清政府对英国羁縻之术的运用——兼论第一批不平等条约的签订

The Qing Government's Placatory Policy-Signing of the first set of unequal treaties

在第一次鸦片战争及战后签约活动中 ,传统的“夷狄”观念对清政府的影响随处可见。在战争进程中 ,清政府对英国的战与和 ,实际上是古代中原中央王朝对周边“夷狄”对策的翻版 ;而战后所签订的第一批不平等条约在很大程度上也是这种观念的产物 ,用“羁縻”手法对英国等西方国家进行笼络 。

After the First Opium War and during the signing of the postwar treaties,the Qing government was greartly influenced by the traditional view of “barbarism”.During the war,the Qing government policy of peace or war was actually the copied version of the strategies adopted by the ancient central government for dealing with the relations with its neighboring “barbaric nationalities ”.And the unequal treaties signed after the war were,to a large extent,the result of the view,that is,the western countries like the U.K. could be placated by the use of “placartory art” so that they would not intrude onto the Chinese territory.