Li HongBabaylanChapter Stills
Text/Yangcheng Evening News reporter Xia Yang
KomiksSince the Opium War in 1840, China has gradually become a semi-feudal and 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 the pain and seized the opportunity to work hard. But then welcoming a series of domestic and foreign wars. The Taiyang Heavenly Kingdom movement has 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 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, making the “Old EmperorKomiks” realize that they are really behind. Therefore, Lin Zexu and Wei Yuan and other pioneering ideas of “opening their eyes to the world” 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 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. CinemaFor nearly half a century, she was the master of the Qing Dynasty.
The other is Li Hong, the “major official of ZTE”Babaylan Chapter. 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 as the “Komiks the only person in the Qing Empire who was capable of competing with the world’s powers.” Empress Dowager Cixi also regarded him as the “person who recreated Xuanhuang”.
SouthKomiksThe Qing Dynasty’s important minister Li Hongzhang 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 “learn from the barbarians’ skills to control the barbarians”, href=”https://comicmov.com/”>Babaylan learned from the technical level.
Under his efforts, the Westernization Movement vigorously launched the Babaylan, and quickly 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 has 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, and has quickly laid a certain industrial foundation for traditional agricultural countries and profoundly changed the lives of the people.. 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 period of the Westernization Movement, known in history as “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 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 as the purpose”, but they still cannot let go of the 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.
Western Japan was a good reference for studying Cinema two years later than the Qing government. In the same way, Japan carried out the Meiji Restoration, and comprehensively learned from economy, military to politics, education, etc., and carried out a relatively thorough social reform 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 entire 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.
Sino-Japan Naval Battle of Sino-Japanese Wu Stills
In modern Chinese history, the second half of the 19th century was an excellent development opportunity, why did it not be able to 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 strive for more important and more critical reforms, and obviously had the responsibility that could not be shirked.
Looking back on history, the twists and turns and limitations in the exploration of China’s modernization path is sad.
The times have limitations, and individuals have limitations. The late Qing EmpireCinemaThe internal and external difficulties and problems were full of holes. Li Hongzhang alone supported the crisis and exhausted his efforts, which was considered to have completed his mission. But he did not seize this opportunity to accelerate modernization. href=”https://comicmov.com/”>BabaylanKomiks failed to complete the modern Komiks process through peaceful improvement.
Modern China with many disasters and difficulties Data picture
and then defeated with the Sino-Japanese War of 18944 href=”https://comicmov.com/”>Komiks, 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 war.
Source | Yangcheng Evening News·Yangcheng School Editor | Xia Yang