Qi Shan, Re-assessment In The Opium War

Qi Shan was authorized to negotiate with the English during the opium war. His ideology changed while he took representions with the English .In the meantime ,his policy on the English changed. His change was representative of his stratum and had a characteristic of the era, which deserves being studied. This thesis divided into four chapters, tries to probe into Qi Shan's position and action in the campaign for banning opium and his policy on the English during the opium war.Chapter One is the preface of the thesis, which is a summary of the study of Qi Shan, advancing that Qi Shan deserves being studied.Chapter Two inspects Qi Shan's position and action in the campaign for banning opium. The thesis considers that Qi Shan advocated banning opium in the discussion about opium in 1838 and Qi Shan's method of banning opium was fair and reasonable and feasible. Though Qi Shan gave a poor account of himself in the early stage of the campaign, he had a great success in the later stage.Chapter Three inquires into Qi Shan's policy on the English during the early stage of the opium war while he was the head of the government of Zhili Province. The thesis holds that Qi Shan advocated war formerly but no longer he changed his view and advocated peace taking account of something.Chapter Four studies the military and foreign policy of Qi Shan while he was in Canton .The thesis holds that Qi Shan adopted a double-faced tactics which contained preparing against war and short for. What is more, the thesis has tries to probe into the ideological root and the internal intention of his Canton Policy and summarize the characteristic of his military and foreign policy in Canton.