The Westernization Movement, also known as the Self-improvement Movement, refers to the improvement movement of "learning from foreigners for self-improvement" initiated by the Westernization School all over the country from 186 1 (Xianfeng started at the end of October) to 1894. After the two Opium Wars, the ruling class of the Qing government was divided into "Westernization School" and "Old School" on how to solve a series of problems of internal and external troubles. The Westernization School advocated developing new industries, enhancing national strength and maintaining the feudal rule of the Qing government. It also laid a certain foundation for China's modernization.

Function:

The modern industrial enterprises run by the Westernization School are based on the premise of not changing the feudal relations of production. The enterprises they run have strong external dependence, feudalism and a certain degree of monopoly. Therefore, the Westernization School had to be controlled and restrained by imperialism in industrial technology, capital and even management, in order to set up modern industrial enterprises and prepare for China's coastal defense. As a result, the imperialist control over China's politics, military affairs and economy was deepened, and the Westernization School accelerated the emergence of its own comprador. Such enterprises can not only avoid their own bankruptcy, but also seriously hinder and inhibit the development of modern national industries in China.

Process:

In the thirty years of "Westernization", the number of trading ports that China was forced to open increased from 7 before 1860 to 34 before 1894, and the import volume of foreign countries also surged from 5 1864 to 1894. Among the imported commodities, opium occupied the first place before the 1980s, and cotton products jumped to the first place after the 1980s, and opium relegated to the second place, but the absolute quantity still kept rising. Before the 1980s, the main commodities exported were tea and silk, and after the 1980s, cotton and soybeans gradually increased. China was forced to accelerate its involvement in the whirlpool of world capitalism, becoming their commodity sales market and the origin of cheap raw materials. Therefore, the process of Westernization Movement is the further combination of Chinese and foreign reactionaries and the gradual deepening of China's semi-colonization, and it is also the self-help movement of the landlord class.

Results:

Although China's modern national capitalist industry grew up in the same process of Westernization Movement, it was mainly the result of the restriction of China's modern economic laws, which was counterproductive for the Westernization School. However, the Westernization Movement acted as an unconscious historical tool after all. With the construction of modern industry, modern production technologies in some capitalist countries have been introduced, and a number of modern industrial workers have emerged in China society. In the new schools founded by the Westernization School, a group of intellectuals and engineers who have mastered natural science have also been created. At the same time, the profits of enterprises also attracted some bureaucrats, landlords and businessmen to invest in modern industry, which objectively stimulated the development of capitalism in China. Although the Westernization Movement did not make China rich and strong, it introduced advanced western science and technology, which led to the emergence of the first batch of modern industrial enterprises in China and objectively promoted the process of China's modernization.