In the period before the great Qing emperors Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlung, China was actually the center of the East Asian world. Around its borders were countries which paid tribute such as Okinawa, Japan and Vietnam. It was only natural that the Chinese of that day would view the West from the same kind of Sinocentric perspective.
到清康雍乾前期，其時的中國仍居東亞世界中心，四方有琉球、日本、安南等國來貢，當時的中國人看西方當然還是「中土」觀念。