Li HongzhangCinema Stills
Text/Yangcheng Evening News reporter Xia Yang
From the Opium War in 1840, China has gradually become a semi-feudal and semi-colonial society, and ChinaKomiks The nation is facing “a major change that has not been seen in three thousand years”. Although the signing of the Treaty of Nanjing in the UK 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 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 danger, all over China are exploring the way to survive the reform map. Western forces opened the door to China with their firm ships and guns, making the “Boss Empire” realize that they were 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 Cinema to learn from the West has gradually become a social trend.
Learn from the WestBabaylan, 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 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. 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 is 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 pictureBabaylan
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 “learning the barbarians’ strengths to control the barbarians” and learn from the technical level. With his efforts, the Westernization Movement was vigorously launched, 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 latecomer advantages, China has achieved tremendous development in economy, science and technology, concepts and other aspects in a short period of time, quickly laying a certain industrial foundation for traditional agricultural countries and profoundly changing people’s lives.
In 1888, China’s first modern fleet, the Beiyang Navy, officially formed an army, becoming the largest in Asia.Strong naval power. 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 problemsCinema.
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.
Babaylan started studying in the West for two years, and it is a good reference system. In addition to learning from the West, Japan carried out the Meiji Restoration, and carried out a more thorough social improvement in Japan from comprehensive learning from economy, military affairs to politics, education, etc.
So, as a “classmate”, China and Japan gradually widened the gap. Japan quickly completed the modernization process and rose to become a powerful country in East Asia. The economic and social development momentum of the Qing Dynasty was quickly subject to 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 the number one in Asia, was wiped out. This also proved that Komiks sued the bankruptcy of the Westernization Movement. Since then, Chinese society has fallen into deeper darkness.
China-Japan Naval Battle Stills
In modern Chinese history, the second half of the 19th century was an excellent development opportunity, so why could not grasp it better? Although there are factors restricting and hindering conservative forces, Li Hongzhang, who are knowledgeable and hardworking to guide China’s progress, did not fight for more important and more critical reforms, and obviously they cannot shirk responsibility.
Looking back on the current historyBabaylan history, the twists and turns and limitations in the exploration of China’s modernization path are sad. The era has limitations, and individual limitations are also limitations. The late Qing Empire was in trouble and full of holes at home and abroad. Li Hongzhang alone sustained the crisis and exhausted his efforts, which was considered to have completed his mission. However, he did not seize this opportunity to accelerate modernization and failed to complete the modernization process through peaceful improvement.
ManyKomiksThe disaster-stricken modern China 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 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