“师夷长技”是近代中国在“三千年未有之大变局”下围绕“救亡图存”形成的主旋律之一。自19世纪60年代起, 清朝政府陆续派遣使臣出洋考察他国的政治、科技、文教等领域。在这些肩负特定使命的官方派遣活动中, 使臣们留下了大量的日记文稿, 这些文字不仅记录了他们的海外见闻, 也成为了考察晚清官绅教育认知与心态演变的关键史料。洋务运动前期, 使臣多抱着“游览”的心态考察西方的“坚船利炮”, 对教育多止步于表象记录。洋务运动后期, 随着国内改革的深化以及使臣自身素质的提高, 他们开始主动反思中外教育差异, 郭嵩焘等有识之士虽尝试将先进思想与制度引入国内, 但因顽固派阻挠与封建体制束缚而难以推进。甲午战后, 尤其是新政时期, 国 内教育改革诉求日益迫切, 使臣的考察重心也由此转向引进西方教育制度从而推动国内教育体系的系统性变革。1861—1911年间, 使臣对教育所表现出的态度嬗变, 正是中国近代教育改革的缩影, 其考察在为中国教育近代化提供重要参考的同时也存在着显著的历史局限性。

“Learning from foreigners to strengthen oneself” (Shiyi Changji) emerged as a central theme in modern China' s pursuit of “national salvation and survival” amid what was perceived as an “unprecedented transformation in three thousand years. ” Beginning in the 1860s, the Qing government successively dispatched official missions abroad to investigate foreign political systems, technologies, and cultural and educational practices. During these state-sanctioned expeditions, the envoys produced a substantial corpus of travel diaries and manuscripts. These documents not only chronicle their overseas observations but also serve as crucial primary sources for examining the shifting educational perceptions and mentalities among late Qing officials and literati. In the early phase of the Self-Strengthening Movement, most envoys approached Western “powerful warships and artillery” with a largely touristic mindset, their accounts of education seldom progressing beyond superficial description. During the later phase, as domestic reforms deepened and the envoys' own intellectual preparedness improved, they began to actively reflect on the disparities between Chinese and foreign educational models. Although forward-thinking individuals such as Guo Songtao attempted to introduce advanced ideas and institutional models to China, their efforts achieved limited traction, hampered by resistance from conservative factions and the constraints of the feudal system. Following the First Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895) , and particularly during the New Policies (Xinzheng) period, the imperative for domestic educational reform. grew increasingly urgent. Consequently, the focus of the missions shifted decisively toward the systematic introduction of Western educational systems to drive structural transformation within China' s own educational framework. The evolving attitudes toward education exhibited by these envoys between 1861 and 1911 encapsulate the trajectory of modern Chinese educational reform. While their investigations provided significant reference points for China' s educational modernization, they were also marked by considerable historical limitations.