近代 中國의 博覽會 認識

Abstract

Since the Qing government lost the Opium War, it faced internal and external problems to build a modern state and escape from the invasion of Western powers. As Western countries recognized the exposition as a prerequisite for successful modernization, they competitively held a fair to show off their technological civilization or to show off their superiority as an imperial state running a colony. Japan's Meiji government also participated in most Western fairs and held their own exhibition because it recognized that the exhibition was a very important device for the construction of modern industrial countries and a tool for enlightenment of the people. In contrast, the Qing government rejected requests from all over the world to participate in the Expo, treating it as just a 'no-good thing'. Hasebong, who has continued to research modern East Asian fairs, described China as a 'participated' country, not the first 'participate' country in East Asia. China's participation in the fair was not based on the will of the government. China's participation in the exposition was not voluntary or proactive at the government. Why did the Qing government take a passive, or negative attitude toward the fair, without showing active interest in it, such as in the West and Japan? Exposition is a place where civilization interacts and communicates with each other around economic exchanges. A successful exhibition requires the development of a commodity economy, followed by political support and a social atmosphere. At that time, however, the situation in China was not so at all. As Western countries boasted of their advanced technical civilization, China was still in the pride of being the best in the world with its traditional handicrafts. Because this attitude lasted for a long time, the Chinese couldn't find what they could get from the fair. This research is a study on how China understood and accepted the Expo, a symbol of modernization in Western countries. This paper looked at the images of the exhibition left by modern Chinese, focusing on the diary of the diplomat, the record of attending the expo, and the travel journal left by individuals. And it looked at how their records affected the changing attitude of the government toward the fair.