The Old Summer Palace Fuhai is located in Beijing. It is a piece of water that was rebuilt on the site of the Old Summer Palace in the 1980s. More than 150 years ago, this larger water area, also known as Fuhai, was the largest lake in the Old Summer Palace and had the most beautiful water scenery. Emperor Yongzheng carefully designed and built beautiful pavilions on three small islands in the center of the lake, symbolizing that this is the Three Mountains of Yinghai and Penglai Fairyland. The Restoration Sand Table of the Yuanmingyuan Ruins In Beijing, from the middle of the Qing Dynasty to the Qianlong period, the Yuanmingyuan had gathered various distinctive garden landscape groups, with over 600 buildings, halls, and pavilions hanging plaques, covering an area of 350 hectares, and was known as the Garden of Ten Thousand Gardens. On October 6, 1860, Zhuhai City, Guangdong Province, Yuanming New Park, a masterpiece in the history of architecture, began to suffer from consecutive days of great disasters. A witness to history also jumped into the sea of blessings and committed suicide on that night. Wenfeng, the Minister of Management of Yuanming Park, had an impressive resume. In August of the tenth year of the Xianfeng reign, he had just taken office at Yuanming Park, and his personal future seemed incredibly bright. Little did he know that at this moment, the future of the entire Qing Dynasty had become bleak. When the British and French forces invaded Yuanming Park recklessly, Wenfeng was only surrounded by more than twenty brave eunuchs holding traditional cold weapons. Although these brave eunuchs were fearless and bravely resisted, each of their flesh and blood bodies faced bullets flickering with sparks. In this completely unequal confrontation, Wen Feng knew that he was powerless to turn the tide, as recorded in history, Wen Feng calmly faced difficulties, truly deserving of perfection, and he never had the chance to see the grand curtain of the upcoming self-improvement movement. On March 6, 1681, The New York Times published an article about the Second Opium War, titled “Hong Kong sells wonders, Beijing’s spoils are dazzling.” The article mentioned that Hong Kong transported troops, military supplies, and other military supplies from Britain and France every day. The troops returning from Beijing, especially the French Expeditionary Force, all returned to Europe loaded with stolen goods. A French officer sold a necklace made of pearls and jade, 140 pearls as big as cherry blossoms, to the author of the article for a high price of 2000 pounds. The officer even had several precious gemstones that clearly belonged to the Qing Emperor himself. Most of these spoils of war went to Europe and the United States, and Hong Kong alone spent at least one million pounds to purchase these rare luxury goods, The Beijing loot mentioned in this report came from the Royal Old Summer Palace garden. On October 7, 1860, in the following days, all the royal treasures in the Old Summer Palace were looted. On October 18th in Beijing, 3500 British soldiers once again stormed into the Old Summer Palace and set it on fire. The fire lasted for three days and three nights, dealing a heavy blow to Emperor Xianfeng, who was evading the war in Rehe. In 1861, the young emperor, who was only 31 years old, passed away. The Old Summer Palace was built during the reigns of Emperor Yongzheng and Emperor Qianlong. It can be said that it was built with all the strength of the country and the hard work of two generations of emperors. It is a great legacy left by talented and accomplished emperors like Emperor Yongzheng and Emperor Qianlong to future generations. Now it has been destroyed by Xianfeng’s hands, and it is evident that it is not worthy of the pressure on its ancestors. James Hope Grant, commander of the British land forces and commander of the Anglo French expedition to China, completed his goal of capturing Beijing less than three months after landing in Beitang, Tianjin on August 1, 1860. There is no special record in history of his involvement in the looting of the Old Summer Palace. But in this photo, Grant is clearly surrounded by an exquisite and expensive Chinese porcelain, with a hint of pride and greed in his gaze. The Dagukou Fortress Site, Tianjin Dagukou Battle, Tianjin Tianjin Museum. For thousands of years, under the nourishment of agricultural civilization, the humble and tolerant Chinese people faced the wolf like expansion of Western powers. Whether to continue to be conservative and isolated, or to bravely step forward and become stronger, became a choice that the Chinese people must face when standing at the historical juncture. The two Opium Wars in 1840 and 1860 forced China to open its borders, and the signing of a series of treaties such as the Treaty of Nanjing was undoubtedly a blow to most Chinese people. However, it was a relief for Emperor Daoguang and the bureaucrats handling negotiation affairs. They finally felt relieved to get rid of the trouble of foreigners demanding direct entry into Beijing for negotiations and restricted it to five open ports. As the signatory of the Treaty of Nanjing, the Qi Ying gained unprecedented rights after the war, which is enough to illustrate this point. In addition to the strong opposition of the Guangzhou people to foreigners entering the city and launching a massive movement, several scholars painfully compiled several books. Apart from understanding foreign works, there is no indication of how much impact this incident has had on this system. The Beijing Treaty between China, Britain, and Tianjin Dagukou Battery Site Museum stipulated that foreign envoys stationed in Beijing would increase the compensation for Britain and France to 8 million taels, Tianjin’s foreign business district would be opened to the outside world, and foreigners would be allowed to reside. Britain cut off half of Kowloon Island, and even Russian envoy Ignatiev, as an intermediary, could lure the Qing Dynasty to sign the Beijing Treaty. The Beijing Treaty between China and Russia cleverly seized territory north of the Heilongjiang River and east of the Ussuri River, allowing the Russians to seize 400000 square kilometers of land from China without spending a single soldier or bullet. Despite repeated infringement of sovereignty in Beijing, the Qing government, which had been implementing isolationism, still showed passive and numb attitude towards advanced Western technology despite the Yuanmingyuan Site. Institute of History, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences – Ma Yong: After China was defeated in the First Opium War, it opened up five ports. In this process, China should continue to make efforts, as Lin Zexu and Wei Yuan said, to learn from the barbarians and master their skills to control them. Is it enough to open up and see the world? But Manchu people don’t think so. Manchu people think it’s good now. Five trading ports are enough. Originally, five ports were enough now, and it’s easy to control. Therefore, during this process, China missed 18 years of development opportunities from the Second Opium War from 1842 to 1860, and did not actively learn from the West. Prior to the First Opium War, China had a hundred year long history of religious revolution, and the Qing government, which claimed to be a superior country, never valued Westerners. However, the Qing Dynasty, which was led by Westerners after the war, still couldn’t face the fact that the West was stronger than itself. Both inside and outside the Qing court, it is still believed that Chinese civilization is the most excellent, and the barbarians have no culture. Learning from the West is the defense against defeating the barbarians, which shows that compared to the loss of national sovereignty, The sense of cultural superiority seemed to provide the Qing court with more comfort. The series of treaties during the Second Opium War firmly imprisoned China under the privileges of foreign countries, and until the Yalta Conference, China had not been able to escape the plunder of this system. The British and French allied forces in Beijing captured the capital, forced the emperor to flee and burned the royal garden known as the Garden of Ten Thousand Gardens, which marked that this ancient civilized country, which claimed to be the center of the world, had been mercilessly humiliated. Four years later, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom movement was suppressed, and this was entirely due to its internal reasons, which made the Qing government succeed in calming down internal unrest. When temporary calm and internal crisis temporarily disappeared after the signing of the treaty, a part of the literati began to think from a deeper level about the crux of internal and external problems in the past 20 years. China’s first modernization effort was born from this, and the history of China’s civilization began more than 150 years ago. The Westernization Movement, the first self-improvement movement in the modern sense, aimed at becoming stronger and richer, and cultivating practical talents, Its purpose was to enhance the Qing Dynasty’s ability to resist foreign aggression and suppress internal turmoil, while also benefiting the country’s prosperity, national rejuvenation, and the beginning of China’s modernization process. However, the outcome of this seemingly vigorous movement disappeared like falling flowers and flowing water. Where did its ultimate failure lay the groundwork? Chinese Academy of Social Sciences – Lei Yi: In the First Opium War, if you were defeated by his weapons, you should take this step towards self-improvement. However, the court did not recognize this from top to bottom. Lin Zexu’s proposal was also criticized. He asked his friend to compile a book called “The Illustrated History of the Sea Country”, which clearly proposed these ideas. As a result, China criticized, rejected, and boycotted this book from top to bottom. This book spread to Japan, and Japan quickly reprinted it in more than 20 versions. Therefore, this book provided an important ideological enlightenment for the Meiji Restoration in Japan twenty years later. Meng played a role, but Lin Zexu and Wei Yuan, in order to enlighten the Chinese people, wrote a book that they refused to accept. It was not until twenty years later that Zeng, Zuo, and Li realized that this gun was indeed powerful. Jinling Manufacturing Bureau, Nanjing City, Jiangsu Province, we must admit that foreign guns and cannons are more advanced than our large knives and spears. Using them is not like using barbarians to change summer. Therefore, the second step is not only to buy but also to build. Most of the ministers of the Westernization Movement who vigorously carried out the Westernization Movement were Han officials headed by Zeng Guofan, Zuo Zongtang, and Li Hongzhang. They were outstanding in the imperial examinations. During the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom uprising, they were able to use their fists under the strategic principle of the Qing Dynasty to control Han by Han, but in the political pattern of emphasizing Manchuria and restraining Han,. Every step of Prince Gong’s residence in Beijing needs to be extra careful. Every move of the Westernization Movement needs to be repeated to the Qing court. At this time, the conservative forces within the Qing court are still strong, but there are also some important figures in the ranks of supporting the Westernization Movement. Chinese Academy of Social Sciences – Lei Yi: Because Zeng, Zuo, and Li were all local officials without the support of the central government, or if it was difficult to implement it with the support of a powerful member of the central government, there was a person in the court who supported it, and he could be said to be the most knowledgeable person in the court at that time. So he supported it, and why did he support it? One important point is that he stayed behind to negotiate with the British and French coalition forces through this negotiation with foreigners, which was the Second Opium War. During the negotiation process, he suddenly realized that the British and French did not mean to overthrow the Qing Dynasty. Emperor, he just asked you to trade, pay tariffs, rent, and compensate for this military expense. He thinks that since that’s the case, we can even cooperate with him. He didn’t want to overthrow me, So it supports the use of foreign guns and cannons. On a day in 1864, a warship arrived near Tianjin near the Dagukou Fortress Ruins. The newly appointed Prussian envoy, Li Fos, who was preparing to take office in Beijing, suddenly discovered three Danish merchant ships in Dagukou. Due to the ongoing conflict between Prussia and Denmark in Europe, Li Fos ordered the capture of the Danish merchant ships as spoils of war on his way to office. In fact, it was American missionary Ding Weiliang who, shortly after the completion of the Universal Law translated by the Office of the Prime Minister and the Secretariat, refused to accept Li Fos as an envoy to Beijing in accordance with the relevant provisions of international law in the Universal Law. The reason for this was that… The expansion of the European war into China’s domestic waters was illegal, and in the end, Li Fushi had to release the Danish merchant ship and pay $1500 in compensation. This brave and visionary Qing Dynasty official, It was Prince Gong Yixuan, who was then the Prime Minister, who immediately issued three million national laws to the provincial authorities, allowing Chinese officials to start learning how to use international rules to protect national rights. Emperor Daoguang had nine sons, the fourth son was Emperor Xianfeng, and the sixth son was Emperor Aisin Gioro Yixuan. Prince Gong Yixuan had a noble identity, was quick witted, brave, and decisive, and in 1861, he stayed in Beijing to sign a series of unequal treaties. After careful consideration, he went on to attend the university’s Shigui Liang and Wenxiang. A memorial was drafted to draft six articles of association for the overall planning of foreign affairs. This memorial was a comprehensive reflection and summary of the Qing government’s ruling class’s failure in the two Opium Wars, which suffered serious psychological setbacks. Its major breakthrough was the recognition of Russia, Britain, France, and The United States and other countries were stronger than the Qing Dynasty in terms of strength, and whether they suppressed or pacified, they would face the loss of national interests. In a state of despair, Emperor Xianfeng also had to comply. The six suggestions of the Prime Minister’s Office for Foreign Affairs are to establish a dedicated office to handle foreign affairs, establish a Minister of Commerce in Tianjin to manage the three northern ports, and send two translators from Guangdong and Shanghai who are proficient in foreign languages to work in Beijing. Among the children of the Eight Banners, select talented individuals who are under the age of thirteen or four to learn foreign languages, and report the business situation inside and outside the ports to the Prime Minister’s Office on a monthly basis. Although this memorial does not show that the rulers of the Qing Dynasty were willing to actively understand changes in external affairs, it at least indicates that they were willing to face reality. Ma Yong, Institute of History of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences: So at the end of 1860, Prince Gong wrote six guidelines for the court to deal with aftermath. This was a guiding document that determined the self-improvement movement for decades to come. What was the logical connection between them? China can only build a strong military, and a strong military must also start with the navy, starting with the navy. Because it used to be China’s agricultural civilization, we don’t have a navy for agricultural civilization. Our coastal areas only need to build gun emplacements, which is enough. Now if we want a navy, we need to have these things. If we want a navy, we need people who can control the navy. So, this is how to educate ourselves. If we study abroad and establish new education and schools, then naturally it will happen. In order to have this modern military, there must be those who manufacture guns and artillery, The factories that manufacture ships naturally led to the military industry. The Ruins of Fuzhou Shipbuilding Bureau: In order to enrich the country and strengthen the military, the city of Fuzhou in Fujian Province actively updated the old military system and equipment, and established a military industry to manufacture firearms. Starting from 1861, Zeng Guofan founded the Anqing Inner Arsenal in Anhui. Later, Li Hongzhang established the Foreign Artillery Bureau in Shanghai, and Zuo Zongtang also began to imitate equipment such as flowering cannons and caseless lifting guns in Fujian. In 1865, the first large-scale and well-equipped military enterprise in China was founded by the Jiangnan Machinery Manufacturing Bureau in Shanghai. The Manufacturing Bureau successively added a translation hall, a hammer yard, a gun factory, a black powder factory, and a gun factory. Although the firearms produced were… There is still nearly a decade of technological gap compared to foreign countries, but in the process of modernizing China’s military industry, the role of the Jiangnan Machinery Manufacturing Bureau cannot be underestimated. Zuo Zongtang, like another large military enterprise in Fuzhou City, Fujian Province, was the Fuzhou Shipbuilding Bureau established by Zuo Zongtang during his stay in Fujian in 1866. The main task was to build warships and artillery, and he successively built warships such as Wannianqing, Zhenhai, and Yangwu. More importantly, he trained a group of skilled craftsmen who could independently imitate ships and engines and complete various processes according to the drawings. Therefore, in 1874, all hired foreign technicians and craftsmen were dismissed. By 1894, the Fuzhou Shipbuilding Bureau had created a total of 34 standard ships, including cruisers, torpedo boats, and other Type A ships. Before the First Sino Japanese War, The military industry enterprises established in various countries and provinces have spread throughout 18 provinces, reaching 34. In 1889, Zhang Zhidong, who had just been transferred to the position of Governor General of Hubei and Guangxi, established China’s first modern large-scale steel factory in Wuhan, Hanyang Iron Works, relying on it, established a series of military industry enterprises such as Hanyang Ordnance Factory. Hanyang Arsenal, Jinling Manufacturing Bureau, Wuhan City, Hubei Province, Nanjing City, Jiangsu Province, is famous throughout the country. In addition to establishing modern factories in various places to produce weapons themselves, the rulers of the Qing Dynasty realized that the original military system dominated by the Eight Banners and Green Camp had reached the time for reform in the process of external and internal wars. Although the new style regimental training of the Xiang and Huai armies had strong combat effectiveness, there was still a significant gap in equipment and management compared to foreign countries. After the Second Opium War, the interests of Western countries in China had been closely linked to the Qing Dynasty, so they constantly suggested that the Qing Dynasty train and establish a new type of army. In 1862, two battalions and an artillery team consisting of 17 British officers trained with British and Russian guns began to train troops in Zhili, which was the first new army in China. Since then, the formation and training of new armies has become a frequent phenomenon on the political stage of the late Qing government. However, these new armies have played an extremely important role in the later history. However, the huge financial pressure also made the Westernization Movement face unprecedented calm. Opponents in the court have asked to stop the Westernization Movement in the name of a deficit in the national treasury. Li Hongzhang’s former residence in Hefei, Anhui Province, while Li Hongzhang and Zeng Guofan submitted a report analyzing the international situation and insisting that it cannot be stopped. So where does the money come from? In September 1876, Li Hongzhang reported to the imperial court that China’s accumulated weakness was due to poverty. He pointed out that the country must be rich before it can be strong, especially in terms of people’s livelihoods, and the country itself can benefit from it. Therefore, from the end of the Tongzhi reign, various civilian industries aimed at enriching the country began to develop on a large scale, and the breakthrough was the shipping industry. History Museum – Fan Yong: Since ancient times, China has had a history of over a hundred years of this type of water transportation. As for water transportation, it means taking away waterways, inland rivers, and canals from this land of fish and rice in the south of the Yangtze River, and transporting government official grain to the government, the north, and the Beijing Tianjin Tang region. This model has been known as water transportation in history. By the late Qing Dynasty, this model was unable to continue, and on the one hand, due to the blockage of the canal, sediment accumulated; On the other hand, because after the two Opium Wars, a large number of foreign ships, such as Helen, were transported to China, Helen’s transportation capacity was strong and speed was fast. However, wooden sand boats, which were primitive sand boats in China, did not have an advantage. In this situation, in order to solve the difficulty of transporting grain related to the national economy and people’s livelihood, Li Hongzhang proposed to purchase this large steam powered ship from abroad, establish a modern Chinese merchant fleet, and develop the national shipping industry. On this basis, on December 23, 1872, Li Hongzhang submitted a memorial to Emperor Tongzhi, setting up a bureau to attract investment and pilot ships to transport Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces. Grain, the memorial was approved three days later, and the China Merchants Bureau was established accordingly. The History Museum of China Merchants, Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, located in the China Merchants Museum in Shekou, Shenzhen, records the pioneering history of this national pioneer in industry and commerce in the late Qing Dynasty during the Westernization Movement. In that year, the central government of the Qing Dynasty and the old thinking excluded private Chinese people from shipping, and various prohibitions were set up on route stops, which seriously hindered the development of coastal shipping. The westernization bureaucrats led by Li Hongzhang called for Chinese businessmen to set up their own ship companies. I could not ban Chinese businessmen from taking foreign ships, and why should I prohibit them from only buying ships. In January 1873, the Qing government finally broke the old thinking, and established the Ship Merchants Bureau in Shanghai. The government set up a business bureau to attract the share capital of all private businesses. In fact, the government set up a company, and private capital participated in it in the form of shares, This system is known as official supervision and commercial operation. Lei Yi: There are a group of people from Guangdong and Macao, even from Xiangshan, who have contacts with Macao. They don’t take the imperial examination and are looked down upon. They know the concessions in China, Shanghai, and there are many foreign businessmen. After all, foreign businessmen can’t speak foreign languages and Chinese, and they don’t understand China’s national conditions. They need some Chinese people to help them do things, which is what we call the compradors in history. These compradors actually help foreigners do things. They have a lot of money, understand this foreign, modern enterprise, and modern technology. They especially want to do things, but the Qing government suppressed them and refused to permit them. So why did the Westernization Movement start with government officials Because the government, Lian Zeng, Zuo, and Li have so much power, and they still encounter so much resistance, they will not allow you to do it privately, The finance of the Qing government has always been very difficult, and the production of modern firearms is extremely expensive. Finance is a bit unsustainable, and the only way is not to stop, but to find ways to make money. How to make money? The Westernization Movement changed from seeking strength to seeking wealth when the government produced civilian goods, machines produced guns and guns, and also produced civilian goods. The Kailuan Coal Mine, formerly known as Kaiping Coal Mine, is now located in Tangshan City, Hebei Province. Due to the rise of military industrial enterprises in various regions, coal energy is becoming increasingly scarce. Therefore, Li Hongzhang and others began to suggest mining coal mines for widespread utilization. By 1884, a total of twelve coal mines were opened, most of which were under the supervision of officials and businesses. Li Hongzhang also changed the telegraph bureau to be under the supervision of officials and businesses, recruiting private capital for development. By the time of the First Sino Japanese War, the total number of official and commercial power lines in the country reached 46492 miles, basically forming a network from northeast to the border between Heilongjiang, China and Russia, northwest to Gansu and Xinjiang, southeast to Fujian and Taiwan, and southwest to Guangxi and Yunnan. A nationwide telegraph network that spans thousands of miles and can breathe easily. During the short period of just over thirty years after the Second Opium War, Chinese society went from being completely isolated and unaware of the outside world, to building ships, communicating telegrams, and repairing railways. However, for China, unprecedented changes were not limited to economic changes. In the past, the management of foreign affairs by the Qing Dynasty was divided into three different departments based on kinship and hierarchy, namely the Ministry of Rites, the Imperial Academy, and the Honglu Temple. Their main function was to arrange the frequency and reception etiquette of envoys from various countries coming to Beijing for New Year’s Day each year. The countries received by the Ministry of Rites displayed the imperial favor and belonged to friendly countries. Western countries coming from the open port of Guangzhou were under the jurisdiction of the General of Guangzhou. As the heavy gates of the country slowly opened under the continuous bombardment of Western ships and cannons, more and more Westerners began to look at their faces, The movement of learning from the West, initiated by Han Chinese bureaucrats, began to appear in various corners of this ancient empire, attracting more and more people to pay attention to the world outside the country. After the establishment of the Tongwen Hall in the Prime Minister’s Office in 1862 to cultivate diplomatic talents, Shanghai established the Guangdialect Hall in 1864. Later, various new schools were established in Hubei, Xinjiang, Taiwan, and Guangzhou. At the same time, the establishment of Fuzhou Shipbuilding School, Tianjin Navy School, and Tianjin Military Academy became the predecessor of China’s earliest military academies to cultivate military talents. In 1872, after ten years of deliberation, the Qing government decided to divide it into four years, with thirty students sent to the United States each year. The first Chinese international student, led by Rong Hong, who graduated from Yale University in the United States, studied law and politics, engineering, mining, chemistry, and other majors, Among them, Zhan Tianyou and others completed their studies, and among the local officials, Shen Baozhen, the Minister of Shipbuilding, selected students to study in England and France. After Shen Baozhen was transferred to the position of Governor General of Liangjiang, Ding Richang and other successors continued this cause. These students studying in France achieved good results, among whom Liu Buchan, Fang Boqian, Sa Zhenbing, Yan Zongguang and others became the backbone of the future navy. At the same time, institutions such as Tongwen Hall, Shanghai Machine Manufacturing Bureau Translation Hall, and Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau began to translate a large number of Western works. From then on, Western political and legal, military, engineering, science, history and other works entered China, and Chinese people’s understanding of the world was better than that of early Lin Ze. In the era of Xu and Wei Yuan, there were more direct media and more opportunities to perceive the West up close. Guo Songtao, who was born in Xiangyin, Hunan in 1875 and had deep personal relationships with Chinese vassals, Zuo Zongtang, and others, became the first envoy of the Qing Empire to the UK. The Chinese government seemed to have finally gotten back on track in dealing with foreign powers, but since the 19th century, Western countries have gradually established an international legal system based on nation states, which is still unfamiliar to the highest rulers of the Chinese government who have just undergone more than a decade of transformation. Ma Yong: During the 1860s and 1880s, there were very few people in China who could go out. At the same time, as with Guo Songtao, there were very few envoys stationed in several countries. Because of the scarcity, it cannot be said that China had no money, but that China had nothing to do. So, if you had nothing to do in this country, setting up an embassy would be boring, wouldn’t it? The first group of envoys who went on an envoy mission in that year asked them to keep a diary every day. What they saw and what they met were recorded. After this was recorded, the Premier’s Office should arrange for publication of this thing. As a model, you should understand what happened in foreign countries. So Guo Songtao described the western political system, cultural system, and educational system so carefully and well. As a result, he came back in 1870 after returning home. At this time, the Westernization Movement had been working for more than 10 years and 20 years. As a result, when the book came out, it was widely opposed. It’s like worshiping foreign countries and fawning on foreign countries. At last, he died of depression. During the Westernization Movement, not only Guo Songtao was depressed, but their obstinacy was more or less related to the inevitable contact and collision with the West. During the reign of Emperor Daoguang, Hu Linyi passed the imperial examination and became a jinshi. He was known as a famous minister for his contributions in suppressing the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom movement, along with Zeng Guofan, Zuo Zongtang, and others. From the perspective of the court, Hu Linyi had the ability, achievements, and loyalty. Even such a minister, when he saw the foreign steamer advancing rapidly against the Yangtze River, he still had an indescribable fear of the foreigners in his heart. Soon he passed away in fear, while Zeng Guofan was completely different. In 1862, he built a new type of steamship in Anqing, but it failed during the trial voyage. However, he did not make him angry. Disappointed, he became even more determined in his demand to unravel the secrets of manufacturing ships and firearms, in order to break the monopoly of the foreigners on advanced firearms technology. However, historical figures like Zeng Guofan were rare at that time, and within the ranks of important foreign officials, Attitudes towards Western civilization are still very different, but more officials are unwilling to learn and change, which has become a terrible historical inertia. After the Opium War, the Qing Dynasty was in the collapse of its own system. It seems that the speed of adjusting its attitude and promoting self-improvement has never kept up with the speed of self collapse caused by the failure of confrontation with foreign civilizations. In 1894, the disastrous defeat of the Sino Japanese War of 1894 inflicted a heavy blow on the entire Qing Dynasty, which made the efforts of the Westernization Movement, which took middle school as the body and western learning as the purpose, look like a mirror and water moon with little effect. Chinese Academy of Social Sciences – Ma Yong: In the First Sino Japanese War, we fought a total of two hours on the Korean battlefield, including two hours in Yashan, twelve hours in Pyongyang, and five hours in the Yellow Sea, and then suffered a complete defeat. Later on, we were reviewing this matter. For 120 years, we have been reviewing this situation. Why, there are various theories about the First Sino Japanese War, but I think the most fundamental one is what Sun Yat sen said. At that time, during this development process, the Qing government was not trying to build a modern country, it was a self strengthening country, it was a kind of thing. I want to make my army different, so this kind of self-improvement movement did not involve political structural reforms. There is no institutional reform, let alone cultural reform and other forms of national quality transformation. The actual operator of the entire self-improvement movement was a high-ranking official of the Westernization Movement, while the leader at the court level was Prince Gong Yixuan. However, sadly, the highly influential Yixuan was still a chess piece that could be removed, as he also had Empress Dowager Cixi, the autocratic Empress Dowager Qian Gang, above him. In 1861, on his deathbed, Emperor Xianfeng decided to leave the already turbulent empire to his eldest son, the six-year-old Zai Chun. This moment also determined the ultimate fate of the Qing Dynasty. In the next fifty years, Zai Chun and his successors did not become the true masters of this country, because the birth mother of the new emperor, Yehenara Xingzhen, was the Empress Dowager Cixi who controlled this empire for half a century. In 1861, Prince Gong Yi Yi helped Empress Dowager Cixi launch a coup, sweeping away all the late appointed ministers arranged by Emperor Xianfeng when he passed away. From then on, Yi Yi became a pawn for Empress Dowager Cixi in front of foreign court officials. However, Cixi was also vigilant about the development of Yi Yi’s power. With the successful resolution of negotiations between Britain and France, as well as the establishment of the Prime Minister’s Office, Yi Yi gathered the Minister of State, Chief Minister of Military Affairs, Minister of the Prime Minister’s Office, and Minister in Chief of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, becoming one of the hottest topics in the Qing Dynasty. Politicians, but this also alerted Empress Dowager Cixi. In 1884, the Sino French War broke out, and the military aircraft department commanded by Yixi was at a loss. Empress Dowager Cixi used the excuse of being complacent and resigned from all positions of Prince Gong Yixi. From then on, there was no capable leader in the central government of the Qing Dynasty. Lei Yi: His human body system is basically in control of balance. Cixi cannot say that she completely does not want this group of people who pursue self-improvement. She knows that there must be these people, but she cannot let your strength be too strong. There is always a group of opponents who support this, and he also supports it. Today he supports this, and tomorrow he supports that. Therefore, China’s self-improvement movement has never developed smoothly. It is always in the process of compromise, difficult compromises bit by bit, otherwise you cannot be slow at all. Therefore, it can only be said that China’s self-improvement movement is determined by China’s soil or the social and political system at that time. They did not follow the same path as Japan’s Meiji Restoration. Far away, because they encountered too much resistance at that time. After Yi Xuan, Prime Minister of Prince Chun’s Naval Yamen, faded out of the political arena, Prince Chun, who was in charge of the Naval Yamen, and Prince Li, the leader of the military aircraft department, took over the central leadership. These two mediocre people were more incompetent under the criticism and obstruction of conservatives. The Westernization Movement largely relied on the management of local officials, and every decision would face attacks from the so-called conservatives. Most of these conservative ministers were those who had read poetry. They hated the aggression of the powers, and believed that any compromise and negotiation act was a loss of power and humiliation of the country, and any act of learning from the West would As a result, the Chinese civilization has been tarnished. This moral purism is valuable in value, but it often does nothing in the social reality, and even becomes a resistance to social progress. Lei Yi: In fact, since the Westernization Movement, its shortcomings and the self-improvement movement have begun to emerge. The property rights of such Guandu business enterprises are unclear, and they started to run very well. There is no problem. Later, they did a lot, or the enterprises made a lot of money. Whose on earth is it? The government thinks it belongs to me. Registration is mine, and registration is my Qing government. The businessmen think it is mine. All the money I put in is my money. How can you say it is yours after I manage and develop so much? Unclear property rights can lead to conflicts. Some officials have been opposing this and always using it to claim that this is a government enterprise, but there is no corruption in it. They need to audit their accounts, and each time they audit their accounts, it causes damage to these enterprises. This includes what we just mentioned, because government enterprises are corrupt and corrupt, especially when property rights are not good. When there is such a dispute, can this enterprise still operate well? In the post Opium War period, this self-improvement movement, or the Westernization Movement, was also said to be Tongguang Zhongxing. Its outcome did not bring the revitalization that the Qing government expected, but was a more complete rout. Later, China fell into a greater crisis, and finally ended this self-improvement movement with the shortcomings of the human system and systematic corruption. Its experience and lessons are worth learning and learning. One day in 1887, Tianjin Military Academy imitated Western production methods and made a small hydrogen balloon. During the experiment, the rope broke and the balloon drifted westward in the wind. The authorities issued a notice to the surrounding residents that if any military or civilian personnel found it, it would be returned to the academy on the same day and at a certain time. After receiving it, in addition to giving Sichuan capital according to the distance, they would also be rewarded with ten taels of silver. In August of the same year, Tianjin Military Academy held another test flight and invited the commander of the naval barracks stationed in Shenyang to observe. This was China’s first trial production and release of its own manned balloon. The launch of hydrogen balloons is an interesting suggestion that despite the arduous efforts of modern industrialization carried out under the skin of the old system, China has not stopped exploring advanced technologies from the West, At least at the level of artifacts, it has begun to enter the world system. For the descendants of China, adhering to the spirit of self-improvement a century ago, today’s revival still has a long way to go. 90 seconds in history: Battle of Dinghai. On July 2, 1840, a British fleet appeared ghostly on the sea surface between the Zhoushan Islands in Zhejiang Province. The Zhoushan Islands were located on the south side of the mouth of the Yangtze River in China, on the outer edge of Hangzhou Bay in the East China Sea. Seeing the sudden appearance of the British fleet in front of him, Dinghai County Magistrate Yao Huaixiang was extremely surprised. There were so many, such huge warships that he had never seen before, and he felt the seriousness of the situation in his heart. On July 5, it was a very ordinary day for Emperor Daoguang. After paying respects to the Empress Dowager, he processed several daily memorials. It was at 2:30 pm on that day that Britain The fleet fired the first shot to attack Dinghai, and the Qing Dynasty soldiers stationed in Dinghai had never seen such fierce artillery fire before. It took only nine minutes, nine minutes, The British army destroyed all the warships and shore guns of the Qing army. That night, the British army attacked the county town of Dinghai. County magistrate Yao Huaixiang ultimately chose to throw himself into the water and lose Dinghai.
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