Soon after the founding of the Qing Dynasty, it implemented the order of closing the country to the country. It not only cut off international trade with many countries in the world, but also refused to accept advanced technology and a wide range of industrial goods imported from the West. Although many people thought that the Qing court's move was quite inappropriate, after all, the emperor insisted on implementing it, and the ministers and people were also worthy of obedience. Over time, people have adapted to the days of isolation.
But when the time came to the middle and late Qing Dynasty, the negative impact of the closed country came. When the Qing court had to look at the world again, it found that the Qing Empire had already lagged behind the world. So what made the Qing court choose to cut off contact with the world after completing the great cause of reunification?
Map of the Qing Empire
Feudal rulers believed that self-sufficiency could be accomplished
Since the Qing court entered the Central Plains, the process of Sinicization was soon completed. Not only are language, behavior, and moral standards traditional, but even thought is slowly changing.
Since ancient China has always taken agriculture as the pillar economic industry, the ancient Chinese has formed an "agricultural thinking" in their minds, that is, they like stability, are satisfied with the status quo, and oppose change. Coupled with the fact that ancient China sat on a large area of land, the ancient Chinese was more worried about eating and wearing. As long as the feudal monarch does not carry out chaotic government that plagues the country and the people, all parts of the country will slowly become rich.
Qing Dynasty peasants working
But at the same time, the Western countries have already begun the Industrial Revolution. At the same time, the industrial revolution also brought dividends from the prosperity of the commodity economy, which brought Western countries into a period of rapid development. In this regard, Lecturer Xie Zhihua of Yan Gezhuang Junior High School in Yan gezhuang Town, Laoting County, Hebei Province, once mentioned in the article "On the Causes and Harms of Closing the Country to the Outside World":
China has always been "founded on agriculture", which is manifested in people's concepts: conservative economic concepts, lack of awareness of the commodity market, and inability to accept some advanced science and technology; and reflected in the concepts of the rulers of the Qing Dynasty at that time, they regarded foreign advanced technology as "magic tricks" and opposed the people's learning of Western advanced technology.
Looking at the feudal dynasties of ancient China, it is difficult to find examples of feudal monarchs of a certain dynasty who strongly advocated the all-out development of commerce, and there was no situation in which agriculture was abandoned and completely heavy commerce was emphasized. Under normal circumstances, feudal rulers were able to create a scene of commercial prosperity simply by treating agriculture and commerce as equals. But from beginning to end, the idea of "heavy peasantry" has always existed in the minds of the feudal rulers; only attitudes toward commerce have changed.
At the same time, the Qing court, and even many people who were more closed-minded at that time, believed that the Qing Empire could completely achieve self-production and self-digestion. If you can achieve self-sufficiency, why should you have dealings with the rest of the world? In a sense, the emergence of this kind of thinking and thinking also exposes the blind arrogance of the Qing people.
At the end of the Qing Dynasty, there were still many important ministers who hated "Western learning"
Curb the development of anti-Qing forces and weaken their influence
In 1636, Emperor Taiji proclaimed himself emperor outside Guanwai and established the Great Qing Dynasty. Not long after, the Qing Dynasty patriarch Dolgun led the Qing army into Shanhaiguan, and after expelling Li Zicheng, he entered the beijing division, and the Qing court also moved here.
In the days that followed, the Qing court worked hard to suppress the old Ming forces and Li Zicheng's peasant army. In 1646, the Ming Dynasty patriarch Zhu Youluo was proclaimed emperor in the south, still using "Ming" as the national name. However, in 1662, with the murder of Zhu Youluo, the Southern Ming regime was also overthrown. In 1665, the peasant army was also completely wiped out.
Zhu Yousong, the ming dynasty patriarch who established the Southern Ming regime
In fact, the collapse of the Southern Ming regime does not mean that the old Ming forces have disappeared from now on. After the fall of the Southern Ming dynasty, the members of the Ming Dynasty also established a number of divided regimes such as Hongguang, Longwu, and Shaowu. Although these regimes were eventually wiped out by the Qing army, there were still old Ming forces in many parts of the country that intended to oppose the Qing and restore the Ming.
At the same time, the Qing court feared that many of the people would miss the previous dynasty, so they colluded with the old Ming forces, thus endangering the Qing court's rule over the whole country. Before the Kangxi Emperor regained Taiwan, there was indeed a phenomenon of people in the interior having adultery with the Zheng family, and the former secretly supporting the latter. Therefore, the Qing court chose to implement a nationwide policy of closing the country to the outside world.
Foreign powers covet empires
While wary of the people's alliance with anti-Qing forces, the Qing court also gradually realized the threat from the outside. As early as the Shunzhi Dynasty, Tsarist Russia, which was majestic in the north of the Qing Empire, made a small calculation. In 1658, Tsarist Russia built the city of Yaksa near the Heilongjiang River and used it as a bridgehead for invading the northeast region.
Geographical map of Yaksa
At this time, the Qing court was busy going south to encircle and suppress the old Ming forces and the peace of the San Francisco Rebellion, and had no time to look north, so it could only pretend to turn a blind eye to the problem of Czarist Russia's annexation of the territory of the northeast region, after all, at this time, the Qing court did not have the ability to attack on two fronts.
In 1685, the Qing court officially decided to expel Tsarist forces in the northeast and launched the Battle of Yaksa. After the end of the war, the two sides signed the Treaty of Nebuchu in 1689, and the war finally came to an end.
After the signing of the Treaty of Nebuchu, the relationship between the Qing and Russia gradually eased, and trade activities between the two sides began to unfold. But russia's ambitions did not disappear with the signing of the Treaty of Nebuchadnezzar. On the contrary, Tsarist Russia still hoped to one day invade the northeast.
Before the signing of the Treaty of Nebuchadnezzar, the Qing court had also understood the true intentions of Tsarist Russia and had always been vigilant against Tsarist Russia. Even though the tense political atmosphere between the two countries had eased, the Qing emperor still believed that Tsarist Russia would invade the Qing Empire from the economic sphere. Therefore, the choice of closing the country and cutting off trade with Tsarist Russia was made.
Treaty of Nebuchadnezzar between the Qing and Russians
Through the above discussion and analysis, it can be found that the Qing court's choice to implement the policy of closing the country to the outside world is actually active and passive reasons. The reason for the initiative is to think that they can be self-sufficient and to scoff at the changes produced by the Industrial Revolution in the West.
This mentality actually existed in the minds of monarchs of successive feudal dynasties, such as the Ming Emperor, who also issued orders to close the country with this mentality. At that time, the world had not yet undergone major changes, so the negative impact of the Ming Dynasty's closed-door policy was not as serious as that of the Qing Dynasty.
As for the passive reason, it was the Qing court's vain attempt to evade the aggression of Tsarist Russia in a closed country. It turns out that this ostrich policy can only be temporary, but it can never dispel Tsarist Russia's aggressive ambitions. By the end of the Qing Dynasty, Tsarist Russia's aggressive behavior "arrived as scheduled", and the Qing Empire had already lagged behind the world due to years of closed countries, and it was even more powerless to stop the invasion of Tsarist Russia.