To commemorate the purchase of Anna St. Louis from France in 100, the U.S. government decided to hold the World Expo in St. Louis in 1904, which is the fourth World Expo held by the United States after new york, Philadelphia and Chicago. 1in the summer of 902, the United States sent Barrett, the former ambassador to Siam (now Thailand), to lobby all over Asia. Apart from "indicating the purpose of hosting the sports meeting in China", the most important purpose is to invite His Majesty the Qing Emperor to Sri Lanka to participate in the sports meeting, hoping that the Qing Emperor will instruct the ministers to accompany him.
After the news came out, it immediately attracted the attention of relevant people. Wu, China's outgoing ambassador to the United States at that time, wrote a special letter to Sheng Xuanhuai for this matter, hoping that when Ballard visited China, he would "introduce him on his behalf" and "instruct everything". Sheng Xuanhuai lived up to his mission. He received Barrett with Liu Kunyi and Zhang Zhidong, and arranged for Pasteur to go to the Qing Palace to see Empress Dowager Cixi. Ballard was very satisfied with the result of the meeting: Cixi showed great enthusiasm for the World Expo, although she refused the invitation of the United States and did not attend the meeting with the emperor in person.
Behind the rapid agreement between China and the United States is the change of attitude of the Manchu government towards the World Expo. You know, when the World Expo in Paris, France, sent an invitation to the Prime Minister's yamen from 65438 to 0866, the Qing government only prevaricated by "telling businessmen"; A few years later, at the World Expo in Vienna, Austria, the Qing government still threw out the excuse that "China is never novel and there is nothing to help". Although the customs was finally entrusted to go abroad to participate in the competition, it did not really pay attention to it. In the following decades, most government officials just regarded it as a useless show of wealth, and even confused "competition" with temple fairs in traditional society.
However, in those decades, China people began to face the ignorant western world, groping in the dark, hoping to find a way to survive for their country. In the wave after wave of reform trends, the importance of industrial and commercial development has increasingly become the consciousness of the ruling and opposition parties, and commodity competitions such as the World Expo have also been put in a more prominent position for discussion. In their minds, the image of the World Expo is gradually changing from a dazzling and competitive stage to a platform for communication and business war.
More and more intellectuals, such as He Zheng, have noticed the important role of games in market competition and business development. Kang Youwei also pointed out in 1895 "Letter on the Bus" that if China wants to rectify its business, it must follow the Japanese advice and open a Saizhen factory. 1903, Zhang Zhidong directly put forward the proposal of "11% discount from Western France" to hold the championship. Public opinion, such as Chinese and foreign daily newspapers, Ta Kung Pao, Oriental magazines and other periodicals and newspapers, also left a considerable space to discuss the game of this issue. Among the members of the Qing royal family, Zai Feng, the Prince of Alcohol who had gone abroad, and Zaizhen, the son of the Prince of Qing Dynasty, were active supporters of the Games. Zaizhen directly participated in the formulation of many measures to encourage the Games, such as duty-free and free transportation of goods attending the Expo.
Of course, China's smooth attendance needed the support of Empress Dowager Cixi, the supreme ruler of the empire, which was almost no problem at that time. 1900 The war of aggression against China not only burned the unparalleled Yuanmingyuan, but also completed the psychological conquest of Empress Dowager Cixi to a certain extent. After Cixi returned to China, her attitude towards foreigners took a 180 degree turn, and she often hosted banquets in the palace to entertain the wives of ministers of various countries. Whether out of fear or to please, Cixi will never give up this great opportunity of "liaison diplomacy" at the World Expo.
At this time, it is the general trend for China to actively participate in the World Expo, an international event.