Wei Yuan (魏源)(VIII)

In the last two chapters, Leonard reiterated that Wei saw the biggest threat from the West was their presence at the outer zones of the maritime Asia, and the secondary threat was their ability to attack China coast to support opium trafficking. Wei's solution to the threat was to restore Chinese influence in Nan-yang, and to strengthen coastal defense.1 Leonard questioned why Wei saw the western threats in such a light, and suggested that it was probably due to his traditional concept of land barrier in national defence. Wei believed that the inner circle states were still anti-western and could stop Western encroachments.2 He also believed that on land the western powers could be defeated. About Macau and Hong Kong, Leonard was puzzled by Wei's silence on these two locations in his book, despite their geopolitical importance to China.3 Leonard suggested that probably it was due to Wei's traditional views about the importance of land frontiers, and his belief that British could not dominate the China's coast easily, even with help from these two naval basis. In the long run, Wei felt that China should rely on diplomacy, and during the interum, avoid provoking hostilities with the West until China had built up its military strength. Wei's diplomatic plan involved the rebuilding of the tributary system in Nan-yang, with the purpose of blocking western expansion. Wei's reliance on the tributary system reflected his ignorance of Nan-yang. 4 Apart from using diplomacy to buy time, Wei recommended plans to strengthening China's coastal defence, with the ultimate aim of reasserting China's overlordship in Nan-yang. Crucial to Wei's plans for military strengthening was to adopt Western arms and naval equipment, including the purchase of warships from France and America that could sail from Canton to southern India.5 In Wei's view, the problem of the Opium War was about the bandits and the people who sold them, it was also about the rotting of men's hearts, and the rupture of Chinese moral-political orders.6

Notes:
1. Leonard, Jane Kate. Wei Yuan and China's Rediscovery of the Maritime World. Cambridge (Mass.) and London: Council on East Asian Studies, Harvard University: distributed by Harvard University Press,1984, page 175
2. page 195
3. page 181
4. page 190
5. page 196
6. page 200