During the Qing Dynasty, a Spanish fleet encountered two Chinese vessels in the Southeast Asian waters. Due to cultural differences and communication barriers, misunderstandings arose between the two parties. The Chinese fleet mistakenly believed that the Spanish ships were hostile and fired the first shot. After the Chinese fired their cannons, the Spanish, confused, retaliated and sank one Chinese ship, capturing another. According to Spanish records, after the Chinese vessels were captured, the surviving Chinese crew members showed extreme fear, even kneeling on the deck to bow to the Spaniards and plead for mercy, shouting phrases like "Long live the master" to express submission. This description shocked and puzzled Western colonizers about the attitude of the Chinese crew. They wondered how it came to this, saying they came in peace for trade, but ended up being attacked first, and after being captured, kneeling on the ground. In fact, this reflects the outcome of the so-called Confucian education that our nation has endured for a long time, where it is either me kneeling or you kneeling; in any case, we do not engage equally with others. Even today, our nation still struggles to interact equally with other nations in the world.

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