On the Westernization School's Industrial Education Thought: Industrial education is an important way for modern China to learn from the West and enhance its national strength. Western powers launched a series of wars of aggression with their strong ships and strong guns, which gradually reduced China to a semi-colonial country, which was the direct cause of the decline of the Qing Dynasty. It is based on this understanding that the Westernization School realized that the strength of western countries lies in their naval strength. They attached importance to the cultivation of industrial technology and industrial talents and needed to learn advanced technology and management experience from the West to save the Qing Dynasty. Therefore, Westernization School strongly advocates industry and develops industrial education. First, the social and historical background and reasons of the Westernization School's industrial education thought. In the 1960s, under the double blow of internal troubles and foreign invasion, the rulers of the Qing Dynasty could no longer rule. In order to save the crumbling feudal rule, the landlord class realized that it was necessary to make changes, which was what Li Hongzhang and others called "the great change that never happened in three thousand years". The representatives of early Westernization education thought were mainly Li Hongzhang, governor of Zhili, and Zuo, governor of Fujian and Zhejiang, which opened the bud of industrial education thought. The representatives in the middle and late period are Zhang Zhidong, Governor of Huguang, and Zhang Jian, a famous industrial educator in modern times. The reasons for the Westernization School's industrial education thought are complicated and can be summarized as: 1. The invasion of foreign capitalism and the internal Taiping Heavenly Kingdom movement made the Westernization School have a strong sense of crisis and hardship. As early as before the Opium War, the Qing Dynasty was in decline, with rampant corruption in politics, serious land annexation in economy, people's living difficulties, prominent internal class contradictions and ethnic contradictions, and the outbreak of the peasant movement in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, which seriously threatened the foundation of feudal rule. With the development of productive forces, the capitalist countries headed by Britain in the west, in order to plunder raw materials and open up overseas markets, constantly launched wars of aggression, threatening the survival of the Qing government. Under the pressure of internal troubles and foreign invasion, in order to get rid of the crisis and maintain its rule, the Qing government had to make changes and set off a vigorous Westernization Movement. The Westernization School believed that China's failure in the two Opium Wars was not due to the poor system of China, but to the inferior utensils. Therefore, we advocate learning advanced military technology from the west to enhance our strength and fight against foreigners. However, many difficulties were encountered in the process of establishing military enterprises, such as a serious shortage of raw materials and fuel, and everything had to be bought from the international market at a high price, which was too expensive, while the Qing government had limited financial resources. In order to alleviate the plight of the military industry, we have to develop mining and transportation, and mining and transportation also need a lot of money. We can only accumulate funds for heavy industry by developing light industry, and we must develop industrial education when we embark on this process. The educational modernization activities of the Westernization School are as follows: first, reform the traditional academy education, advocate the study of practical use, take reading history as the main learning content, and gain and lose the teaching content of the academy according to the development and change of the situation, so as to make it a new school; Second, many new schools have been established, such as foreign language schools, ordnance schools, naval schools and technical schools. 2. The development of Westernization is in urgent need of new talents. Li Hongzhang and other Westernization factions encountered many difficulties in the process of establishing military enterprises: first, funds were tight; Second, the military industry and the new navy urgently need a lot of raw materials, fuel and transportation; Third, there is a serious shortage of new talents with modern knowledge and skills. However, the feudal literati who had been trained by traditional Confucianism for a long time regarded modern machinery and technology as strange and cunning. In order to solve the urgent demand for talents in westernization activities, Li Hongzhang recruited talents extensively at home and abroad. One is to recruit domestic talents, such as famous mathematicians Li, Hua and chemist Xu Shou, who were recruited by Li Hongzhang as translators in Jiangnan Manufacturing General Administration. But there are too few talents like China. The second is to hire a large number of foreigners. In order to learn advanced foreign science and technology and management experience, it was very necessary to hire foreigners at that time, but long-term dependence on foreign technicians and craftsmen also had many disadvantages, which were not only expensive, but also unfavorable to the development of national industries. With the establishment of westernization enterprises and the rise of national capitalism, farmers and craftsmen who went bankrupt during the disintegration of natural economy went to work in factories one after another. The number of industrial workers in China is increasing day by day, and the ranks are getting bigger and bigger, but these people have basically never attended school or received any skills training. However, the modern machine industry needs skilled technical workers and managers with basic management experience. Therefore, the Westernization School is increasingly aware of the importance of cultivating domestic talents. Although the early Westernization School headed by Li Hongzhang did not want to touch the root of feudal system, it advocated vigorously developing industrial education, running Westernization schools and cultivating new talents. Fuzhou Ship Administration School founded by Zuo was the earliest Westernization School in modern China. It's called Qiushitang Art Bureau. He not only hired foreign teachers to teach students skills, but also sent graduates to study abroad. After finishing their studies, they returned to China to practice, spread advanced western technology, trained China shipbuilding factories and pilots, and changed the passive situation of hiring "foreign craftsmen" for a long time. Many excellent naval generals in the Sino-French and Sino-Japanese War were also trained by the School of Ship Administration, and Yan Fu, a famous thinker and translator of the Reform Movement, was also a graduate of the School of Ship Administration. In the later period, the Westernization School believed that the main reasons for China's internal troubles and foreign invasion, poverty and weakness were the backwardness of education and the lack of various professionals. For example, Zhang Zhidong, an important official in the late Qing Dynasty, said: "The western country is stronger than the school." It is considered that the research of industrial education is "practical, not empty talk". 3. The educational thought of "being practical" made the Westernization School form a positive understanding of industrial education. After the Opium War, the scholars represented by Wei Yuan felt that there was a huge crisis in China society, and they strongly advocated the theory of "applying what they learned", opposed empty talk and tedious textual research divorced from real life, and demanded that scholars move from learning to real life. Wei Yuan's As Picturesque as the Sea is a masterpiece entrusted to him by his good friend Lin Zexu. The greatest feature of this book is that it is the first time that China people have voiced their desire to "learn from foreigners". It is under the influence of Wei Yuan and others' thought of practical application that the Westernization School set off an educational trend characterized by learning western culture, and the industrial education thought began to sprout. Source: Education and Vocational Theory Edition