Li Hongzhang Stills
text/Yangcheng EveningKomiks 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 the “major change unseen in three thousand years”. Although the signing of the Sino-British Nanjing Treaty was lost 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 afterwards, Babaylan ushered in 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 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 “Big 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 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 characters standing at the bow of the Qing Dynasty and being the most capable of determining the course of the ship. First, Empress Dowager Cixi is Empress Dowager Xi, 186She began to rule the country from behind the curtain in one year until she died 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 wipe out the Taiping Army and the Nian Army in the 1860s, and 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 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 man who recreated the mysterious and mysterious Babaylan‘s yellow man”.
Li Hongzhang, an important official of the late Qing Dynasty, Data pictureCinema
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, mining, textiles, and telegraphs were quickly created, and the “official supervision and business” method was adopted to attract private capital to run industries.
The Westernization Movement laid a certain foundation for modern industrial development. The data picture is no secret that Komiks, and the Westernization MovementBabaylan has achieved great results. With the help of latecomer advantages, China has achieved tremendous development in the 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’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”. LiftThe 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 “Cinema for middle school and Komiks for Western learning”, 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.
Babaylan’s government started learning from Western Japan two years later than the Qing government, and it was a good reference system. To learn from the West, Japan carried out Meiji Restoration, and comprehensively learned from economy, military to politics, education, etc., and carried out relatively thorough social improvements to Japan.
SoCinema, as a “classmate”, 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.
Step on the Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese Naval Battle Step onCinemaIn 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 is restricted and hindered by conservative forces, Li Hongzhang, who are knowledgeable and hardworking to guide China’s progress, did not strive for more important and more critical reforms. Obviously, there are also responsibilities that cannot 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 Empire has difficulties at home and abroad, and Li Hongzhang alone has suffered from the crisis, exhausted his efforts, and it can be considered as the completion of the operation. href=”https://comicmov.com/”>Komiks‘s life. But he did not seize this opportunity to accelerate modernization and failed to complete the modernization process through peaceful improvement. He finally had some regretsCinema.
Modern China with many disastersBabaylan MaterialsKomiks Materials
And with the defeat of the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895Babaylan, 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 Newspaper·Editor of the Yangcheng School | Xia Yang