Abstract: Everything is difficult at the beginning. The Westernization Movement led China to take the first step of modernization and became the forerunner of China's modernization. Due to the feudal decay of the founder of Westernization, the movement itself ended in failure. Although the Westernization Movement failed, it produced a new force of the bourgeoisie and led China to modern times step by step. Without the Westernization Movement, there would be no Reform Movement of 1898 and bourgeois revolution, and China's modernization would be delayed for many years. In terms of social development, the Westernization Movement was successful and made great contributions.

Keywords: Westernization Movement

Modernization of China

"guide"

Subjective and objective behavior

Evaluating the position of a historical event in historical development depends on its role in historical development. As the beginning of China's modernization, the Westernization Movement lasted for more than 30 years, which attracted great attention from scholars. The Westernization Movement was the first shot of China's modernization, but it didn't start, which caused a debate on different evaluations of the Westernization Movement. There are always different opinions about the role of Westernization Movement in China's modernization, and different times have different emphasis on social environment. Scholars represented by Liang Qichao fully affirmed this and thought that the Westernization Movement was to learn from the West in order to transform and strengthen China from feudalism to modernization. In the decades after the founding of the People's Republic of China, the negative was more than the positive, and the Westernization Movement was considered as a military reform of the feudal landlord class to maintain feudal rule. In today's society with rapid economic development, scholars may be able to measure its historical role with economic weight. The following is my personal understanding to express some views.

1. The Westernization Movement was the first step of China's modernization. It is a "guide", leading China into the threshold of modernization.

(A) the transformation from traditional diplomacy to modern diplomacy

After the Second Opium War, it was inevitable that the Qing Dynasty established formal diplomatic relations with the great powers. 1860, Prince Gong and others called for the establishment of the "Prime Minister's Office", which was approved by the Qing court. Since then, most of the foreign affairs of the Qing government were presided over by Yixin, and Wen Xiang planned from it, forming the Central Westernization School. The "Prime Minister's Office" is an institution of the Qing government that specializes in handling all negotiations between China and foreign countries. It is also responsible for trade, customs, coastal defense, ordering arms, lending, hosting Wentong Museum and sending overseas students. It has five units: Britain, France, Russia, the United States and Haiphong. 1873, countries sent envoys to formally establish diplomatic relations with the Qing court. Since 1877, the Qing government has set up dozens of consulates in Britain, France and other parts of the world. The establishment of embassies and consulates gradually improved the diplomatic system of the Qing government, entered the international community, and greatly promoted the exchanges between China and other countries in the world. The Shi Jing Wentong Museum under the Prime Minister's yamen has also trained many diplomatic and translation talents, and the Westernization School has also set up a number of new schools in the local area to send overseas students to study abroad, which have promoted the development of China's foreign exchanges. The establishment of the Prime Minister's Office was the first step in the reform of China's modern diplomatic system. It is the first permanent institution in China to handle foreign affairs, marking the beginning of the modernization of the central diplomatic institutions. The appearance of modern diplomatic system is the forerunner of Westernization Movement.

(2) Modernization in the ideological field.

In the face of "China has not changed for thousands of years", Zeng, Li and others saw that China was far behind the West in weapons and equipment, science and technology. They inherited the thought of "learning from foreigners and gaining skills" put forward by Wei Yuan, a representative of the "school of statesmanship" during the Opium War, and summarized the guiding ideology of establishing westernization as "learning from China and using the West". It takes the traditional feudal culture of China as the main body, supplemented by modern western culture, and has the dual nature of retaining middle schools and advocating western learning. It can be seen that the Westernization School opposed the unification of traditional ideology and culture and took the first step to advocate western learning. It not only advocates the introduction of western warships and artillery, acousto-optic electrification, the establishment of factories, the exploitation of mineral deposits, the construction of ships and railways, but also advocates learning some aspects of western education, commerce, law and political system. They are clearly aware that the world has undergone tremendous changes, and the traditional "China Power" no longer exists. 186 1, Feng Guifen said in the protest in the school that "people are inferior to foreigners, the land is inferior to foreigners, the people are inferior to foreigners, and their names are inferior to foreigners", and they should "learn from the west". "Chinese style and western style" is a revolutionary attitude. Theoretically, they legalized the content with this mode of thinking, affirmed the secular value pointed by western learning and its irreplaceable practical function by traditional theoretical value, and admitted that western learning really surpassed middle school, thus shaking the absolute and unique authoritative position of the traditional ethical values of "etiquette first". Undoubtedly, the idea of "Chinese style and western style" is China's earliest modernization theory, which has made China people take the step of changing from "traditional people" to "modern people".

(3) Modernization in the military field

Modernization in the military field includes the creation of a new type of army and the establishment of modern military enterprises. The Westernization Movement was called "New Self-improvement Policy" by the Westernization School. They think it is necessary to train self-improvement skills first. 186 1 year, Yixin and others invited soldiers of the Eight Banners to use foreign guns, which was the beginning. Later, in Tianjin, Guangdong, Fujian and other places, foreigners were hired to train with western methods, among which Xiang Army and Huai Army were the most active and their strength increased rapidly. By the time the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement failed, the Huai army had developed into the most well-equipped army in the Qing army, basically using the new front-mounted muskets.

In the battle to suppress the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the Westernization School believed that the reason for not winning was poor equipment. The Qing government began to build a new navy and ordered ships from foreign countries from 65438 to 0863. 1870, Shen Baozhen, Minister of Shipping Administration, proposed to build a new navy, and all the ships built by Fujian Shipping Administration were under his jurisdiction. A new fleet was set up to defend Fujian and Taiwan. Besides Mawei military port, it was also based in Keelung and Penghu. 1874 After the Japanese invaded Taiwan Province, the Qing government further stepped up its activities to build a navy. /kloc-In May of 0/5, the Prime Minister's yamen stipulated that 1879 set up three navies of Beiyang, Nanyang and Yueyang, and 1879 set up Fujian Navy independently. Before the Sino-French War, the Qing Dynasty obviously maintained four navies: Beiyang, Nanyang, Guangdong and Fujian. After the Sino-French War, the Qing government set up a "naval yamen". The actual host was Li Hongzhang, who accelerated the development of beiyang fleet and bought armored ships. 1888, Beiyang navy was formally established, with 25 new ships, becoming the most powerful fleet in the late Qing dynasty. At the same time, Li Hongzhang also built coastal fortresses in various military ports.

Li Hongzhang believes that "China should learn from foreign sharp weapons if it wants to strive for self-improvement, and find tools to make tools if it wants to learn from foreign sharp weapons". This view reflects the same view of the Westernization School. Therefore, the Westernization School attached great importance to the introduction of advanced western military technology and the establishment of military industry. 186 1 year, Zeng Guofan started with the establishment of the Anqing ordnance institute. 1863 started to buy machines and set up machinery factories. Since the mid-1960s, the Westernization School has established a number of modern military enterprises in various places, among which there are five large-scale enterprises: 1. The Jiangnan Manufacturing General Bureau founded by Li Hongzhang was the most advanced machine arsenal in East Asia at that time, and a mechanical school was also set up in the factory to train mechanical engineers. 2. 1865 Jinling manufacturing bureau founded by Li Hongzhang. 3. Zuo Yu 1963 founded Fujian Shipping Bureau in Mawei, Fujian, with the postcode of 1864. 4. Tianjin Machinery Bureau was established in 1867. 5./KLOC-0 Hubei Gun Factory founded by Zhang Zhidong in 889. In addition to the five major military enterprises, machinery bureaus have been established in Shandong, Hunan, Sichuan and other places to manufacture western-style guns and ammunition and other military materials.

Modernization in the economic field

Westernization school encountered a series of problems in the process of establishing military industry, and they gradually realized in practice that it is impossible to achieve self-improvement without strong economic strength. The Westernization School began to run private enterprises in the 1970s, among which the most important ones are: 1, China Shipping Merchants Bureau founded by Li Hongzhang. In addition to setting up a general office in Shanghai, China Merchants also set up branches or opened routes at domestic and foreign ports 19, which not only operates inland river shipping and coastal shipping, but also carries out ocean shipping business. Kaiping Mining Bureau was founded by Li Hongzhang. In Shanghai, the bureau absorbed 6,543,800 shares privately, and the annual output reached 2,000 tons at 654.38+0.894. In the early 1990s, the number of workers increased to more than 3,500, and the coal produced was not only used by China Maritime Bureau, Tianjin Machinery Bureau and Beiyang Navy, but also sold in large quantities. The General Administration of Telegraph was founded by Li Hongzhang. The General Administration of Telegraph "has been operating for decades and spread all over the provinces, which is convenient for officials and businessmen in Wan Li", forming a national telecommunication network. 4. Shanghai machine weaving layout, which Li Hongzhang plans to build. By 1892, 600 pieces of cloth have been produced every night, and the market is quite smooth. /kloc-0 opened 10 branches in Shanghai and Ningbo in August, 1993. 5. Hanyang Iron Works planned by Zhang Zhidong was completed at the end of 1893. * * There is 10 factory, 1890 Daye Iron Mine, and then Maanshan Coal Mine in Xixia County, Kaijiang. In addition to the above, Westernization School also built the earliest railway in China. To 1894, the total length of China railway is 447 kilometers. Most of these westernization enterprises are jointly organized by government and businessmen, and the initial capital is mostly absorbed by private shares, so machine production is widely used in enterprises. For example, when Shanghai's weaving layout began to build factories, it sent people to the United States to buy machines, including complete sets of machinery for ginning, spinning and weaving. Later, Li Hongzhang decided to expand spinning and buy machines for Britain. At that time, no matter textile, steel or other manufacturing industries, machinery industrial enterprises were established. Although the degree of mechanization was still very low at that time, after all, unprecedented great changes have taken place in production technology, which made the dawn of modern industrial civilization appear for the first time in China.

(E) Modernization of social stratum structure

The industrial workers in China were born before the national bourgeoisie, and the first generation of industrial workers in modern China were dockers at trading ports and China seafarers employed by foreign ships. With the development of Westernization Movement, the number of workers in China's military industry and modern national enterprises is increasing. By 1894, the number of workers in westernization enterprises reached 37% of the total workers in China, and industrial workers formed a new social class. With the development of Westernization Movement, China bourgeoisie inevitably came into being, and China bourgeoisie was divided into bureaucratic bourgeoisie and national bourgeoisie. The bureaucratic bourgeoisie is a Westernization official headed by Li Hongzhang. As important officials of the Qing government, they directly invested in a series of modern enterprises. China's national bourgeoisie has two sources, some of which are transformed from those westernization groups that invest in official and commercial enterprises or bureaucrats, landlords, comprador and businessmen who are closely related to the westernization groups. They constitute the upper class of the national bourgeoisie, and most of them have large-scale enterprises with relatively strong economic strength. In the enterprises founded by the Westernization School, capitalists generally adopt machine production, and China's social production and class structure modernization began.

The scope of westernization is quite extensive. In addition to the above aspects, it also made China take the first step of modernization in many other fields, such as the modernization of education and the formation of early modern cities in China. In a word, the Westernization Movement led China into the threshold of modernization, which was an important link in the process of China's modernization. Without its pioneering and natural social development, I wonder how many years China's modernization will be delayed, and it is hard to guarantee that there will be no tragic situation of foreign invaders usurping the throne like North Korea.

Secondly, the Westernization Movement brought modernization, but the feudalism of the founders of Westernization hindered the development of modernization.

From the ideological and theoretical analysis, the Westernization School itself was a feudal ruler, and the purpose of Westernization activities was to "seek strength" and "seek wealth" in order to save the rule of the Qing Dynasty. The guiding ideology is "Chinese style and western use", and the fantasy is to defend middle school with western learning. The Westernization Movement is a choice made by the Westernization School in the face of the "Millennium Great Change". Their modernization is a forced and helpless move, and they don't want China to develop into a real capitalist country. It is an irreconcilable contradiction that the westernization movement is doomed to failure because of the social development.

In fact, on the one hand, the decadent Westernization School has always been afraid of foreign invaders and always wants to compromise in exchange for peace with the great powers. Facts have proved that foreign invaders will never make China truly prosperous and realize capitalist modernization. On the other hand, the modernization measures of the Westernization School either went bankrupt or stagnated, or were acquired by foreign capital. Take the Beiyang Navy in the modern army as an example. 1888 after the completion of Beiyang navy, no more ships were added, and naval funds were misappropriated to repair the Summer Palace. 189 1 years later, stop guns and ammunition. Before the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, Beiyang Navy not only lagged behind Japan in gross tonnage, but also had aging ships, slow movements and poor firepower, and lacked speedboats and rapid-fire guns. In modern military enterprises, all bureaus and factories are not independent enterprises, but an integral part of local governments. Due to the bad habits of feudal bureaucratic yamen, corruption is inevitable, production efficiency is generally low, cost is high, and management is chaotic. The unproductive expenses of Jiangnan Manufacturing General Administration account for a large proportion, and the "paid work and food" of Fuzhou Shipping Bureau accounts for 80% of the total funds. In modern private enterprises, Westernization School is not only the founder and protector of enterprises, but also the oppressor and repressor of further development of enterprises. For example, Li Hongzhang resisted the attacks and criticisms of diehard forces, protected them politically and supported them economically. However, the Westernization School controlled the operation and management of these enterprises with the power of official supervision, and some of them served the special needs of the Qing government on the grounds of "merchant service". Under the restriction of feudal bureaucrats, it is difficult for these enterprises to obtain the ability to develop and compete freely according to the laws of market economy. Therefore, these enterprises have been operating for more than 20 years, with great momentum, but with little effect.

Third, although the modernization of the Westernization Movement has stagnated subjectively, the pace of modernization is getting faster and faster objectively.

With the rise and development of Westernization, some enlightened scholars who are attached to and actively participate in Westernization have an increasing understanding of modern western capitalist modes of production, science and technology, and even social, political and economic systems, and also feel the backwardness of China. They advocate not only learning from western science and technology, but also carrying out some political and economic reforms, hoping that China can become an independent and prosperous country. These thoughts formed the modern nationalism thought. These people believe that constitutional monarchy is the fundamental reason for the prosperity of western countries. With the change of economy and situation, they gradually degenerated from the Westernization School and formed an intellectual group, that is, the early reformers or reformers. They are representatives of the new bourgeoisie. The old things are dying, and the new things are constantly degenerating from the old things. Social development is always like this. The birth of new social forces will inevitably lead to social changes and promote social development. The bourgeois revolution after the Reform Movement of 1898 and the Westernization Movement proved that without the Westernization Movement, the Reform Movement of 1898 and the bourgeois revolution would not have happened for many years. The Westernization Movement also accumulated production experience and cultivated technical strength for China capitalism. Although subjectively, it is not aimed at leading China to modern times, objectively, it is leading China to modern times step by step.

To sum up, the Westernization Movement led China into the threshold of modernization and took the first step of modernization, which made China transition from feudalism to modernity. Due to the class limitations of the Westernization School itself, this movement ended in failure. Failure is a great contribution to the movement itself and the modernization of China as a whole, which successfully pushed the history of China to modernization.

Main reference materials and materials

1, Feng Guifen's "Introduction of Western Learning to the East" and "School"

Protest ";

2. Jin's Modernization and Modern History of China and Niu Dayong's Exploration of China's Modernization Process, Peking University Publishing House, 1992, p. 12;

3. Luo Rongqu's "Continuation of New Theories of Modernization", Peking University Publishing House,1May 1997, p. 144;

4. Zhang Zhidong's Persuasion, page 254;

5. The first volume of Zheng Ji;

6. Li Changli's The Tragedy of the Prophet, Lin Xue Publishing House, May, 1993, pp. 35, 38 and 40.

7. Complete Works of Li Wenzhong, with draft, Volume 17, Page 17, Volume 9, Page 34;

8. China Modern History Data Series of Westernization Movement, Volume 6, Shanghai People's Publishing House, 196 1 Edition, p. 6.

9. Commemorating the Complete Works of Gong, Volume 26, pages 6 and 7, Volume 27, Volume 149;

10, the whole process of preparing for westernization, Xianfeng Chao, volume 7 1, volume 8,2700 pages.

1 1, Volume VII of Westernization Movement;

12, Modern History of China, published by Zhonghua Book Company, 4th edition in April, 1994, 125- 167, waiting for Li Kan.

13, A Course in Modern History of China, second edition of East China Normal University Press, 1997, 129- 159, edited by Guo.