The Study Of Chinese National Status Cognition During The First Opium War

During the first opium war, Chinese national cognition began to change. In the aspect of culture, china still stick to the traditional idea that china is "the celestial empire"which is more superior than other country. The opium war had result in changes of Chinese national status cognition, mainly in three aspects:1.the change of people’s behavior and perception.2. The change of general mood of society.3.the change of ideological trend. This paper take the recognition of Chinese about "English barbarian"as an angle of view,regarding the three aspects above as observational targets and discuss about it.The idea of "barbarian" in Chinese mind had drastic changed during opium war period which reflect that Chinese also had a violent change in national status cognition. All the time,the attitude of Daoguang emperor towards "barbarian" have been considered as an expression of incompetent. Seldom people will find that the connection between the emperor’s behavior and perception of Chinese national status cognition. The cognition of "English barbarian" military power of Chinese important officials changed during the opium war.The idea of "China is superior than other countries" was disillusioned. Country strength status is one element that consist of national status. The dominant position of Chinese country strength had already fade away. Chinese officials’ cognition of national status was influenced. The conflicts between people and "barbarian" happened frequently after the war but in a different way. The general mood of society changed. Some scholars propose that "the celestial empire" should learn from western "barbarian" which result in a large number of western learning books be published. Chinese traditional national status cognition had a drastic change.This paper mainly have a discussion about Chinese national status cognition. Seeing people’s cognition as a foundation, This paper help you to think deeply about the effect of opium war on Chinese national status cognition.