I think everyone knows that there is one thing we need to apply for before we go abroad, that is, passports. And a long time ago, if we wanted to go to other countries, we didn't need a passport, because our country is strong enough that they can only look back, and our willingness to step into the land of their country will only make them feel bright in their faces.
However, since the end of the Qing Dynasty, our solipsistic vision has not been maintained, and it is then that the Qing Dynasty discovered that if you want to progress and become strong, you must look at the outside world. In order to avoid riots and maintain etiquette for Western countries, the Qing Dynasty gradually introduced passports. The exact birth time of the passport in Chinese history is after the 1840s.
According to the existing data, the passport of the Qing Dynasty was 87 centimeters long and 56 centimeters wide, which is a "huge production", compared with the modern passport, why is the passport of the Qing Dynasty so huge? Today we will talk about the passport of the Qing Dynasty.
Speaking of Qing passports, why did the Qing Dynasty name this official document As a passport? This is mainly because the passport contains protection and care in it, and there is a sentence in the passport that reads: "The local checkpoints along the way are protected as one, do not let it be blocked." Translated as the Qing Dynasty government hopes that Western countries can take extra care of the qing dynasty's people after seeing this passport, to ensure their travel safety, so this official document was named "passport".
At that time, the Qing Dynasty had no status in the world, not only was it bullied by Western countries, but its development in all aspects was not comparable to that of Western countries that had already experienced the industrial revolution, so this sentence of the Qing government was simply empty words and had no real effect. But they didn't realize this, and they were still immersed in the illusion that the heavens and the earth were vast and no one had to be afraid. Of course, they later paid the price for their arrogance.
Many people may have such a question, in the era without fingerprints and photos, how did the Qing government ensure that the holder of the passport would not be stolen and used by suspicious people in the middle of the passport after getting the passport? How did the Qing government solve this problem?
They used the most old-fashioned and effective method, they would write the bearer's appearance clearly on the passport, in order to avoid loopholes as much as possible, they would describe everyone's facial features in great detail and accuracy, which is why the size of the original version of the passport is large, because most of the layout of the passport is used to write statements about the appearance of the holder. However, even such a "huge" passport still cannot protect the people of the Qing Dynasty, and still makes the people of the Qing Dynasty look down on by others abroad.
The change of the passport actually hides the change of scientific and technological power, if our country is obstinate, does not know how to develop and change, and the country does not want to forge ahead, then the passport will always be the old version of the handwritten. Therefore, the back of a small passport is actually a symbol of national strength, the country is strong, the passport can naturally protect the people, the country has declined, the passport is the Qing Dynasty passport of the "look of goods".