Qing to its inability to adapt to an ever changing global environment, and a
heavy reliance on the traditional Chinese tributary system.4
Fairbank, along
with other traditionalist Chinese historians, addressed several factors that
played a role in the Qing’s inability and ineptitude in addressing the growing
threat posed by encroaching European powers.The Qing have been described as
uninformed and uninterested in the dealings of nations outside the immediate
scope and influence of their own empire.5This general attitude can be described
as Sinocentrism – a model that attributes the demise of the Qing dynasty based
on the cultural perception that China views itself as the center of the universe.6
Traditionalists have relied on the Sinocentric model to express the various
reasons for the overall demise of the great Qing Dynasty for years, however,
new revisionist historians are championing the claim that the Qing’s oven alldemise was not caused by Sinocentrism, but instead was able to survive despite
it.
Analysis of the Qing’s perspectives on India helps shed light on how
China interacted with nations prior to European contact, while also establishing
precedence for their foreign policy methods. Matthew Mosca, analyzes the
various informational channels through which the Qing learned and processed
information in their relationship with both Ottomans and Indians. Mosca’s
research, highlights the bureaucratic bottlenecks that led to misinformation in
the higher ups of the Qing government.7Whereas traditionalists view these
inefficiencies as a foreshadowing of the Qing’s inability to properly transfer
information up through the political system, Mosca instead emphasizes the
ability in which these path ways adapted to meet their respective shortcomings.
As the Qing began to internally address problems of information dissemination,
they also began to restructure their ongoing relationship with Korea.
While Mosca’s work emphasizes the internal changes,contrastingly
Kirk Larsen’s research of the Sino-Korean relationship, during the late Qing
period, highlights an adaptation to the traditional Sinocentric model. Larsen’s
study focuses on the developments of the time, which helped to transition the
Sino-Korean relationship, towards the direction of an autonomous nature.8
Stressing the importance of the development of the ZongliYamen, as well as
emphasizing the cultural differences in economic practices between the Chinese
and Japanese, within Korea, establishes the underlying patterns that created a
shift in the overall foreign policy relationship. Pinpointing the influences of key
individuals and underlying economic reasoning, Larsen challenges age old views
that the Sino-Korean relationship was merely a model of the tributary system.
The implications of this argument in context with the other works help in
establishing a new model of internal change prior to the demise of the Qing
dynasty.
Perhaps no change was more dramatic or influential than the
establishment of the ZongliYamen.The formation of the ZongliYamen, the
formalized political department in charge of foreign relationships, signifies an
amazing shift in cultural views – beyond the scope the Qing – of the Chinese
culture.The ZongliYamen was originally intended to be a temporaryorganization,created to address the growing domestic and foreign issues that
plagued the empire.9 However, through careful diplomacy, the ZongliYamen
was able to generate an astounding sphere of influence, that truly exemplified
the remarkable adaptive nature of the Qing. Both, Richard Horowitz and
Jennifer Rudolph, express in their dissertations, the truly remarkable nature of
the ZongliYamen. Horowitz, approaches the ZongliYamen through the
perspective ofWestern analysis, relating the milestone developments and acts
carried out by the ZongliYamen through the lens of European political models.
Rudolph, takes a more revisionist stance, arguing that the analysis of theYamen,
throughWestern viewpoints, is ineffective in truly understanding the
momentous nature of the establishment and growth of theYamen.10 Rudolph’s
examination addresses the success of theYamen, not the inevitable failure in
rescuing the Qing.
These three revisionist viewpoints express the overarching idea that the
Qing were able to adapt – both internally and externally – to spearhead the
changing world landscape. Neo-traditionalist historians have addressed the
shortcomings which hindered the Qing to accurately and effectively relay
information. Ultimately, they believe the Qing succumbed to the influence of
European power due to their persistent clinging to past foreign policy models,
such as the tributary system, and the ineffectiveness of the ZongliYamen.
However, the works of Mosca, Larsen, and Rudolph depict a contrasting image,
in which the Qing were in fact able to address these shortcomings and adapted
in a remarkable fashion.

Qing and India
To establish a stage for the transformative period in Chinese history,
and most notably under the Qing reign, an examination of the practices and
methods in place, prior to the intervention of European powers is necessary.
The Qing’s interactions and information gathering of India from 1750 to 1847
provides a unique glimpse into the bureaucratic establishments that helped to
collect, translate, validate, and disseminate information to higher authorities.
The term India is used loosely as the Indian subcontinent at the time was a
conglomeration of rival states.The focus, however, is not on the states, but
instead on the growing power and influence the British East India tradecompany had over the entire subcontinent.Though the term India is being used,
it would be fair to substitute British India.
Research of Qing relationships with India is fairly scarce, in fact
Fairbank’s seminal work on the topic, from his opening section titled, “Aims and
Means in China’s Foreign Relations,” has no mention of India or India’s various
kingdoms.11 Furthermore, the traditionalist perspective tends to groups the
cultures of India and China together as societies that had reached a level of
military and political consolidation – the sheer size of these societies had
eliminated opposing or rivaling factions, which so predominantly influenced
European history.12 Due to China’s large scale and scope, they had become
accustomed to influencing and dictating the terms of their environment, not
through military means, as the Europeans had so heavily relied on, but instead
through a political system – the tributary system.The tributary system gave
birth to the larger principle of the Sinocentrism – a China centered world
order.Traditionalists also view the failure of addressing the encroaching
influence of the British as a telltale sign of Sinocentrism.13

Mosca’s research on the Qing’s perspective of India helps establish
precedence for how foreign policy was developed. Once again, the term foreign
policy is used loosely as the Qing had no formal stance towards India for a
substantial period of time. 14 Mosca’s dissertation is not a judgment on the
failure of the Qing to recognize the changing landscape of India, but instead it
focuses on the advantages and disadvantages of the Qing system in
understanding and addressing the growing reach of British power. Organic
changes that were occurring within the system are also highlighted to show
both preemptive and reactionary steps taken to cope with the growing threat.
Communication and perception of India, as well as the Ottomans, hinged on
two main points: geographical knowledge and inherent frontier bureaucracy.
The largest disadvantages to developing an accurate and actionable plan
for the Qing came from inefficiencies in geographical knowledge and frontier
politics. Geographic information at the time was extremely abundant, yet oftenwas contradictory or inaccurate. Similar to other information of the time,
geographical information was slanted by the views of the author, which further
added to the difficulty in compiling a true set of data. Geographic scholars of
the time were not opposed to examining and incorporating information from
Western sources. However, Qing scholars were hesitant to accept any
information without being able to fully analyze the entirety of the information
available.After thorough analysis, scholars were able to resolve issues of
contradictory information, misinformation, and false information – in order to
arrive at the most accurate set of information possible. 15
The confusion and inaccuracy of geographical information was only
worsened by the governmental structure in place.The Qing government had
established frontiers with officials responsible for respective areas.As a
representative structure, officials would only communicate actionable, short
term concerns to superiors as in-actionable, long term concerns were beyond
the scope of the officials’ tenure.16 Historically, the frontier system was useful in
maintaining boarders, however, was ill suited for larger change.
Put another way, the British conquest of India per se was not a ‘problem’ that could be
articulated and debated within the institutional framework designed to handle the
outside world. 17
Though the disadvantages may seem daunting, the increased
information from the expanded empire had given birth to a new grassroots
scholarly group.A sudden increase in popularity of statehood scholarly research
is responsible for spawning individuals such asWeiYuan and Gong Zizhen. It is
important to note that these scholars were generally independent, outside the
confines of politics; their unofficial status allowed them the opportunity to
pursue larger scale work that fell outside the scope of local regents and officials.
Their analysis of all information available allowed them to be the first to suggest
a shift from the old frontier policy system to a more comprehensive system of
analyzing facts as a whole.18
Mosca’s work into the frontier structure and the influences it had on
the informational channels provides insight into why large scale problems were
ineffectively communicated up the political chain, yet also addresses how non-
governmental scholars were meeting this problem.A primary source ofmisinformation listed by Mosca was the lack of accurate and reliable geographic
maps, however, I argue that perhaps the quality of information available at the
time was the best possible, given the technological disadvantages of the time.
Furthermore, better geographic understanding, would have helped the Qing to
realize the reach of British power and influence; however, knowing the scope of
British power would not have been sufficient in leading to change of Qing
policy. Mosca clearly states that the Qing rarely referenced geographic maps;
“…Qing bureaucrats saw the outside world through the lens of their local
frontier, generally in isolation from either scholarly geography or official
reports from elsewhere.” 19
Overall, Mosca’s argument asserts the revisionist perspective, that the
Qing were not unwilling or uninterested in appreciating the daunting risk the
British posed by expanding throughout India, but due to inherent factors, they
were unable to identify the problem as a result of extraneous circumstances.
The ineptitude of geographic information was not caused by a Sinocentric view
the Qing held, but instead due to unreliable information.The Qing were not
unwilling to act on potential threats, but their governmental hierarchy did not
provide a window of opportunity for these concerns to be heard. Luckily, the
Qing were able to change rapidly and react differently when approaching
Korea.

The four dissertations analyzed in this essay clearly show the growing,
albeit small, group of historians who believe that analysis of the late QingTraditionalist, such as Fairbank, focus on the Qing’s inability to assess the
growing threats of European power primarily due to the stagnated views of a
traditionalist society.A society in which the Sinocentric model is supreme and
opposing viewpoints are unwelcome and ‘barbaric’.The Sinocentric model
which establish supremacy through the age old practice of the tributary system.
This walled off, inflexible portrayal of the Qing dynasty, however, is
fairly inaccurate as these historians have shown. It is true that the expansive
nature of the Qing dynasty created inefficiencies in their bureaucratic system;
however, the Qing response rate to a changing geopolitical landscape is fairly
commendable.As Mosca has shown, independent scholars were already fitting
themselves into niche markets of nation based scholarly work – work that was
not possible within the confines of the established system. Similarly, the Qing as
a whole were swift to act in changing political attitudes and approaches in
relation to Korea. Historically relying on minimal interaction, the Qing learned
and adapted from indirect European imperialism, and attempted to mimic a
similar informal imperialistic approach in Korea through an economically
driven approach. Furthermore, the Qing created the ZongliYamen, an
additional branch of government.There had been relatively no changes in
political organizational chart since the initial foundation of the original six
boards.And as Horowitz and Rudolph have shown, the ZongliYamen was not
ineffective in creating and sustaining a nationwide change in addressing foreign
and domestic conflicts.
Though the Qing adapted fairly well, given the circumstances, they still
were unable to sustain the dynasty. Perhaps, though, this was not a fault of these
remarkable change initiatives but instead an inevitable result.The highlighting
factor in each of these revisionists debates is not a focus on the overall outcome,
but instead the success of each of these programs.An unbiased study of events
in isolation provides a greater understanding when they are not made to fit into
a predetermined model.
China has once again skyrocketed, and is quickly approaching the
largest economy in the world.35 Regardless of its ability or inability to adapt to
change during the Qing, it has unlocked the knowhow to strive in the current
world stage. Ironically enough, it seems thatWestern nations are now under thegun in-terms of innovation. Hopefully,Westernized countries will be able to
adapt as successfully as the Qing did, but with a more optimistic outcome.