What exactly is Nanyang that I mentioned before?

Nanyang is the name given to Southeast Asia during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. It is a concept centered on China.

Eastern mainly means "Japan" in Chinese. Literally means the ocean to the east. In addition to representing Japan, it also represents East Asia in Japanese. The "Oriental" that appeared in modern times may have originated from Japan.

Beiyang: Bohai Sea, Yellow Sea, near the Korean Peninsula. Such as "Beiyang Navy", "Beiyang Warlord", "Beiyang Government", "Beiyang Minister of Commerce". These terms all originate from the political, military, and commercial activities of a series of political forces in the Beiyang region with Li Hongzhang as the founder and Yuan Shikai as the representative.

Western countries generally refer to Western countries, mostly Europe, the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. In ancient times, it was a geographical concept centered on China by the ancient Chinese. It first appeared in the Five Dynasties and has different meanings in different eras. During the Yuan and Ming dynasties, Xiyang referred to Southeast Asia and the coastal areas of India west of Brunei. In the late Qing Dynasty, the term Xiyang was used to refer to European and American countries.

Extended information:

In the late Qing Dynasty, the "Minister of Nanyang" was established to manage various affairs. At that time, China's national power was prosperous. After thousands of years of accumulation, many Southeast Asian countries admired China. There were young people from Southeast Asia who sailed to the coast of China to have Chinese characters tattooed on their bodies. When they returned by boat, the elders of their countries saw the characters and gave way to the throne.

East Asia is a geographical region concept of ancient Chinese. The name Dongyang comes from the Eastern Ocean in the Song Dynasty. In "Dade Nanhai Zhi" written by Chen Dazhen of the Yuan Dynasty, the East Ocean was divided into two parts: the Great East Ocean and the Little East Ocean. The Great East Ocean refers to the sea area south of today's Kalimantan Island to Australia; the Little East Ocean refers to the sea area today near the Philippine Islands and Kalimantan Island.

The theory of Beiyang first appeared in the Song Dynasty, mainly referring to the Yellow Sea and Bohai Sea areas. Later, during the Qing Dynasty from 1791 to 1821, Wusongkou in Shanghai was used as the boundary, and everything north of the Yangtze River was Beiyang. It was a regional concept that included ports such as Jiangsu, Shandong, and Zhili.

The existence of Beiyang stems from its political factors. It is the existence of people such as Li Hongzhang, Yuan Shikai and their sphere of influence that has been established by convention.

The ancient concept of the West:

1. The Five Dynasties The historical handwriting "Xishan Miscellaneous Notes" of the Five Dynasties period records that during the Five Dynasties, Pu Youliang from Quanzhou came to Champa and served as a transshipment envoy for the West.

2. Song Dynasty During the Song Dynasty, the Jews of Kaifeng Prefecture were ordered by the Song Emperor to "return to our Zhongxia, abide by the ancestral customs, and leave behind Bianliang" because they "paid tribute to Western cloth to the Song Dynasty".

3. Yuan Dynasty During the Yuan Dynasty, the Western Sea referred to the coastal areas of southern India. Wang Dayuan, a navigator of the Yuan Dynasty, mentioned the West in many places in his "Dao Yi Zhi Lue": Guli Buddha Article: "When you are at the strategic point of the huge sea, go to Sengkala Mijia, which is also the horse head of all Western countries." Kunlun Article mentions "ships." "Going to the West", the Great Eight Single Lines have "the country lives after the West", and the Heaven Line records "there are also roads leading to the West".

4. Early Ming Dynasty The Ming Dynasty inherited the concepts of the Song Dynasty and the Yuan Dynasty about the West. Records of the Ming Dynasty record that in the second year of Hongwu, Liu Shumian went to the West Country of Suoli as an envoy: "The sea waves are thousands of miles away, and in three years It was only in the summer that we arrived in the West.” "Records of Emperor Taizong of the Ming Dynasty" records that in the first year of Yongle, "Xiyang Lani returned to Hazhimahamoqilani and others to come to court and pay tribute." It can be seen that during the Hongwu period of the Ming Dynasty, the West only included specific countries.

Reference: Baidu Encyclopedia-Nanyang