Positive evaluation:
Zeng Guofan is a far-sighted politician and strategist. At the grim moment when China suffered from foreign aggression and internal turmoil, it made great contributions to safeguarding national sovereignty and unity.
Zeng Guofan advocated Confucianism and paid attention to moral ethics and etiquette norms, which played a positive guiding role in the society at that time.
Zeng Guofan took more moderate measures to suppress peasant uprisings such as the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, which eased social unrest and people's suffering.
Negative evaluation:
In the process of suppressing the peasant uprising, Zeng Guofan slaughtered and suppressed prisoners and civilians on a large scale by cruel means, causing a large number of innocent deaths and people's suffering.
Zeng Guofan advocated feudal ethics and restricted women's status and rights, which was also criticized by modern society.
Zeng Guofan showed some compromise and weakness in handling diplomatic relations, which damaged China's sovereignty and interests to some extent.
Comprehensive evaluation:
Zeng Guofan is an important figure in China's modern history. His political and military talents and ideological depth are worthy of recognition. However, his methods and attitudes in suppressing peasant uprisings and foreign negotiations have also been controversial. Therefore, we should comprehensively evaluate Zeng Guofan's historical position and role from many angles. In fact, historical figures have different understandings from different angles, and they are only references and are "one-sided", so there is no absolutely correct evaluation.