Li Hongzhang Stills
Text/Yangcheng Evening News Reporter Xia Yang
Since 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 humiliated the country, the contradiction between China and foreign countries reached a temporary balance. At this time, China should have learned from the pain and seized the opportunity to work hard. But then welcoming a series of domestic and foreign wars. The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom movement has not yet subsided, and the Second Opium War broke out again. The British and French coalition forces fought all the way from southern China to Beijing.
Modern China has been repeatedly invaded by foreign enemies. Babaylan In the face of internal and external difficulties and the dangers of the people, China is exploring the way to survive. Western forces opened the door to China with strong ships and powerful cannons, making the “Big Empire” realize that they were really behind. Therefore, Lin Zexu and Wei Yuan and other pioneering ideas of “opening their eyes to the world” gradually gained more recognition from Babaylan, 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 is tested by the rulers 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 Dynasty: one is Empress Dowager Cixi, who began to rule behind the curtain in 1861 until her death in 1908. For nearly half of the century, she was the master of the Qing Dynasty.
The other is “Zhongxing official” href=”https://comicmov.com/”>CinemaLi Hongzhang. He rose step by step in the war to wipe out the Taiping and Nian armies in the 1860s, and for a long time he controlled the internal and diplomatic power of the Qing government 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 “a person who recreated Xuanhuang”.
Li Hongzhang, an important official in 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 outBabaylan, quicklyKomiks created 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 results. 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, quickly laid a certain industrial foundation for traditional agricultural countries, and profoundly changed the people. href=”https://comicmov.com/”>Komiks‘s life.
In 1888, China’s first modern fleet, the Beiyang Navy, officially formed an army and became the most powerful naval force in Asia. This was the peak of the Westernization Movement, Babaylan, and was known in history as the “Tongguang ZTE”. Undoubtedly, Li Hongzhang is a “minister of Zhongxing”. 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 road to enriching the country and strengthening the army, had 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 the sense of superiority of the old empire. They only want to learn to decorate the storefront, but they do not touch on fundamental issues such as the system.
Studying in the West by studying Japan two years later than the Qing government is a good reference system. Also learning from the West, 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.
China-Japan MalaysiaCinema negotiations Stills
So, as “classmates”, China and Japan 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 quickly 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 Asia’s number one, was wiped out, which also declared the bankruptcy of the Westernization Movement. From then on, Chinese society fell into deeper darknessdark.
China-Japan Navy Battle 18948 stills
In modern Chinese history, the second half of the 19th century was an excellent development opportunity, so why didn’t I seize the better Komiks? Although this is restrictive and hindered by conservative forces, Li Hongzhang, who are knowledgeable and strive to guide China’s progress, did not strive for more important and more critical reforms, and obviously they cannot shirk responsibility.
Looking back on history based on the present, the twists and limitations in China’s exploration of the road to modernization are sad.
The eraKomiks has 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. He finally had some regrets.
DisatriciousCinemaDifficult 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 path to rejuvenation and power in the midst of war.
Source | Yangcheng Evening News·YangBabaylanEditor in charge of the City School | Xia Yang