Shishu Zhang Deyi Understanding Of Western Culture

In the second half of the 19^th century, the western countries had finished the industrial revolution and the capitalism had reached a relatively high stage, which needed more raw materials and dumping places. Regarded China as a most promising colony, western countries hoped that it could be opened more widely. Western countries demanded Chinese to make more visits to the West and dispatched the ambassadors to communicate with them directly. Under the strong demand of the western countries and the active encouragement of the Westernization Group, The Qing Dynasty began to dispatch ambassador to western countries. From the organization of tour package at the beginning to the construction of resident ambassador, the modern ambassadorial system was established in China. Under this background, Zhang De-yi, a graduate from the Capital foreign Language School, was sent to western countries for eight times. He worked as an interpreter, suite, counselor and finally as an ambassador to England. He stayed in foreign countries as long as half of his life and wrote down something he had seen, heard and felt with the form of diary called"The Legend".This thesis lays emphasis on Zhang De-yi's cognition of western culture and his comment on the western customs and cultures he had seen at that time. This thesis also objectively analyzes the process of his thoughts in his diplomatic life and affirms the role of Zhang De-yi and his book in promoting Sino-western culture exchange.The thesis is divided into four sections:Section 1: Summarizing the life experience and background of Zhang De-yi.Section 2: Mainly commenting on Zhang De-yi's cognition of western culture recorded in"The Legend".Section 3: Analyzing Zhang De-yi's cognition of western culture and studying the process of his thoughts in his diplomatic life.Section 4: Discussing the role of Zhang De-yi and his book in promoting Sino-western culture exchange.