明清时期西方人眼里的中国形象

明末清初,中国还是一个令西方人仰慕的国家,中国的经济总量居世界第一,在许多方面比西方先进.至康雍乾时期,中国步入封建社会又一个辉煌盛世.然而在同一时期,西欧国家,尤其是英国,发生了政治革命、产业革命和科技革命,迅速跑到世界的前列.在世界格局巨变面前,清政府茫然无绪,因循守旧,闭关锁国,致使清末中国的形象被彻底颠倒,中国由洋洋得意的天朝大国,迅速沦落到世界的边缘,可悲地成为西方人眼里的愚昧落后的民族.

Chinese Image in the Eyes of Westerns durig the Ming and Qing Dynasties

In the late Ming Dynasty and early Qing Dynasty,China had advanced for several centuries than the Western in many areas and had been admired by Westerns.China's closing the door to international intercourse and sticking to old ways absolutely reversed Chinese image in the late Qing Dynasty,China was rapidly reduced from the central kingdom to the edge of the world and became an ignorant and backward nation in the eyes of Westerns.