In 2005, the Historical Archives published some telegraph archives of the Qing Dynasty at that time, which recorded some of the negotiations between the Qing Dynasty and France in the last years of the Qing Dynasty against the "Wax Statue Incident".
However, due to the long-term isolation of the Qing Dynasty at that time, it was difficult for outside information to flow in, and the Qing court was difficult to understand this art form, believing that France was damaging the image of the Qing court by doing so. To this end, the diplomatic departments of the Qing government and the French government made many representations, which caused quite a stir at that time.
According to archival records, after the victory in the Sino-French War, more and more French people began to have a certain understanding of this distant and mysterious eastern country, knowing that China had an empress dowager Cixi who held state power, and there was also a Guangxu Emperor who wanted to emulate Western politics by changing the law.
As a result, French wax artists began to collect extensive portraits of Cixi and Guangxu and various materials, and made wax figures of the empress dowager and the emperor after extreme observation.
The victory in the Sino-French War contributed to the French understanding of the Qing court
In the 1880s, when the French army of only 6,000 people attacked the Qing government's army stationed in Shanxi, Vietnam, the French army was strong and expanded its strength, and Vietnam was the first stop of French colonial expansion to Asia.
Vietnam had been a vassal state of the Qing Dynasty until then, and France had established colonies in southern Vietnam and then set its sights on the north of Vietnam, at which point Vietnam had to turn to the Qing court for help.
At this time, the Qing government also understood that after the fall of Vietnam, the next step would be Guangxi, Yunnan and other places in China.
Therefore, out of consideration and analysis of the situation at that time, the Qing court began to send troops to confront and defend the French army, and after the Sino-French War began, the Qing army lived up to the expectations of the people and won the battle with a single blow, known in history as the "Great Victory of Zhennanguan".
After the news of the victory in the campaign reached the imperial court, it was divided into two factions, on the one hand, Zhang Zhidong, Peng Yulin, and others believed that they should take advantage of the victory to pursue the main war faction, and on the other hand, the main faction represented by Li Hongzhang, who believed that in the face of a powerful enemy, we should not take it lightly, we must preserve our strength, and focus on stabilizing the overall situation.
At this time, Li Hongzhang believed that "taking advantage of victory is reaping the rewards," and Li Hongzhang wrote a letter to Premier Yamen, in which he said that the consequence of a long-term battle is the lack of grain and wages, then public order will become a major problem, and I am afraid that there will be turmoil at that time.
He did not want to take advantage of the victory to pursue, but advocated peace, believing that the French army would stop here, so the Qing court sent Li Hongzhang to contact the French side, trying to use diplomatic means to quell the war, in order to "stabilize the overall situation", which also exposed the Qing government's only promises and weak and incompetent side.
Li Hongzhang negotiated with the French representatives, and the final result of the negotiations was the signing of the Sino-French Treaty of Vietnam, which clearly stipulated France's right to protection in Vietnam and France's treaties in Vietnam.
The Sino-French War ended in france's defeat, and for the defeat to such a weak country, the French cabinet apologized and collectively submitted a resignation report, and after this Sino-French war, it also promoted the French people's understanding of the Qing court.
The wax figures of Cixi and Guangxu toured France
After the Sino-French War, the West had a certain understanding of the Far Eastern country of China, knowing that in this country there was an empress dowager Cixi who held great state power and a Guangxu Emperor who wanted to emulate Western politics through the Penghu Reform Law.
As a result, french wax artists made wax figures of Cixi and the Guangxu Emperor after a long period of polishing, adjusting and modifying, and after the wax figures were made, they were exhibited in many cities in France and other countries, including Paris and London.
As the birthplace of wax statues in France, it is natural to master the art of wax figures, the wax figures of Cixi are exquisitely made in the hands of artists, and the wax statues of the Guangxu Emperor are depicted in a vivid and vivid way, and the mysterious color of the East is highlighted under the background of this dragon robe.
The curiosity of overseas people about the two leaders of the East forced them to stop and watch, quietly admiring this oriental culture that is completely different from their own country, of course, in the process of exhibiting, some overseas tourists will also express their opinions and opinions, commenting on the two wax statues.
Among these tourists, there is a mysterious figure from the East who is also mixed in, that is, Zaizawa. Originally, in the thirty-first year of Guangxu, the imperial court sent Zaize and others to investigate the politics of various countries.
When Zaizawa saw the wax figure in the museum, he naturally did not feel curious, after all, he had also seen real people, but he was dissatisfied with the exhibition.
Exhibited as a wax statue with a royal face, ordered to be removed
Zai ze, who has investigated politics in Western countries, believes that the Guangxu Emperor is the honor of the Ninth Five-Year Plan, and Cixi is also the empress dowager of the Qing Dynasty, and the status of the empress dowager is also extremely honorable, such an exhibition, let people casually point out to the national leaders is really disgraceful.
After Guangxu returned to China in the thirty-second year, he immediately reported the matter to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Qing Court, and his reasons were simple, with three reasons. First of all, the wax figure is rough in workmanship, the details are not vivid enough, and the gap between the real person and the real person is very large.
Secondly, the workmanship of the clothing is too poor, the jewelry is made of glass, the quality is inferior, it seems very cheap, and it does not meet the requirements of the Qing Dynasty for clothing. The last point is that compared with the image of the Guangxu Emperor, the characteristics of Cixi are not prominent enough, but they are compared.
At that time, the Guangxu Emperor was imprisoned by Cixi in Yingtai, Zhongnanhai, coupled with the reasons for the change of the law, the Guangxu Emperor advocated learning Western politics, which was quite favored by the West, so that Cixi's wax statue was compared with the wax statue of the Guangxu Emperor and had a special political meaning.
Therefore, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has repeatedly sent a telegram to Liu Shixun, the "minister on mission to France", directing his actions in France, and in the first telegram, it is said that Zaize went to visit the French Museum and saw the wax figures of Cixi and the emperor, and did not shape them according to reality, and the decorations on the clothes were not embellished according to the form, hoping to be able to express them gently and remove the wax figures.
After the first telegram was sent, the French were confused, and only symbolically replied, and did not deal with the wax figure in time.
Subsequently, the foreign ministries of the two countries communicated many times, but did not get any response, and the Qing government later deeply realized the truth that "weak countries have no diplomacy", so the matter was not resolved later.
But the "wax statue incident" also made Chinese realize that there is also such a unique art form, and there are many similar wax art in China, such as clay sculptures, face sculptures, etc., which are all plastic objects and present vivid and concrete images.
With the increasing degree of openness, until the Republic of China period, there were gradually some small crafts made of wax, and at that time, wax fruits were also made, which was also a sensation, and there was no obvious difference from the real fruit.
Based on the information provided by the Historical Archives, we learned about the history of China and France at that time. It can be said that Guangxu and Cixi are the earliest wax model in history, and after the "wax statue incident", we have also deepened our understanding of each other and discovered a more novel art form.