Abstract: As a bureaucrat of Han nationality, Li Hongzhang influenced China in the late Qing Dynasty for nearly half a century. Can be said to be a tragic figure in the historical process of China. After a lifetime of fatigue, westernization movement has done the most. Finally, he ended up as a traitor reviled by people at that time and later generations. Today, we should abandon past prejudices and treat such a historical figure comprehensively and objectively.
"Wu Gou, friendship is higher than a hundred feet. Whoever writes history for 10,000 years wants to seal Hou for 3,000 miles. " A historian once said that as long as you understand the three people in the late Qing Dynasty, you can find the hub and focus of the history of the late Qing Dynasty. These three people are: Cixi, Li Hongzhang and Hurd. Cixi represented the supreme ruler of Manchu nobles in Qing Dynasty. After the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the power center of the Qing Dynasty moved down and local Han officials rose. Hunan, Huai and Beiyang. Among them, Li Hongzhang has the longest time and the most work. Hurd represents foreigners and western forces. This shows the weight of Li Hongzhang.
As for how to evaluate Li Hongzhang, I want to start with Li Hongzhang's evaluation of himself. The Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 discredited his career. He also admitted that he was a teenager, a soldier in his prime, a government in his middle age and a westernization in his later years. Unexpectedly, the Sino-Japanese War broke my paper lantern. Now let's look at it step by step.
First of all, Li Hongzhang did not come from a big landlord bureaucratic family, and his ancestors did not have two tendencies until his grandfather. Li Hongzhang became a scholar at the age of 24. There used to be a saying that fifty scholars were young and twenty were old. In other words, it is great to be a scholar at the age of 50. People who like novels are constantly emerging. It can be said that Li Hongzhang is very hardworking and cultivated in Cheng Zhu's Neo-Confucianism.
/kloc-In the 1950s of 0/9, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom swept through southern China, and green camp, the Eight Banners of the Qing Dynasty, was vulnerable. It was only through the rectification of Han Chinese officials that it was calmed down. Including Li Hongzhang's Huai army. In the past, Li Hongzhang's suppression of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was called one of his "criminal evidences". I think this is because of the influence of the past thoughts. It was reactionary forces that suppressed peasant uprisings, especially during the Cultural Revolution. Those who are not "revolutionary" are reactionary die-hards. At that time, "revolution" was actually understood as "rebellion", and only rebellion was right. The so-called "rebellion is justified." In his new book The Temptation of Blessing-The Rise and Fall of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the historical author Yimei (King of Helian Bobo) commented that the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom is the "bane" of the world and there is nothing advanced. Although many insurgents followed the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, they thought that an ideal country with land and food could be realized. Unfortunately, "people's longing for heaven often leads them to fall into the abyss of hell."
After two large-scale civil wars of Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and Nian Army, Li Hongzhang's military strength rose. At this time, the British and French companies burned the Yuanmingyuan. Let Li Hongzhang see the power and unstoppable of western ships. He immediately modernized the Huai army and armed it with modern weapons. In the next 30 years, the Huai army basically served as the main force of national defense. The establishment of Beiyang Navy is a pearl of China's modernization. These two teams should be affirmed in China's modern anti-aggression war and national defense modernization.
Class novelty is the characteristic of Li Hongzhang. He realized that China should build its own national industry, not just buy weapons from foreigners, so he actively participated in westernization. As one of the five westernization groups in the late Qing Dynasty, he started the "Westernization Movement" and "Tongguang Renaissance" for nearly 40 years (which was also his curtain call). On the one hand, he pioneered industry, railways and coastal defense. In addition, he founded the earliest military industry, civil industry and telegraph in China, and it is said that he created 47 firsts, which was not easy. On the other hand, he also saw that it is not enough to have machines that make machines, but also people who make machines and people who understand the principles. So he sent overseas students. In modern times, young children studying in the United States, Fuzhou Ship Administration School and army officers were all sent by Li Hongzhang, but the study abroad period was too long and westernization was in urgent need of talents, so foreigners were hired and local scientists such as Xu Shou and Hua were hired. In addition, we also set up translators, translated many books on science and military affairs, and then set up a school and did a lot of things. If you run a military industry, you can't raise troops if you find that the country is not rich. So he set up a civil industry and ship investment promotion bureau to compete with foreigners for profits and open coal mines. There was not enough money to run the civilian industry, so he came up with a way. A government, a private capital. Generally speaking, the state holds shares and the government supervises the business. This was a brand-new system at that time.
In fact, Li Hongzhang's westernization is very difficult, and many people think that he is a big rebel. For example, to build a ship, it needs large machines to produce. At that time, many die-hards opposed it, which was very fierce. They think that the way to build a country lies in people's hearts, and the way of Confucius and Mencius is not in machines. That's a strange skill. To learn from foreigners is to mess up China and turn foreigners into summer. As for the railway construction, it was put forward in the early 1970s in 19, and finally approved by an imperial edict of Cixi 1889, which was delayed for 20 years in such an urgent situation. During this period, Li Hongzhang built a 70km railway to transport coal, which was opposed at that time. As a result, I didn't dare to run a steam locomotive, so I pulled it on the track with a mule. As for the technical talents needed by the Westernization Movement, no one was willing to learn at that time, thinking that only Confucius and Mencius were the right way. Yan Fu, for example, originally wanted to become famous. Later, when his father died and his family was poor, he entered Fuzhou Ship Administration School. In the debates between the Westernization School and the die-hards, the die-hards always raised the technical issue to the moral level and to the violation of Confucius and Mencius. China people have a tendency of pan-moralization, which is a kind of sadness.
In the whole Westernization Movement, Li Hongzhang overcame many difficulties and made some hard-won progress in China's modernization. From this perspective, Li Hongzhang is a patriotic scholar-bureaucrat.
Li Hongzhang was most criticized for losing the Sino-Japanese War in 1894 and signing the treaty of shimonoseki. Li Hongzhang has long recognized the threat of Japan. 1874, Li Hongzhang said: "Although Taixi is strong, it is still 70,000 miles away, and Japan is close at hand. It is a catastrophe in China forever. " When he founded the Beiyang Navy, he pointed out that "most people who spare no effort to create a navy today are trying to contain Japan." Li Hongzhang ordered not to fight in the Sino-Japanese War for many reasons. First of all, Cixi's 60th birthday cannot be disturbed by a war. Secondly, he knew that China's 30-year military revolution was just a shabby house, which was actually not enough to defeat the Japanese. In fact, Li Hongzhang knows the corruption of his own army, and he can't fight it. He can only develop a tiger in the mountains to deter Japan. What Li Hongzhang said to Rong Lu in the TV series Towards * * * is not necessarily a historical fact, but it is very incisive. He said that he was just a paperhanger in the Qing Dynasty, painting the broken house brightly, and some small winds and light rains broke several holes before pasting it up. But in the event of a storm, it is inevitable that it will fall down. This storm is Japan. In troubled China, he can't mend the sky by himself, and it is inevitable that he will be defeated by the Japanese. We used to say that history was created by the people, but we can't say that the history of prosperity and revolution was created by the people, and the history of humiliation was created by several thieves and traitors! Li Hongzhang became the scapegoat of a declining country.
As for the signing of the "Xin Chou Treaty" later, Li Hongzhang was not responsible, and Li Hongzhang did not participate in the war and the whole process. He also established "Southeast Mutual Insurance" with Zhang Zhidong and Liu Kunyi, which preserved a little strength and the lifeblood of China's economy. On the one hand, it has not completely angered foreigners, on the other hand, it has given the negotiations a little minimum capital.
Throughout Li Hongzhang's life, he worked hard for the country, laid the foundation for the earliest modernization of China, and devoted himself to the prosperity of the country. It is unreasonable to say that he is a "traitor".
Of course, while Li Hongzhang was a powerful country, he also had many mistakes and shortcomings. For example, he modernized the military industry, but he did not make much innovation in the military system, especially in the army, and did not form an officer corps and its spirit. There is also his cronyism, especially the care for fellow villagers. Among the Huai Army 1300 officers, more than 700 are from Anhui. Then we only pay attention to the change of utensils, but not the change of government system and the improvement of administrative efficiency. Even within the Huai system, there is no modern management system, which is an extension of the ancient shogunate.
Li Hongzhang, as the task of alternating the old with the new, on the one hand, sees the world with unprecedented eyes, on the other hand, he has not broken away from the traditional bureaucratic style, but we can't be harsh on the ancients. At that time, I thought it was very rare to do this.
Through my understanding of Li Hongzhang, I think there are many places worth learning from in China today. For example, during the Westernization Movement, the official supervision and commercial office was established, and our reform is still in use a hundred years later. Our state-owned enterprise reform today is also state-controlled. This can stimulate the investment of private capital at the beginning of the reform, but it can't fundamentally solve the problem, because the actual power is still officials, and businessmen have no right to speak, which leads to the fact that enterprises are still dead and it is difficult for officials and businessmen to integrate. As a result, all the official and commercial enterprises in the Westernization Movement collapsed. If we can't take a step forward in our current reform and realize private ownership, it will be very dangerous. What's more, only focusing on the reform of the object level, without the reform of the political system, eventually led to the failure of the Westernization Movement. Today, our reform should at least eliminate all political things that restrict the free and healthy development of the economy. In addition, Li Hongzhang's reform has no systematic theory and guiding ideology, which makes him always at a disadvantage in the debate with the die-hards. Finally, he can bow his head and do things by himself, so no matter what he does, he must have systematic ideological support. Moreover, Li Hongzhang's reform was carried out at the top of the system, which was very cheap. If it is a revolutionary reform, it will do great harm to the people and the country. Moreover, Li Hongzhang's military modernization reform did not stop the corruption of the army, which directly caused the failure of the Sino-Japanese War, which is what we should pay attention to today. Finally, Li Hongzhang has xenophobia and is very "xenophobic". When dealing with foreign countries today, we should stand up and argue. Personally, Li Hongzhang also has something to learn. He first attacked academic capital, and then immediately turned to strength and moral capital. They are interlocking and indispensable, and the order cannot be reversed. This is also something that individuals need to learn.
References:
History of Chinese political system
Century Lecture Hall-Weng Fei: Li Hongzhang
Rey-the Motive Force and Space of Reform in the Late Qing Dynasty
Ming Jiang-Li Hongzhang and the Historical Lessons of the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895