In the later nineteenth century, western techniques of strong ships and guns showed that ocean civilization of western powers was strong.Before the Opium War, Chinese rulers recognized the sea as external natural defense “the Great Wall”. The ocean had never been incorporated into Chinese national security considerations. After the Opium War, China has to face the problem of how to face the threat from the sea and perform what marine strategy. As a modern thinker experiencing the Opium War, Wei Yuan put forward having the whole world in view, learning western strategies, and understanding of Western strong roots from different aspects. Wei Yuan advocated to use western good technology to control western countries. He advocated to transport the grain by sea instead of river, develop ocean commercial and new navy. He wanted that China could become a modern ocean country which could control western countries. As a modern Chinese thinker, Wei Yuan’s ideas of “ocean transporting, ocean commercial, ocean defense, navy, ocean power” showed that Chinese ocean consciousness awakening. With the development of the Western sea power theory in modern China, modern Chinese marine consciousness gradually changed from the enhancement of “sea power” transition to strive for “sea right”.