道、咸朝中西平等关系的较量——以士大夫的认知变化为视角

Contest of Chinese-Western Equality Relations during the Reigns of Daoguang and Xianfeng from the Scholar-officials' Perspective

封贡制度向近代条约体制让步是晚清的一个显著特点。经过两次鸦片战争,"天朝上国"中国被迫承认与西方列强在外交上的平等关系,西方列强不再是不受中华文化所醇化的"化外之邦",而是与中国平等的敌体国家。中国虽然被纳入条约体系,但是以中国为中心的封贡关系亦能维持,故士大夫的"天朝上国"心理还很普遍,多数士人在心理上仍顽固地视西方各国为蛮夷之邦。

It is a remarkable characteristic in the late Qing Dynasty that Tributary System made a con-cession to modern treaty system.After two opium wars,the overconfident China was forced to admit the e-qual relationship with western powers in foreign affairs.And they were no longer “foreign countries beyond being nurtured by the Chinese culture”,but equal enemy states with China.Although China was brought into the treaty system,the Tributary System centered on China could be maintained.Therefore,the psy-chology of the Chinese scholar-officials’imperial court was still general,and many of them were still stub-bornly taking western countries as barbarian ones psychologically.