18th century is also of special significance to China. 100 years, the national population doubled, breaking through the 300 million mark for the first time; New varieties of American crops, such as sweet potato and corn, have been widely introduced to Chinese mainland. Due to the development of foreign trade, hundreds of millions of foreign silver dollars have flowed into China. During the period of 100, the traditional economy, culture and academics all developed to a new level, and one of the most prosperous periods in the ancient history of China appeared-"the prosperous time of Kanggan".

I. "Tradition" and "Modernity"

In the 8th century/KLOC-0, the last and highest peak "Kanggan Prosperity" appeared in the traditional society of China. This phenomenon gives people a natural implicit impression: the prosperity of "resistance" is closely linked with the "tradition" of China society. Although it has reached its peak, it is the peak of "traditional society", so its development trend, especially after the "modern society" meets the western powers, will inevitably turn from prosperity to decline. For a long time, this seems to be a conclusion without thinking.

/kloc-in the 9th century, foreign powers invaded China or opened the door to China with their guns, and the Opium War broke out. The war left a superficial impression on people, that is, the original development path of China was blocked. Like a tree, it was cut down and inserted with a metal umbrella. Thus, the axe that was cut off, the Opium War at that moment, became a watershed between tradition and modernity. Originally, any tree crown grew from trees, and any modernization, including the modernization of western Europe, is directly related to its tradition and parent-child relationship. However, the "tradition" and "modern" in China's history have become completely opposite "native" and "foreign", and there is no internal connection. Everything "earthy" represents backwardness and belongs to the traditional ancient times; Everything "foreign" represents the advanced and belongs to the new modernity. A metal umbrella is not a crown. For a long time, people have been trying to prove and study it from many aspects, or it is actually the opposition between a tree and a metal umbrella. Or it is actually the connection between the tree and the metal umbrella-the reaction of the tree to its own body after being cut down, "Long" (! ) out of the metal umbrella.

The historical research in the second half of the 20th century completely broke through the "Western Europe Center" theory, which measured the social and historical development process of various countries with the western European modernization as the yardstick, and had a shocking impact on the social history research in China. Theoretically and emotionally, people unanimously oppose and criticize "Western Europe Centrism" and "Determinism of External Factors". However, the influence of thoughts and habits should not be underestimated. People are used to the conclusion that there is no need to consider "tradition" and "modernity"; Accustomed to using the modernization of western Europe as a yardstick to measure the social and historical development of China; Accustomed to the disciplinary division of China's ancient history and China's modern history with the Opium War as the dividing line. Some theories, such as the "shock-response" model of "responding to western shocks" and the "modernization theory" of "modernization or westernization of non-western developing countries" based on the western modernization model; Some specious theories, such as "civil society", "public sphere", "the third field", "growth and development" and "diminishing marginal benefit", continue to affect people's understanding and interpretation of China's social history, and it is difficult to clarify and reveal the development path based on China's national conditions from the historical origin.

Let's take our understanding of the Opium War as an example.

Influenced by the "Western Europe Centrism", people think that advanced Western Europe has waved the axe of the Opium War, so there is no doubt that China's old rotten wood was cut down and a metal umbrella was inserted immediately. Due to the decline of dynastic rule and the long-term stability of the internal structure of traditional society, China has become an eternal stagnant society lacking the impetus of historical evolution. Only western civilization is the decisive force to awaken it, break its "traditional balance" and "poverty cycle", and make its ancient culture completely swept away, thus getting rid of it. Even Marx was affected. He regarded China as a "mummy" society, and predicted in "China was forced to give up the situation of closing the country after the Opium War": "The process of disintegration will inevitably follow, just like a mummy carefully kept in a closed coffin, once exposed to fresh air, it will inevitably disintegrate." [ 1]

Faced with history, people have too many preconceived impressions.

It is believed that once the industrial revolution begins in Europe, it will naturally become the center of the global economy. The historical fact is that at that time, the global economic center of multilateral trade relations and worldwide division of labor was still in Asia represented by China, while Europe, which started the industrial revolution, was on the verge. Although the inevitability of industrial revolution, industrialization and overseas expansion of capitalism pushed Europe to open the way with the silver seized from colonial America, it attempted to catch the world economic train centered on China and Asia, changed the pattern, and finally occupied the central position. Unfortunately, even after the Opium War in the middle of19th century, this attempt could not be said to have been realized. 1852, a British official named Mitchell reported the situation of China in Guangzhou: "After the harvest, all farmers, old and young, combed, spun and knitted together." "Nine out of ten people in this country wear this hand-woven material, and the texture is different, from the coarsest coarse cloth to the finest purple cloth." "The cost of producer use is only. He said gloomily: "As long as we factory owners think about the amazing frugality of this system and its ingenious combination with other farmers' lifestyles, it is clear at a glance that they have no hope of competing with it as far as coarse spinning is concerned." [2] The situation in China reported by Mitchell at that time has long been regarded as a typical closed, backward and self-sufficient small-scale peasant economy under the influence of Eurocentrism. With this family industry as the main background, China's per capita output value, income, consumption and domestic and foreign trade were all "the most advanced and complicated" economy at that time, which was not enough to be destroyed by opium. Rugand? Frank said: "Although Europeans got gold and silver from America and used it to buy their way into the world economy in Asia, they have been a small player for three centuries after 1500, and they must adapt-not make it! -Asian rules of the world economic game ... Asians are still successful competitors in the world economy. " [3] Even from the perspective of science and technology, Asia represented by China was often "better" than Europe at that time. Western Europe is not absolutely advanced, and the Opium War did not immediately cut down the tree of China.

On the other hand, from the Opium War to the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 for half a century, the western powers did not graft metal umbrellas on this big tree of China, but tried their best to sell textiles and opium to China. Mr. Wu, a famous scholar, pointed out that during this period, the China Westernization School and the national bourgeoisie crossed the textile industry era in the early stage of the western industrial revolution, followed the trend of "steam steel" in the second stage of the western industrial revolution, directly sought the "machine-ship mine road" from the west, and set up the first batch of machine factories, machine mines, steel joint ventures and practical railways in China. These industries are not only import substitution industries, but also catch up with the times. At that time, weapons and warships were mainly manufactured, and the gap between China's gun-making level and foreign countries was shortened from 37 years to 20 years, then to 13 years, and finally to 6 years. The gap between shipbuilding level and foreign countries has been shortened from 16 to 8 years, and finally to 6 years [4]. These modern enterprises are part of the autogenous crown of China trees, not the metal umbrella planted by western powers in China-foreign capital invested in these enterprises after the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, that is, 20 or 30 years after China people started their businesses.

When it comes to the social and institutional basis of economic development, people think that Europe after the industrial revolution is bound to be linked with democratic autonomy, optimal social structure and operating system; Autocracy, cruelty and slowness were the characteristics of China at that time. The historical fact is that those countries and regions that have entered or are about to enter the industrial society are characterized by the end of state autocracy; In China, the autonomous factors of the grass-roots society below the county level have always existed and become increasingly active.