早期驻外使节是晚清官僚阶层中较早走向世界的新型群体。19世纪70年代中期至90年代中期,正是晚清海防近代化最为兴盛的时期,早期驻外使节积极参与其中,他们以内行的眼光为海军购置军舰,在派遣、管理海军留学生方面扮演了不可或缺的重要角色,还提出了许多先进的海防主张。驻英、驻德使节表现尤为突出。对西方海防海军事务身临其境的实地考察,驻外使节的独特身份,是他们为晚清海防近代化做出杰出贡献的主要原因。 The early ambassadors were a new type of group who came to the world earlier in the late Qing bureaucracy. From the mid-1970s to the mid-1990s, it was the most prosperous period of coastal defense modernization in the late Qing dynasty. Early ambassadors took an active part in them. They took an expert look at the Navy’s acquisition of warships and played a role in dispatching and managing naval students Or lack of important role, also made a lot of advanced coastal defense claims. Resident Mission in Germany and Britain are particularly prominent. The in-depth field visits to the Western naval affairs and the unique identities of the diplomatic missions abroad are the main reasons they have made outstanding contributions to the modernization of coastal defense in the late Qing dynasty.