When the Xiang army was strong, it was said that there were more than 500 thousand people. When he stepped on the mat, the Qing dynasty would tremble. Why didn't Zeng Guopan finally replace the terminally ill Qing Dynasty as king? Critics generally believe that Zeng Guofan is a master of China traditional culture. Some even commented that, in a sense, Zeng Guofan is the embodiment of China's traditional culture. If Confucian culture can be divided into three stages: early stage, middle stage and late stage, and there is corresponding Theory of Three Represents's character theory, then Confucius in the early stage, Zhu in the middle stage and Zeng Guofan in the later stage.
Zeng Guofan did inherit the traditional culture of China with Confucianism as the core. Many papers submitted to the conference this time involve this point. Zeng Guofan completely followed the Confucian road of "self-cultivation, keeping the family in order, governing the country and leveling the world" and finished his life. He abides by the principle of "three cardinal guides and five permanents", and holds that "although a gentleman is unkind, a minister cannot be unfaithful, a father is unkind, a son must be unfilial, a husband is immoral, and a wife must be unhappy." His own self-cultivation, such as "ruling the people with courtesy", "using both hands", "keeping profits and protecting Thailand", "combining rigidity with softness", "managing the family diligently, being sincere and trustworthy", and his family motto "eight books, eight characters, four essays and four defeats" all show that Zeng Guofan is authentic.
Commentators have different opinions about the "Three Cardinal Principles and Five Permanent Principles". Some people regard the "Three Cardinals and Five Permits" as dross, even the most untimely dross, while others disagree, thinking that since China traditional culture should be divided into two, why not? Can we say that the core of China's traditional culture is dross? Only the non-core part has some essence? Obviously, we can't say that. If so, wouldn't it be a total denial of traditional culture?
In fact, for a long time in the past, loyalty, filial piety, loyalty, benevolence, righteousness, courtesy, wisdom and faith were all regarded as dross, or were not discussed or advocated, which did not bring any benefits to our society, but suffered greatly. Some critics say that Zeng Guofan suppressed the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in order to maintain China's traditional culture.
Zeng Guofan fought the Taiping Army for nearly 20 years, and defeating the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was the peak of his career. The evaluation of him has to be related to the evaluation of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. Some commentators insist on the traditional view that Zeng Guofan's suppression of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom is the sinner and executioner of history. Because the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom movement is a peasant uprising, and the peasant uprising is the driving force of historical development.
Hong Xiu tried to introduce the teachings of western religions to launch a peasant war to overthrow the Manchu Dynasty, but he introduced not the ethical spirit of Protestantism, but the religious theology of the Middle Ages, which blended with the feudal superstition of China and the simple and equal concept of peasant uprising and became the spiritual pillar of theocracy in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. Therefore, if the Taiping Army wins and Hong Xiuquan's theocracy is consolidated, it may pull China back to the dark ages in Europe. As a defender of traditional culture and feudal regime, Zeng Guofan's position is obviously conservative. "