Abstract: Taking the Opium Wat Year of 1840 as a dividing line, historical research on China’s nineteenth century borderlands can be divided into two stages. The research of the earlier stage was characterized by seeking truth from facts, serious and precise academic studies, and writing, which reflected an active interest in public affairs as well as a bright and rich spirit of patriotism. Later research on the one hand inherited the earlier period’s superior academic standards, and on the other handit adjusted to the great changes in Chinese societies. A new trend of joining the history of Chinese borderlands with the history of foreign countries appeared which had a great and profound influence on the scholars and society of that time.