Changing Hua-Yi notion in late Qing China in the Dianshizhai Pictorial (1884-1898) = Cong "Dian shi zhai hua bao" (1884-1898) kan chuan tong Hua Yi guan zai wan Qing Zhongguo de shan bian

Abstract

The present research investigates the Hua-Yi(華夷) notion in the Dianshizhai Pictorial (1884-1898). Founded by the British entrepreneur Ernest Major in 1884 in Shanghai, the Pictorial soon became a popular magazine, with many kinds of new knowledge introduced by open-minded intellectuals as its editors. Its commercial success benefited from the special status of Shanghai as a post-Opium War concession. From 1884 to 1898, the magazine published more than 4600 pictures, which not only depicted everyday life of Shanghai’s residents but also offered eye-catching illustrations on domestic and foreign events. This thesis shows extensive use of the rich source information from the Pictorial, some of which has not been paid sufficient attention by previous scholars, to tackle Chinese perception of the age-old Hua-Yi notion in the transitional Late Qing period.

The thesis consists of six chapters. Chapter 1 introduces general knowledge about the Pictorial, together with a review of previous research. Chapter 2 traces the emergence and evolvement of the Hua-Yi notion in history, and analyzes a series of consequences brought by the drastic changes in the late Qing foreign relations.

Chapter 3, 4 and 5 present a set of case studies according to different regions or countries. Chapter 3 analyzes Chinese attitude towards the Western countries reflected in the Pictorial, with a focus on the “Chinese Learning in Essence, Western Learn in Application”（Zhong ti Xi yong 中體西用）concept. The evolvement of the concept is discussed, followed by in-depth analysis of three major aspects—technology, customs and politics. The aim is to find out how and why such editorial strategy has been put into practice, as well as its significance in the Late Qing context.

Chapter 4 focuses on three traditional tributary nations: Korea, Vietnam and Ryukyu. While the Sino-centric world order was falling apart during the last decades of the Qing regime, the Hua-Yi notion still dominated the worldview of many. I'm interested to find out how this notion framed the images of these tributary nations in the mind, and more importantly, how these representations in turn shaped or transformed Chinese self-image.

Chapter 5 examines the nuanced changes of Hua-Yi notions in China’s confrontation with Japan during the 1880s and 1890s. While "Meiji Restoration" after 1868 yielded a new pattern of bilateral relations between China and Japan, the Sino-Japanese War totally subverted the Hua-Yi notion once taken granted for among the Chinese. The images of Japan were particularly meaningful in the sense that they epitomized some paradoxical views among the late Qing Chinese, who lived in between East and West, and in between tradition and modernity. I intend to find out how the Pictorial represented and digested the changing perceptions of Japan and explore any possible reasons behind.

Overall, the hierarchical order of Sino-centric world order underpinned by the Hua-Yi notion didn’t totally disappear at the end of 19th century, but was reiterated and reinterpreted with a new form by way of the representations and narrations in the Dianshizhai Pictorial.