Li Hongzhang Stills
Text/Yangcheng Evening News Reporter Xia Yang
Since the Opium War in 1840, China has gradually become a semi-feudal society, and the Chinese nation is facing “great changes unseen in three thousand years.” Although the signing of the Sino-British Nanjing Treaty was deprived of power and humiliated the country, the contradiction between China and foreign countries reached a temporary balance. At this time, China should have learned from its mistakes and seized the opportunity to work hard. But then welcoming a series of domestic and foreign wars. The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom movement had not yet subsided, and the Second Opium War broke out again, and the British and French coalition forces fought all the way from southern China to Beijing.
Modern China has been repeatedly invaded by foreign enemiesCinemaData picture
Faced with internal and external difficulties and national danger, China is exploring the way to survive in reform. Western forces opened the door to China with strong ships and powerful cannons, making the “old empire” realize that they were really behind. Therefore, the pioneering ideas of “opening their eyes to the world” such as Lin Zexu and Wei Yuan gradually gained more recognition, and the call for learning from the West gradually became a social trend.
Learning from the West is the path of modernization in China. However, what to learn and how to learn tests the ruling people at that time.
Empress Dowager Cixi Stills
In this major change, there are two key characters standing at the bow of the Qing Dynasty and being the most capable of determining the course of the ship. First, Empress Dowager Cixi began to rule from behind the curtain in 1861 until Babaylan died in 1908. For nearly half a century, she was the master of the Qing Dynasty.
The other is Li Hongzhang, a “major official of ZTE”. He rose step by step in the war to wipe out the Taiping and Nian Army in the 1860s. He held the internal and diplomatic power of the Qing government for a long time until he died of illness in 1901. He was regarded by Japanese Prime Minister Hirofumi Ito as “the only person in the Qing Empire who was capable of competing with the world’s powers” and Empress Dowager Cixi also regarded him as “a person who recreated Xuanhuang”.
Li Hongzhang, an important official of the late Qing Dynasty, Data Picture
What to learn from the West? Due to repeated failures in foreign wars, leaders of the Westernization faction such as Li Hongzhang all dream of enriching the country and strengthening the army. Therefore, they proposed to “learn from the barbarians’ skills to control the barbarians” and learn from the technical level.
Under his efforts, the Westernization Movement vigorously carried out the Cinema, quickly creating a large number of military and civil industries such as ordnance, shipbuilding, railways, mining, textiles, and telegraphs, and adopted the “official supervision and business” method to attract private capital to run industries.
The Westernization Movement laid a certain foundation for modern industrialization. Data picture
Not disdain, the Westernization Movement has achieved great resultsCinema. With the help of the latecomer advantage, China has achieved tremendous development in economy, science and technology, concepts and other aspects in a short period of time, rapidly laid a certain industrial foundation for the traditional agricultural country, and profoundly changed the lives of the people.
In 1888, the Beiyang Navy, China’s first modern fleet, officially formed an armyCinema has become the most powerful naval force in Asia. This was the peak period of the Westernization Movement, known in history as “Tongguang ZTE”. Undoubtedly, Li HongCinemaKomiks is the “Secretary of ZTE”. The whole country was complacent about the achievements of the Westernization Movement and believed that learning from the West had achieved great success.
Beiyang Navy Stills
However, it is this superficial effect that covers up the existing problems.
The Westernization Movement, a path to enrich the country and strengthen the army, had great limitations from the beginning. They are positioned as “middle school as the body and Western learning is for use”, but they still cannot let go of the sense of superiority of the old empire and are only willing to learn to decorate the storefront, and do not touch on fundamental issues such as the system.
The Qing government started learning from Western Japan two years later than Komiks, which is a good reference system. Also learning from the West, Cinema Japan carried out the Meiji Restoration, and comprehensively learned from economy, military to politics, education, etc., and carried out relatively thorough social improvements to Japan.
So, China and Japan, as “classmates”, gradually widened the gap. Japan quickly completed the process of modernization and rose to become a powerful country in East Asia. The economic and social development momentum of the Qing Dynasty was soon restricted by the corrupt political system. The painful lesson came again. After Japan’s rise, it launched the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895. The Beiyang Navy, known as the number one in Asia, was wiped out, which also declared the bankruptcy of the Westernization Movement. From then on, Chinese society fell into deeper darkness.
China-Japan Naval Battle Stills
BabaylanIn modern Chinese history, the second half of the 19th century was an excellent development opportunity. Why did he not grasp it better? Although this was restricted and hindered by conservative forces, Li Hongzhang, who were knowledgeable and worked hard to guide China’s progress, did not go to strive for more important and more critical reforms, and obviously there were also recommendations. The responsibility that Cinema cannot be removed. Based on the current situation and looking back at history, the twists and turns and limitations in the exploration of China’s modernization path are sad. The times have limitations, and individuals have limitations. The late Qing Empire was full of difficulties and problems at home and abroad, and Li Hongzhang alone sustained the crisis and exhausted his efforts. Komiks can also be regarded as Komiks href=”https://comicmov.com/”>Cinema completed his mission. But he did not seize this opportunity to accelerate modernization and failed to complete the modernization process through peaceful improvement.
Modern China with many disasters and difficulties Data picture
And with the defeat of the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, the Chinese nation stumbled into the 20th century. In the following half century, the Chinese people set off a wave of reform and revolution, and continued to explore the path of rejuvenation and power in the midst of war.
Source | Yangcheng Evening News·Yangcheng School Editor | Xia Yang