Visiting And Imitating The West:Observe Their Understanding About The West And The New Deal Measures In The Diaries Of The Late Qing Imperial Family’s Missions

The imperial family of the Qing Dynasty was different from those of the previous dynasties.Not only did they achieve great military achievements during the early years of the Qing Dynasty,but they also played a significant role in assisting the emperor in handling daily affairs of the state.Undoubtedly,the Qing imperial family was an important pillar for the establishment and implementation of the Qing Dynasty’s rule.After the Opium War,the Qing Dynasty faced a crisis in governance,and a large number of imperial family members became active in the political center of the Qing court,becoming an important force in maintaining the Qing Dynasty’s rule.Following the Boxer Rebellion,the Qing Dynasty’s rule became increasingly precarious.Empress Dowager Cixi announced the implementation of the New Policies,and the younger imperial family members,having experienced the national crisis,also felt a deep sense of crisis.Many imperial family members actively participated in the New Policies.During the New Policies period,the young imperial family members of the Qing Dynasty went through a process of transition from being forced to send Zai Feng to Germany to apologize,to actively sending Zai Zhen to attend the celebration of the British king,and ultimately sending Zai Ze to study politics overseas.The dispatch of young imperial family members overseas also became a symbol of the Qing court gradually opening its eyes to the world.After returning from their visits to Europe,the dispatched imperial family members often left behind their travel diaries,such as Zai Feng’s "Diary of the Mission to Germany",Zai Zhen’s "Diary of the British Visit",and Zai Ze’s "Political Inspection Diary".These travel diaries recorded their experiences visiting Europe and their firsthand perceptions and understanding of Europe and America.It can be seen from the diaries that their overseas experiences broadened the horizons of the young imperial family members and made them realize the necessity and urgency of imitating Western institutional reforms.Upon returning to China,they became the main force in promoting the New Policies.The younger imperial family members,represented by Zai Feng,Zai Zhen,and Zai Ze,leveraged their unique political status and exposure to the Western world during their visits to Europe to make remarkable achievements in imitating Western politics through the New Policies reforms.Thanks to their direct observations of the politics of various Western countries during their travels,they achieved some success in imitating the Western-style reforms.However,as their understanding of Western countries deepened,the young imperial family members should have clearly understood the core principle of Western constitutionalism,which was to limit the power of the monarch.But the New Policies did not develop into a Western-style constitutionalism that would limit the power of the monarch,even as their knowledge of the West grew.Moreover,although the younger imperial family members had similar overseas experiences and maintained a unified stance in upholding imperial power,they did not conspire together to promote the New Policies.Instead,they became embroiled in power struggles and internal conflicts within the New Policies reforms.The political privileges of the Qing dynasty’s imperial clan came from the imperial power,and their status gave them natural political privileges while also making them share fortunes and misfortunes with the imperial power,so they inevitably prioritized maintaining the imperial power.With a deeper understanding of Western constitutionalism during their visits to Europe,the younger members of the imperial clan were aware of the feature of limiting imperial power,but they attempted to evade it in various ways and tried to maintain the imperial power while developing a new government system that imitated the West.This kind of new political reform that evaded limiting imperial power,and only superficially imitated Western systems,could only have a limited impact.The imperial clan and royal officials,constrained by their status and abilities,never pushed the new government system into a substantive constitutional stage,but instead,they insisted on maintaining imperial power and became embroiled in internal political struggles during the new political reform.Therefore,the new political reform not only failed to solve the crisis of the Qing dynasty’s rule but also further stimulated the discontent of the people.Ultimately,the new political reform ended with the overthrow of the Qing dynasty.