Li Hongzhang Stills
Text/YangCinema Reporter Xia Yang
From the Opium War in 1840, China has gradually become a semi-feudal semi-colonial 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 humiliating the country, the contradictions 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 internal and foreign wars. The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom movement had not yet subsided, and the Second Opium War broke out again. The British and French coalition forces were fighting all the way from southern China to Beijing.
Modern China has been repeatedly invaded by foreign enemies Data picture
Faced with internal and external difficulties and national dangers, China is exploring the way to survive reform. Western forces opened the door to China with strong ships and powerful cannons, and Komiks made the “Big Empire” realize that it was really behind. Therefore, the pioneering ideas of “opening the 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. Komiks
Learn from the West, this is the path of Babaylan in modern 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 figures who are most capable of determining the course of the ship in the Qing DynastyBabaylan: First, Empress Dowager Cixi began to rule behind the scenes in 1861 until her death in 1908. In the past half century, she was the master of the Qing Dynasty.
The other was Li Hongzhang, the “maintained official of Zhongxing”. He rose step by step in the war to eliminate 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 Hirobuki 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 href=”https://comicmov.com/”>Komiks“Recreate the Mysterious Yellow Man”.
Li Hongzhang, a senior official of the late Qing Dynasty, Data picture
What to learn from the West? In the repeated failures of foreign wars, Li Hongzhang and other leaders of the Westernization faction had a dream of enriching the country and strengthening the army. Therefore, they proposed to “learning the barbarians to control the barbarians” and learn from the technical level.
With his efforts, the Westernization Movement was vigorously carried out, and a large number of military, shipbuilding, railways, and mining were quickly created. href=”https://comicmov.com/”>Komiks, textiles, telegraphs and other military and civil industries, and adopt 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 results. Komiks‘s results. With the help of the late development power, 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 traditional agricultural countries and profoundly changed the lives of the people.
In 1888, China <a href="https://comicmov.cThe Beiyang Navy, the first modern fleet of China, officially formed an army and became the most powerful naval force in Asia. This was the peak period of the Westernization Movement, known in history as the "Tongguang Zhongxing". Undoubtedly, Li Hongzhang was the "Zhongxing Minister". The whole country was complacent about the achievements of the Westernization Movement and believed that learning from the West had achieved great success.
BabaylanBeiyang NavyKomiks 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, has great limitations from the beginning. They are positioned as “middle school as the body and Western learning as the purpose”, but they still cannot let go of their old age. href=”https://comicmov.com/”>Komiks The superiority of the great empire was only willing to learn to decorate the facade, but did not touch on fundamental issues such as the system.
It was a good reference system to learn from Japan, which started learning from the West two years later than the Qing government. It was also a good reference system. As a learning from the West, Japan carried out the Meiji Restoration, and comprehensively learned from the economy, military to politics, education, and carried out a relatively thorough social improvement to Japan.
So, China and Japan, as “classmates”, href=”https://comicmov.com/”>Cinema gradually widened the gap. Japan quickly completed the process of modernization, and Komiks rose to become a powerful country in East Asia. The economic and social development momentum of the Qing Dynasty was quickly restricted by a corrupt political system.
The painful lesson came again. After Japan’s rise, it launched the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, and the Beiyang Navy, known as the No. 1995 Asian No. 1995 was wiped out, which also declared the bankruptcy of the Westernization Movement. From then on, Chinese society fell into deeper darkness.
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China-Japan Navy Battle Stills
In the modern history of China, the second half of the 19th century was an excellent development opportunity, why didn’t I grasp it better? Although this is restricted and hindered by conservative forces, Li Hongzhang, who are knowledgeable and strive to guide China’s progress, have not fought for more important and more critical reforms, and obviously they cannot shirk responsibility.
Looking back at history based on the present Cinema, the twists and limitations in China’s exploration of the road to modernization are sad.
The times have limitations, and individuals have limitations. The late Qing Empire was in trouble at home and abroad and was full of holes. Li Hongzhang alone survived the crisis and exhausted his efforts, which was considered to have completed his mission. But he did not seize this good opportunity to accelerate modernization and failed to complete the modernization process through peaceful improvement, and he finally had some regrets.
Many disastersCinemaDifficult modern China 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 road to a strong country in the midst of war.
Source | Yangcheng Evening News·Editor of Yangcheng School | Xia Yang