Zhang Zhidong’s Diplomatic Thinking To Japan

Zhang zhidong was a senior politician who paid more attention on count events for forty years in late Qing dynasty. Although zhang zhidong didn’t directly host foreign affairs,his diplomatic thinking had an important impact on the Qing dynasty, among of which, the evolution of the diplomatic thoughts to Japan had three main stages.The first stage was before1881Zhang Zhidong as a said officer, he claimed to unite Japan to fight Russia. As negotiating the Yili problem between China and Russia, Zhang Zhidong claimed to unite Japan,there were two reason.One was to distroy the Russian route of retreat, to prevent Japan and Russia’s collusion,the other was that the Japanese were weak in strength so it was easy for me to control. This were mainly affected by the traditional Confucian education background and the Jimi policy.The second stage was between the sino-french war and the sino-japanese war,Zhang Zhidong claimed to ally with Russia to fight Japan. In this period Zhang Zhidong absorbed in the Westernization Movement,as a number from Qingliu to Yangwu, recognized the importance of enriching the country and increasing its military force.Howere he didn’t have a clear understanding on Japan,didn’t pay attention on it. In the sino-japanese war Zhang Zhidong had always insisted on battle,even after concluding the treaty,he still supported the people of Taiwan to carry on the self-preservation movement.As the failure was a foregone for the Qing court,Zhang Zhidong tried to boycott Japan by knotting the power countries.He had sought to Britain and Russia for assistance, and finally China reached an agreement with Russia.With the help of Russia,China recovered the Liaodong peninsula.In this context,the national rise a pro-Russian wave,but it also laid hidden dangers.The last stage was that it was caused by Russia and Germany to carving up Chinese,Zhang Zhidong advocated the complete alliance with Japan.The Germany’s invasion of Jiaozhou event and the Russia’s occupation of Lvda event,that proved the complete failure of the policy about allying Russia.Zhang Zhidong was urgent to find an alliance country to instead of Russia and Germany.At this moment,Japan showed an olive branch to China.Undering the comprehensive consideration Zhang Zhidong decided to learn Japanese deeply.He sent students to Japan and introduct Japanese advisers to guide Chinese New Deal reforms.