In the early stage, with the slogan of "self-improvement", a number of military enterprises such as Anqing Inner Ordnance Institute, Jiangnan Manufacturing General Administration and Fuzhou Shipping Bureau were founded. Later, with the slogan of "seeking wealth", a number of civilian industries were founded, such as China Shipping Merchants and Hanyang Iron Works.

"Learn from foreigners, learn from foreigners" is a sentence in a book by Wei Yuan, which is his slogan of learning from the West.

Students should be "learning from foreigners to strengthen themselves." However, this is their proposition, not a slogan.