Li Hongzhang Stills
text/Yangcheng Evening News reporter Xia Yang
Babaylan Since 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 conflict 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 BabaylanCinema was a series of internal 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 enemiesKomiks Data 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. Learn from the West. This 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, she began to rule the country from behind the curtain in 1861 until her death 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 eliminate the Taiping and Nian Army in the 1860s, and for a long time he controlled the internal affairs and external power of the Qing government 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 the “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 was launched vigorously, 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 laid a certain foundation for modern industrialization. Data picture
It goes without saying that the Westernization Movement has achieved great results. With the help of the latecomer Komiks’ advantages, China has achieved tremendous development in economic, technology, concepts, etc. in a short period of time, quickly laid a certain industrial foundation for traditional agricultural countries and profoundly changed the lives of 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 pinnacle of the Westernization Movement, and it was known in history as “CinemaTongguang 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”, or are they unable to 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.
It was a good guide to studying in Japan, which started learning from the West two years later than the Qing government. 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.
So, China and Japan, who are “same as Komiks”, 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 Asia’s number one, 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 between Sino-Japanese War Babaylan Stills
In modern Chinese history, the second half of the 19th century was an excellent development opportunity. Why did he not grasp it better? Although this is restricted and hindered by conservative forces, Cinema has insight and strives to attract Li Hongzhang, who guided China’s progress, did not strive for more important and more critical reforms, and obviously had a responsibility that could not be shirked. Based on the present, looking back at history, the twists and turns and limitations in the exploration of the path of modern China’s Cinema transformation are sad. The times have limitations, and individuals have limitations. In the late Qing empire, Li Hongzhang was in a state of diplomacy and was 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 grasp this well. href=”https://comicmov.com/”>Cinema This is a good opportunity to accelerate modernization. It is a bit regrettable that it failed to complete the modernization process through peaceful improvement.
Modern China with many disasters and difficulties Data picture
After 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 launched reform and revolution. href=”https://comicmov.com/”>KomiksThe wave continues to explore the path to rejuvenate a strong country in the midst of war.
Source | Yangcheng Evening News·Yangcheng School Editor | Xia Yang