Wei Yuan (魏源)(II)

Leonard in the introduction of her book said that Wei Yuan finished writing his book "Hui-kuo tu-chi" (海國圖誌 Illustrated treatise on the sea kingdom) four months after the the Nanking Treaty was signed on 29th August 1842. Wei's book was the first major writing by a Chinese scholar in response to the coming of the Western powers, after witnessing the defeat of Qing in the Opium War.1 Wei made a realistic geopolitical survey of the world outside China. China was an old empire that all along had seen itself as the center of the world. According to Leonard, Wei's book drew official-literati attention to the maritime world which the Manchus had neglected prior to the Opium War. Wei also suggested some basic approach to handle foreign threats from sea, and such suggestions were continued to be used in the 1870s when Japan challenged Chinese control in Okinawa and Taiwan, and in the 1880s when the French invaded Vietnam. 2 Wei Yuan's account of the Nan-yang (南洋) reflected how Qing operated the tribute and overlordship system based on its Confucian world view, and Qing's perception of overlordship system in Asia. The Qing court's wish to maintain the traditional overlordship in Asia might explain why it was unable to understand the strategic significance of Western expansion.3 Many contemporary Chinese scholars, when suggesting reform to meet the new challenge from the barbarian, always advocated reliance on early experience for a solution. They believed that 'internal disorder invites external calamity' and that 'inner strength is more fundamental than maritime defense alone to the protection of China's frontier'. 4 In this book Leonard mainly focused at Wei Yuan's "Treatise on the Sea Kingdoms" from three perspectives. The first was that of scholar-official of the Opium War generation. The second perspective was the history of Chinese relations with maritime Asia. The third perspective was on the maritime policy of Qing which, up to the eve of the Opium War, had paid little attention to the relations with foreign maritime states. 5 (to be continued)


Notes:
1. Leonard, Kate Jane. Wei Yuan and China's Rediscovery of the Maritime World. Cambridge (Mass.), London: Council on East Asian Studies, Harvard University: distributed by Harvard University Press, page 1
2. Ibid., page 2
3. Ibid., page 5
4. Ibid., page 6
5. Ibid., page 9