During the Opium War, China scholars studied national frontier geography and foreign geography.

The Chronicle of Four Continents edited by Lin Zexu narrates the history of more than 30 countries and regions in the world.

During the Opium War, Yao Ying served as the commander of Taiwan Province Military Region. Yao Ying wrote a series of works about the history of the frontier. In the early days, there were mainly Records of Xiao Zhi and A Brief Introduction to East Cha, and Ji Kang Xing after the Opium War became the representative work of this period. In the 13th year of Daoguang (1833), Zhi Shu was Yao Ying's reading notes on Chinese and foreign historical and geographical works during his stay in Guangdong.