Social Sciences in China (Chinese Edition)

No. 8, 2023

The Tianjin Jiao’an (Religious Incident) and Chinese Diplomacy during the Late Qing Dynasty

(Abstract)

Ge Fuping

The Tianjin Jiao’an (religious incident), starting from a conflict between Western missionaries and the local Chinese, had an impact on major issues in the history of modern Sino-Western relations, such as the dispatch of Chinese envoys and the right of Western diplomats to have an audience with the Chinese emperor. In October 1870, the Qing government decided to punish those culprits responsible for the incident and pay an indemnity, but since the French government was not satisfied with the outcome, there were subsequent negotiations between China and France. During the negotiations, the Qing government not only refused the French demand for the execution of local officials, but also refused to renegotiate the Tianjin Jiao’an or ensure that Western diplomats had an audience with the Chinese emperor as a condition of presenting their credentials. This eventually forced the French to make concessions. Although the Qing government sent Chonghou to France on an ad hoc mission to convey its apology, his dispatch had a positive significance and impact if viewed from the perspective of China’s “go-global” integration into the global community. In order to prevent the recurrence of similar incidents, the Zongli Yamen (predecessor of the Foreign Office) drew up eight statutes on missionary activities in the hope of restraining the missionaries and preventing conflicts between them and local people, but it failed due to the opposition and obstruction of foreign powers. France and other powers’ unprincipled protection of the missionaries in China led to a series of increasingly violent incidents in the second half of the 19th century, culminating in the outbreak of the Boxer Rebellion in 1900.