In 1878, Zeng Jize was appointed minister of the British and French missions.
Zeng Jize (曾紀泽), courtesy name Jie Gang (劼刚), was born on December 7, 1839, and was the eldest son of Zeng Guofan, a famous minister of the late Qing Dynasty. Zeng Jize received a strict Confucian education from an early age. After growing up, because Zeng Guofan promoted the western affairs movement, Zeng Jize was affected, learned English, and had a certain understanding of Western science and technology culture. At that time, Zeng Jize was already a figure who "studied both Chinese and Western". Zeng Guofan dealt with foreigners when he was the governor of Zhili and the governor of Liangjiang, and Zeng Jize participated on the side and had a little experience.
It was for these reasons that the Qing court ordered him to envoy to Britain and France as a Qing minister.
Zeng Jize succeeded Guo Songtao. Guo Songtao was the first minister in the history of the Qing Dynasty in Britain and France, and he fulfilled his mission dutifully, but he was scolded by the chinese people and bloodied, "the courtiers regarded this as a great insult." During his mission, Guo Songtao was again slandered by his deputy envoy, Liu Xihong. Under the influence of various factors, Guo Songtao was forced to end his term early and return to China.
So, Zeng Jize is not afraid of encountering the same attack?
Of course I'm afraid. At that time, Zeng Guofan had already died of illness and could no longer help him. It's all on your own. Fortunately, Zeng Jize is the son of Zeng Guofan, inheriting Zeng Guofan's cautious and cautious character, no matter what he does, he thinks twice, and never acts recklessly. Before zeng jize went abroad, he analyzed and studied the reasons for Guo Songtao's scolding, which was not a major matter of betraying the interests of the country, but some trivial things.
For example, Liu Xihong accused Guo Songtao of the ten major crimes, but wearing foreigner clothes, shaking hands with foreigners, learning foreign languages, watching foreign dramas, and so on. From the current point of view, What Guo Songtao did was in line with international etiquette, there was no dishonesty, and he was worthy of being praised by the British as "the most cultured person in the East as seen". However, more than 100 years ago, Guo Songtao's behavior was a ridiculous act of deviance and deserved to be attacked by a righteous gentleman.
How to avoid these behaviors of Guo Songtao? Not wearing foreigners' clothes, not watching foreign dramas, these are no problems. Zeng Jize has already learned English and does not need to learn Foreign languages anymore. It is difficult to avoid shaking hands with foreigners alone.
Zeng Jize knew that as a Qing Dynasty minister, he would definitely attend various banquets and visits when he arrived in a foreign country. According to international etiquette, it is indispensable to shake hands, hugs, kisses and other etiquette. What makes it even more difficult for him to understand is that when foreigners hold banquets, men and women are mixed and attend together. When Zeng Jize brought his wife to the banquet, his wife would be arranged to sit next to the hostess, and he would be arranged to sit next to the hostess. In this way, wouldn't it be just a matter of giving someone a handle?
Zeng Jize decided to plan ahead and say hello to the foreigners in advance. Before going abroad, he first wrote a letter to the French side through the translator Franteen sent by the French Embassy, stating that "the most important matters at present must be discussed with the Taiwan side."
In the letter, Zeng Jize praised France as a country of etiquette, and said that China also attaches great importance to etiquette. However, France and China are far away, the customs are different, and the etiquette is very different. The details of etiquette can be handled flexibly, but only the matters of the banquet need to be discussed. According to Western custom, when men and women attend a banquet together, the noble female guest will be close to the host, and the noble male guest will be close to the hostess. This is not the case in China. China pays attention to "men and women are not intimate". Even if the woman is married and returns to her mother's house, her brother will not sit with her, and will not eat in the same bowl as her. Do you have such strict rules for your loved ones, let alone guests outside?
Zeng Jize pointed out that now that China has established friendly relations with Western countries, there will often be the matter of sending envoys in the future. Ministers usually travel with their wives, and this time I also brought them with me. I hope that when attending social events, my wife will only interact with foreign female guests and will not have to interact with male guests, especially if she cannot sit with male guests at banquets. Even if the minister brings his wife to the ceremonial event, he only needs to stand at a distance, not the handshake ceremony.
Zeng Jize gave another example, saying that when western ministers were stationed in the capital of China, they also carried their families, but their families did not have to communicate with Qing officials. This shows that countries have different etiquette and can still do their own thing.
After receiving Zeng Jize's letter, the French side decided to accept his proposal after research. Therefore, when Zeng Jize took his wife to France and Britain, France and Britain did not arrange banquets and dances for men and women to sit together. Zeng Jize was able to work without distraction, achieved many pioneering results, and grew into a mature diplomat.
In 1882 and 1883, when the Sino-French war was about to break out, Zeng Jize repeatedly protested against the aggression of the French army, refuted the nonsense of the French side, safeguarded the rights and interests of the country, and won unanimous praise from everyone. If Zeng Jize was anxious about trivial things such as attending banquets every day, I am afraid it would be difficult to achieve these achievements, right?