Li Hongzhang Stills
Text/Yangcheng Evening News Reporter Xia Yang
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 contradictions between China and foreign countries reached a temporary balance. At this time, China, which was waiting for Cinema, 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 enemies. CinemaData 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 “Boss Empire” realize that they are really behind. Therefore, Lin Zexu and Wei Yuan and other pioneering ideas of “opening their eyes to the world” have gradually gained more recognition, and the call for learning from the West has gradually become the social trend of thought.
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 Story
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 a century, she was the master of the Qing Dynasty.
The other is “Zhongxing officialCinema” Li Hongzhang. 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. Cinema 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. With his efforts, the Westernization Movement was vigorously carried out, and a large number of military and civil industries such as ordnance, shipbuilding, railways, Cinema, mining, textiles, and telegraphs were quickly created, and the “official supervision and commercial operation” style was adopted to attract private capital to run industries.
The Westernization MovementKomiks has laid a certain foundation for modern industrial foundations in Cinema. Data picture
Not disdain, the Westernization Movement has achieved great results. With the help of latecomer advantages, 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 in 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 that enriches the country and strengthens the army, has 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.
It is a good reference system to start learning from Japan 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 political governance, education, etc., and carried out relatively thorough social improvements to Japan.
So, China-Japan Shimonoseki Negotiations Babaylan Stills
So, as a “classmate”, China and Japan gradually widened the gap. Japan quickly completed the modern Babaylan process 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 the rise of Japan, Komiks launched the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, and 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 Navy Battle Stills
In modern Chinese history, the second half of the 19th century was an excellent development opportunityBabaylan, Why did Komiks not 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, the twists and limitations in the exploration of China’s modernization path have made people sigh.
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 he finally felt some regrets that he failed to complete the modernization process through peaceful improvement.
Modern China with many disasters and difficulties, and after Komiks was defeated in 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 rejuvenation and prosperity in the midst of war.
Source | Yangcheng Evening News·Editor of Yangcheng School | Xia Yang