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Xue Fucheng's thought of protecting overseas Chinese has a gradual forming process, which is closely related to his social practice of participating in westernization activities and making foreign representations.
Xue Fucheng was born in the middle of Daoguang in the late Qing Dynasty and became famous in Tongzhi period. His main social activities were in the early years of Guangxu, that is, the 80-9O years of the 65438+80-9O century. This period is the initial stage of China's transformation from tradition to modernity. The myth of China's past perfection was broken by western powers, and the long-term closed-door situation of the Chinese empire is gone forever. The powers seized the privileges of trade, missionary work, residence and tourism in China through a series of unequal treaties, which were regarded as "great changes in ancient and modern times" by people of insight in the ruling and opposition parties. Ethnic contradictions and class contradictions have never been sharper, and people's resistance activities have emerged one after another. Xue Fucheng felt that the situation had changed greatly. Since he was a child, he "generously learned from the world" and read a lot of books in order to cultivate his talents to help the country and "prepare for the country's daily use". ... he no longer took the imperial examination road of "forcing farmland to house, making things difficult for people, and not interacting with each other in old age", but took great interest in westernization. He inherited Lin Wei's thought of "learning from foreigners to control foreigners", advocated "taking their strengths and using their weaknesses" in J 1865, wrote tens of thousands of letters to Zeng Guofan, and put forward political ideas such as "cultivating talents, extensively reclaiming wasteland, prospering politics, controlling bandits, improving official management, improving people's livelihood and improving coastal defense", which was highly appreciated by Zeng Guofan. Seven years of shogunate life gave him the opportunity to get in touch with a lot of imperial secrets, get familiar with military and officials, and personally participated in the "Westernization" cause he had organized, which broadened his horizons of understanding western learning. 1874, after the death of the emperor, the Qing court decided to "learn from others and use resources to govern" and ordered that "ministers at home and abroad, big or small, should devote themselves to helping the current situation". In his reply to the letter, Xue Fucheng put forward "six strategies for pacifying the plain" and "ten proposals for coastal defense" to the court, which aroused great repercussions and made him become a celebrity known to both the government and the people from "the official title at the end". Ding Baozhen said that he "applied what he had learned, but his knowledge was a little deep". Guo Songtao praised him as "knowledgeable and proficient in the terrain system of the western regions" and recommended him as "a minister who can win". Xue Fucheng's extraordinary talent was noticed by Li Hongzhang, the leader of Westernization. Shortly after Li wrote a letter, he recruited talents according to his position. Since then, Xue Fucheng has started face-to-face communication with foreigners, and his understanding of the world is not comparable to that of ordinary literati. During his ten years in Beiyang shogunate, he was famous for his planning and participated in many Chinese and foreign negotiations in order to safeguard national interests. Xue Fucheng was deeply impressed by the great powers' efforts to safeguard the interests of overseas Chinese.
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Xue Fucheng's thought of protecting overseas Chinese is rich in content, mainly including the following four aspects.
(1) Overseas Chinese are an important part of the Chinese people, with certain economic strength and strong centripetal force for the motherland. Absorbing overseas Chinese capital can help domestic enterprises, and dealing with overseas Chinese affairs is a major event of "collecting power and selling foreign aggression". Xue Fucheng believes that a sovereign country should have the obligation and ability to protect overseas people, otherwise it will lose the trust of overseas people in the motherland. Therefore, wherever he goes, he always makes a field trip in person, or sends someone to convey the feelings of overseas Chinese to the government in time. "It will always be quiet and clear, with closed rights and foreign aggression and betrayal." He pointed out: "There are millions of people going abroad in China, most of whom are domestic workers in Guangdong and most of whom are wealthy businessmen in Fujian." Fully affirm that overseas Chinese have economic strength that cannot be ignored. He said, "I have tried Vietnam, Siam, Cambodia and other countries. Although they are often bound by Westerners, there are six or seven China people and two or three Westerners." Bangkok, Thailand "is a huge trading port", "Yanjing has about130,000 China people, and most of its commercial hubs have been returned to it". "To Luozong, Groba, Borneo, Sumatra, Australia and other places, Chinese people account for about half of the income from commercial mining." There are no fewer than 50,000 to 60,000 Chinese businessmen in Yangon, Myanmar, and many well-off Chinese businessmen in Kolkata, India. Based on this, he advocated introducing overseas Chinese capital to revitalize industry and commerce, pointing out: "Britain, the Netherlands and other countries attract China people and open up a desert island as a huge port because they can borrow money from me." China people are good at talent, so hold on to the handle, and don't think about connecting hands as fingers and arms. That's why I can't lend money to others. "Xue Fucheng is actually criticizing the government's wrong policy of discriminating against and restricting foreigners. In order to remind the government of the economic strength of overseas Chinese and their role in Chinese and foreign businesses, Xue Fucheng made an in-depth investigation. " About1.200 million silver flows into foreign countries every year in China. According to the general ledger of bank drafts in San Francisco a few years ago, China people remit about 8 million taels of silver to China every year. Although the wages there are relatively high, the amount is not the largest. And then push it to Cuba and Peru.
Know, push the Nanyang islands. China has a huge trade deficit with other countries, but those countries that still have turnover can make up for it with the profits made by China people going abroad. "l 19J shows how important overseas Chinese funds are to China. Moreover, Xue Fucheng paid special attention to the political attitude of overseas Chinese, affirmed their patriotism and love for their hometown, and pointed out that although they had lived abroad for more than one hundred years, they still maintained the style of China and followed the old customs. In recent years, various provinces have raised funds for disaster relief and disease prevention, and donated huge sums of money to compete for the title of Ding Ling, which is an honor. It can be seen that overseas Chinese are part of the Chinese people, and the government has the responsibility to care for them. In the commercial war between China and the great powers, the economic strength of overseas Chinese can not be ignored.
(2) Through many years' investigation of overseas Chinese society, he believes that the maritime ban is the biggest shackle that binds overseas Chinese. Therefore, he demanded that the traditional overseas Chinese affairs policy be changed to allow China people to travel freely, and that the government and the contracting parties should formulate detailed regulations to safeguard the rights and interests of overseas Chinese. The Qing dynasty inherited the discriminatory policy of the Ming dynasty against overseas Chinese, so after the Manchu nobles entered the Central Plains, they implemented very strict "sea ban" measures in order to suppress the anti-Qing struggle along the coast. 1656, the imperial court issued an order: "... merchant ships went to sea privately to trade grain and goods with thieves, regardless of the government and the people, but they were heard and the goods were brought into the government." Give all the property of the criminal to the informer. Local civil and military officials should not be arrested, they should all be removed from their posts and severely punished. The local Jiabao could not take the lead and was executed. " Emperor Kangxi issued an imperial edict in 17 12: "... those who have gone to stay in foreign countries, and those who know about it will be flailed in March." The governor wrote in a foreign country, and those who stayed were ordered to remove their beheadings. Coastal civil and military officials hide and report, and they will be severely punished. " J thus, the law in the middle and early Qing dynasty prohibited going abroad to make a living. After 1840, although the court did not change this rule, it was actually due to the intervention of foreign forces. It has become an indisputable fact that China people (mainly in the form of coolies) go out to sea to make a living. Xue Fucheng's visit to Europe soon coincided with the urgent need for Chinese workers in Brazil, Mexico and other countries. Xue Fucheng strongly agrees that China workers should go abroad. He pointed out in the article "Xu Brazil made a contract with Mexico to recruit workers": "America is newly established, with a vast territory and few people, and we should spare no effort to attract people from afar." The court should "take this opportunity to discuss contracts with the two countries in detail and allow them to recruit China people, or domestic workers, or trade, or art cultivation, or mining." Because the government did not pay attention to China people in foreign countries before, the rights and interests of overseas Chinese were greatly damaged, which led to "the United States has a policy of expelling China people;" Peru and the islands belonging to the Netherlands and Spain are either forced to become citizens or imprisoned as slaves; The Australian mainland also has the intention of mistreating the people of China "; _2j In view of the miserable situation and repeated oppression of Chinese workers overseas, Xue advocated "special chapters and consulates" with relevant countries to "manipulate themselves". He appealed to the imperial court to think more about the workers in China. When concluding contracts with foreign countries, it should be expressly stipulated that Chinese workers should always be given preferential treatment, so as to ensure China people's autonomy and not to ban travel, so as to "gradually expel Du Qi." _2 In the late Qing Dynasty, most Chinese workers were lured to foreign countries by "brokers", "bandits" and "foreigners", and the government did not take relevant measures to protect overseas Chinese for a long time, which made people wandering in foreign lands suffer from human suffering and become slaves in disguise. Most workers in China died without personal protection. The tragic fate of China workers in Peru, Cuba, the United States and Canada is a typical example. This shows how important it is for Xue Fucheng to raise the issue of overseas Chinese to the level of national policy. To this end, he called for the abolition of the old ban to attract China people and protect returned overseas Chinese. In view of the fact that treacherous gentry relied on the old law to prohibit extortion and persecution of returned overseas Chinese, Xue Fucheng felt the harm of the old law and pointed out that "the times have changed, and the meaning of example has also changed. "Policies should be changed at any time according to the situation." These old practices are useless in today's old calendars, just like the old ones. Once eradicated, we can ban alcohol and false information, attract tourists, clean up scattered people's hearts and save the overall situation of bad accumulation. The benefits are not shallow. He called for "declaring a new chapter, getting rid of the old bans and attracting more businessmen to protect them". "Later, due to the need of the objective situation, the Qing court accepted Xue Fucheng's suggestion:" The case of the criminal department leaving the country privately should be deleted and amended as appropriate, and the coastal governor made it clear that all good businessmen, regardless of their long stay in foreign countries, will be issued passports by envoys or consular officers and will be treated equally with mainland people. " "And listen to him at any time to do business abroad. Before, he couldn't borrow money, and offenders were punished according to law." _27_ Although the implementation of this policy has objective inevitability, it cannot be separated from Xue Fucheng's subjective efforts.
(3) Xue Fucheng believes that in order to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of overseas Chinese, it is necessary to set up a consul in the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office. He hoped that the court would protect overseas Chinese in the name of the country through diplomatic channels. Xue Fucheng believes that the establishment of consular offices in places where overseas Chinese live in concentrated communities is of great significance to solving the problem of increasing diplomatic representatives and effectively protecting overseas Chinese. He pointed out that "all foreign countries are based on commerce, and whenever they trade in other countries, they should set up consuls to protect businessmen." When they encounter harsh cases, they can always refute them, so they live and work in peace and contentment, and their business is booming. Even people who travel and craft are at home. " He also said, "The relationship between consuls and officials is crucial." "Covering branches and leaves, it is fundamentally solid, wide and quiet, people are happy, and the country is prosperous." The Los Angeles consular officer has the responsibility to protect the people of China, although he has no right to manage the people of China in other countries. Even if the articles of association of the treaty are properly formulated, the consul should do business with local officials according to what he has seen and heard, so that foreign officials can also check, and the natives dare not abuse them at will. That is to say, if the diplomatic envoys want to argue with the outside world, they must rely on the report of a consular officer to make foreign officials have scruples, so the consular officer can't help but set reasons. "In I293, he held court to set up consuls in Nanyang Islands to protect China people, and advocated setting up consuls in Rili Port, Groba, Sambo Long, Little Luzon, British Hong Kong, Xinjinshan, Yangon, French Beiqi, Saigon and other ports in Nanyang Islands, and setting up vice consuls in British Penang. Taking power away from the invisible is nothing more than a gradual smile from outsiders. The gain is ten times the cost. " L30j Xue Fucheng's suggestion was not adopted by the imperial court, but it reflected his progressive thought of establishing a collar to protect overseas Chinese. In order to set up more consuls all over Britain. He tried his best to deal with the British side and successfully added a consul general in Singapore. This greatly encouraged him, and he said happily, "If you want to study in Nanyang, you must add a consul. Then the territories of France, Spain and the Netherlands can be imitated, and Xu Shang added them to overseas Chinese. Of great benefit. " [] In order to highlight the important role of consuls in dealing with foreign countries and protecting overseas Chinese, Xue Fucheng compared them with generals who defend the country, pointing out that "the capital of war depends on generals. It is necessary to look at the fortune-teller, and it is necessary to look at the use of the assets. Almost all people do not need each other. The minister is in charge of internal affairs. The envoy is in charge of diplomacy, and it can be ruled from outside, both inside and outside. " This has raised the issue of establishing a consul to the height of ensuring national security, and the understanding is very profound.
(4) Xue Fucheng believes that the government should not only protect the interests of overseas Chinese, but also guide people to go abroad to make money. Since Kangxi, "there are many and varied accounts, which have not existed in China for thousands of years, but the livelihood is difficult and the material resources are exhausted. It is also because of this. " [33j] Xue Fucheng clearly saw the current situation of overcrowding at that time, coupled with frequent natural and man-made disasters, which had caused "once one person ate, now twenty people ate" and "once one person lived, now twenty people ate". In view of this situation, he observed the overseas colonial activities of western countries and pointed out that westerners are "good at discovering new places and the ends of the earth." Nothing can stop it. No shortage, no cultivation. Its people are far from being suitable for foreign countries as a paradise, and there is no age. " So, I sighed: "Hey! He used it to rule the people. Although people are full, they are not rich! And the situation can make it dissatisfied. " He believes that China is a country with a large population and little land, and there was no room for developing agricultural production at that time. "It is said that China has a soft heritage! Then the hillside of the mountain, the river of water, Shatian and Jiangzhongzhou by the sea were reclaimed. Does it mean that people are weak? Then China has a large population and cheap labor, which is ten times less than that of the western countries. If a person works hard all the year round, he often can't serve the government and livestock. " He advocated that China should follow the example of western countries and conduct large-scale overseas immigration, believing that it was "no less than China, which opened up a piece of land in China to live and feed our people." . In order to build a prosperous country, improve people's livelihood, relieve internal worries, make full use of wealth, make a sound, and raise five things in one fell swoop. The key to salvation. Don't cut here. "_j Xue Fucheng's population theory is correct or not. However, he was really shocked when he put forward such a shocking idea.