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Missionaries were a major force of western peregrination to China in modern times. Confucianism, Taoism, Buddhism and various folk deities, as the main competitors of Christianity, were the two perspectives from which western peregrinators (especially missionaries) observed the religious image of China, and the two dimensions from which peregrinators described the religious image of China. Missionaries in China paid more attention to "idolatry" in Chinese Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism, while peregrinators noticed more popular phenomena of folk deities and various superstitions. The heretical religion of "idolatry" and feudal superstition were the two main cognitive sources for peregrinators to construct the religious image of modern China, and jointly shaped the religious image of modern China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Before the 19th century, the image of China shaped by western countries was mainly based on politics and education. China's political and educational system in the 19th century had become a frame of reference for highlighting the superiority of western politics and education. The authoritarian and decadent politics of enslavement and politicized education that imprisoned creation was the historical base map for western peregrinators to construct the political and educational image of modern China, and the result of the transformation from the construction of "utopian image" to the construction of "ideological image [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the middle and late 18th century, the purpose of western peregrinators to China had been in a gradual process from geological survey, to commercial route exploration, commercial development, and then the struggle to divide power and sphere of influence. The purpose, mode, theme and narrative strategy of missionaries, scientific explorers, business travelers and pilgrims traveling in China were the main elements that affected the representation, construction and production of the image of modern China, as well as the main factors that formed the differentiation of the image of China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since modern times, western peregrinators had described Chinese body image from the perspectives of dress and appearance, physical senses and spiritual characteristics. Dress and appearance were the most explicit symbols for western peregrinators to observe and understand the national image of China. Western peregrinators constructed a discourse system about Chinese body. Western peregrinators' conventional speech, the status quo of poor and weak country, the ideological influence of eastward transmission of western sciences, and the lack of body consciousness of Chinese people had comprehensively shaped the fatuous and pathological body image of Chinese people in the 19th century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the middle and late 18th century, as Chinese civilization entered a downward trajectory, the social image of China built by the Western society before modern times as a land of wisdom, virtue and faith with vast territory, abundant resources, prosperity and inclusive civilization had gradually collapsed. As peregrinators to China had a deeper understanding of China, the overall disappearance of urban and rural poetry and the overall decline of social groups constituted the historical base map for peregrinators to construct the social image of modern China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since modern times, the West had gradually measured the standard and image of civilization of a country or a nation from the trinity of material, spirit and morality. Peregrinators to China mostly used such words as "hypocritical", "dirty", "indifferent", "selfi sh", "cruel" and "insensitive" to represent the moral and spiritual image of Chinese people. Peregrinators to China in the 19th century constructed a depraved and corrupt moral image of China in a three-dimensional perspective from individual moral depravity to overall despicability of the nation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the increasing number of western peregrinators to China, the number of travellers to Beijing and the Great Wall continued to increase, forming the north China peregrination route. This paper analyzed the concrete impression of western peregrinators on Beijing and the Great Wall, and held that the structural characteristics of western peregrinators were caused by the change of trade requirements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to open up the Chinese market, Britain sent two missions to China in 1791 and 1816. The most powerful colonial empire in the world met the most powerful feudal empire in the world. The two sides led the negotiations and exchanges with the concepts of "tribute" and "equal diplomacy", and the failure of the missions of Macartney and Amherst to China was inevitable. The travel texts completed by the members of the mission recorded the process of travel to China and their views on China in detail. Two typical travel events in China completely reversed the western image of China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Grand tour is the predecessor of western travel to China. In the process of civilization competition between China and the West, various travel rules in different regions have been gradually established. From the 16th to the 19th century, the Chinese government gradually lost the motivation and willingness to travel abroad. The West is seeking the contact with China and constantly trying the way of peaceful contact with China. After a hundred years of Chinese rites controversy, the West has come to the conclusion that force is the only effective way to force China to give up its policy of seclusion. After a series of wars, the West gradually gained the dominant power in formulating the rules of travel to China, and also gradually mastered the discourse power in constructing China's national image. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The formation of western national landscape image of China is closely related to the needs of western cultural spirit for China in this historical development stage. From the 13th to the 18th century, the West demanded that China, the "cultural other", play the role of landscape image of an ideal and beautiful country, so as to help the West establish the way forward. From the middle ages to the age of great geographical discovery to the Age of the Enlightenment, China's political, economic, social, cultural and historical context and the cultural spirit embodied in it are exactly in line with the expectations of the European social development and cultural spirit, which helps the West to form an ideal and beautiful image of China. From the 18th century to the 19th century, the utilization function of western image of China as "cultural other" also changed, and the western image of China began to go into a period of complete reversal. With the change of the western modern cultural spirit's expectation for China, the image of China of "imagining other", "beautiful other", "ideal other" and "inferior other" has been formed successively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the Middle Ages, the collective memory of China in the West had been based on the texts written by peregrinators to China, represented by Marco Polo and the missionary community. After the 19th century, travel guide, another form of text to guide potential peregrinators to China, began to appear. They selectively recorded and subjectively evaluated the landscape and life of China, with distinct individual characteristics, which had significant influence on the formation and dissemination of the image of China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]