Over the last seventy years, there has been increasing interest in the nation-state of China and its actions within the global community. While significant literature critiquing the development of the nation-state of the People’s Republic of China is available, there is a noticeable dearth of translated primary documents from Chinese sources. This project aims to examine and translate a selection of Chinese primary sources that shed light on documents which show early schools of thought that have influenced the creation of China’s foreign policy, which remains active to this day.
Through a selection of sources from three time periods between the Opium War and the Hundred Days Reform, this translation project aims to show the changes and continuities in the development of early Chinese foreign policy and as the state came to terms with its own desired self-image.
The three time periods were chosen due to their significance as defining turning points in late imperial Chinese history. The first period, the Opium Wars (1840-1861) mark an end of long-time Chinese isolationist policy after a devastating defeat to foreign powers. As the illusion of Chinese supremacy in a newly industrialized global community was shattered, China entered into a period of division between 1861-1895 in the Self-Strengthening movement. Finally, in the third period of the Hundred Day Reform 1898, the last days of imperial China is observed for the development of the ideal of a continuously improving “youthful China.”
The choice of the texts for each period is intended to provide a few qualitative case studies for the origin of some of the philosophy and rhetoric prominently featured in CCP rhetoric today.