Abstract:

The Guiyang court case resulting from foreign missionaries was the first serious of a series of such cases occurring in 1860's. Since Tian Xinshu who instigated the case was a local powerful figure carving out his career by means of suppressing rebellions, and there was an influence of xenophobia within the Qing court, the punishment of Tian faced a policy dilemma. After the "Treaties of Beijing" was signed, such cases took place one after another and resulted in constant negotiations between Chinese and foreign governments, which caused the Qing government's difficult normalization in foreign relations all a-long. Consequently, it failed to make full use of Western powers' cooperative policy that might have led to a diplomatic situation in favor of China.

Key words: Guiyang court case, Tian Xinshu, diplomacy of the Late Qing