Westernization Movement

After the two Opium Wars, the ruling class of the Qing government was divided into "Westernization School" and "Die-hards" on how to solve a series of problems of internal and external troubles. Westernization advocated the use of capitalist industrial and commercial means to maintain the feudal rule of the Qing Dynasty. 65438+During the 1960s and 1990s, the Westernization School set off the "Westernization Movement", an improved movement of "learning from foreigners and mastering their skills".

The die-hards, led by the great scholar Woren, sang that "the way to build a country lies in respecting ceremony, not in tactics, and the fundamental purpose lies in people's hearts, not in skills", and advocated that "loyalty is the armor and ceremony is the god" to resist foreign aggression. They criticized the Westernization School for learning advanced production technology from the West, saying that it was "very advanced and correct", but "taking propriety and righteousness as the backbone and loyalty and righteousness as the armor" was not conducive to self-improvement. In the past twenty or thirty years, Chinese and foreign officials failed to control the enemy, and they just filled their responsibilities with empty words, which led to the changes in Geng Shen. "The westerners and die-hards attacked each other, and the struggle was fierce. The Prime Minister's Office is the central organization to promote the Westernization Movement. However, the influence of the Westernization School is mainly not in the central government of the Qing Dynasty, but in the governors and governors who hold local real power. Cixi understood that in order to maintain the dominance of the Qing Dynasty, she had to rely on the powerful Westernization School which was appreciated by foreign invaders. So she temporarily adopted the strategy of supporting Westernization.

Central and local representative forces

In the central government, Prince Gong Yixin, the newly established prime minister and yamen minister, became the representative force of the Westernization School in the central government.

Most local representatives are related to Zeng Guofan:

Zeng Guofan (Han nationality, scholar in the eighteenth year of Daoguang, leader of Xiang army)

Li Hongzhang (Zeng Guofan's favorite pupil, Han nationality, scholar in the twenty-seventh year of Daoguang, leader of Huai Army, and strength school in the late Qing Dynasty)

Zhang Zhidong (Han nationality, Jinshi in Tongzhi for two years, known as "Xiang Shuai")

Left (Zeng Guofan's subordinate, Han landlord, led the army to recover Xinjiang)

Zeng Guofan, a subordinate of Shen Baozhen, was born as a scholar. After Zuo, he served as Minister of Nanyang and founded Fujian Shipping Administration.

Chonghou (Manchu aristocrat)

Don

Practical process

In the early days of the Westernization Movement, the Westernization School established a number of modern military industries under the banner of "self-improvement" and adopted advanced western production technologies.

186 1 year, the Anqing ordnance institute founded by Zeng Guofan hired China craftsmen to imitate western-style guns, which was the earliest modern military industry in China. From 1862, it took three years to successfully develop China's first ship "Huanggu".

In the later period of the Westernization Movement, in order to solve the difficulties of military industry in terms of capital, fuel and transportation, the Westernization School set up many civilian industries under the banner of "seeking wealth".

Tianjin machine building bureau

1872, Li Hongzhang established China Merchants Shipping Company, which was the first modern shipping company in China and the first private enterprise founded by Westernization School. When it was founded, it bought three ships, arrived at 1877, and bought Meiqichang Shipping Company, with more than 30 ships, forming a powerful merchant fleet.

Shanghai Shipping Investment Promotion Bureau

From 65438 to the 1970s, the Westernization School began to plan coastal defense, proposing to establish several navies within ten years. Ships are mainly purchased from Britain and Germany, and some of them are built by Fuzhou Shipping Bureau and Jiangnan Manufacturing General Administration. By the mid-1980s, the Westernization School had initially established three navies: Beiyang, Nanyang and Fujian. The Qing government set up a naval yamen.

China Navy's new warship "Chen Nan"

Beiyang navy is the best. 1888, beiyang fleet was formally established, with 25 warships and more than 4,000 officers and men, with Ding, the general of Huai Army, as the prefect. At the same time, two naval bases, Lushunkou and Ahava, were completed, and the construction of the whole Beiyang coastal defense system was declared complete. Li Hongzhang proudly said: Beiyang Navy has a "strong momentum" ... it can be stationed in Liaoning and Bohai, and it can also be supported in other places, supplemented by the stationing of various artillery companies, which is enough to defend Gyeonggi. "

In order to meet the needs of the Westernization Movement, the Westernization School also held some new schools, such as Shi Jing Wentong Museum and Fuzhou Ship Administration School, to train translators, military personnel and scientific and technological personnel. First, several groups of international students were sent abroad for further study.

The influence of the result and its reasons

The Westernization Movement for more than 30 years was obstructed by other capitalist countries and destroyed through various channels.

Westernization school advocates "middle school as the body, western learning for use", hoping to maintain feudal rule with advanced technology, and the reform will not touch the feudal system.

The Sino-Japanese War proved that the Westernization Movement did not make China rich and strong. However, it introduced some modern scientific production technologies from western capitalist countries, trained a number of scientific and technical personnel and skilled workers, objectively stimulated the development of capitalism in China and resisted the expansion of foreign economic forces.

The Westernization Movement has a history of more than 50 years in China. It has changed the face of China, but that's all. On one occasion, an ambassador to Britain wrote to Li Hongzhang that he believed that Britain's strength was not in science and technology, not in economy, but in political system. It is impossible to talk about it without politics. Li also sent his letter to all units for study, but there was no action. In the Sino-Japanese War, China had a beautiful face. The seventh naval power in the world was defeated. I think China now looks like the New Westernization Movement. Its appearance is beautiful, but its basic political system lags far behind other countries. I only ask China not to encounter any major events, otherwise the result of the Westernization Movement is obvious.

The whole story of Westernization Movement

The fiasco of the Qing court in the Opium War caused a great shock to the ruling and opposition parties. Some people of insight believe that the victory of western forces is due to its powerful ships and excellent technology. Only by learning from the West can China "learn from foreigners to control them". After the war between Britain and France and the Taiping Rebellion, some Qing officials realized that foreign guns were far more powerful than local guns. They thought that only by learning from the west could the country become rich and strong, so they launched the "Westernization Movement" with the goal of self-improvement. In addition, after the signing of treaty of nanking, China opened its doors wide, foreign goods were dumped all over the country, the urban and rural economies were on the verge of bankruptcy, and the national financial crisis became increasingly serious. Therefore, the idea of imitating foreigners to develop industry and improve people's livelihood has also emerged.

The leading figures of the Westernization Movement are Prince Gong Yi, Zeng Guofan, Li Hongzhang, Zuo and Zhang Zhidong. I V was in charge of the peace talks with the British and French allied forces. He first called for the establishment of the "Prime Minister's Office", and proposed to buy guns and bullets from western ships and train the army with western methods. Others have raised funds to build factories and build new industries. The Westernization Movement began in the 1960s and has been implemented for more than 30 years. In the early days, the focus was on manufacturing armament weapons and introducing scientific knowledge; Later, he emphasized the way of enriching the country and devoted himself to the development of industry. Its main contents include strengthening armament, establishing military industry, manufacturing guns, ammunition and ships, training the army with western methods, and establishing a new navy and army; Cultivate talents, set up a literary library, train translators and introduce western academics, and send students abroad to study; Establish industry, develop transportation, post and telecommunications, mineral mining and refining, and establish civil enterprises such as textile, spinning and paper making.

Although the Westernization Movement advertised to make China "self-reliant" and "self-sufficient", it mainly devoted itself to the development of armaments, ignoring the importance of comprehensive political, economic, social and educational reforms. However, the die-hard old school headed by Empress Dowager Cixi blocked the movement in every way, and many officials who handled westernization often clung to it and practiced favoritism and malpractice, which caused the emerging enterprises to lose money year after year and failed to achieve the purpose of the westernization movement. Therefore, in the Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, the Beiyang Navy operated by Li Hongzhang and other westernization schools for many years was completely annihilated, which declared the failure of the Westernization Movement.

The Westernization Movement's learning from the West, though inevitably one-sided and ultimately failed, was, after all, the first step for modern China to learn from modern foreign advanced civilizations. The translation of a large number of western books and the introduction of western science and technology laid the foundation for the development of modern industry and construction in China. At the same time, the Westernization Movement also trained a group of talents with a deep understanding of western things, which paved the way for the later Reform Movement.