Prince Gong is bent on becoming the representative force of the Westernization School in the central government.

Most local representatives are related to Zeng Guofan @

-Zeng Guofan (Han nationality, Jinshi in the 18th year of Daoguang, leader of Xiang army)-

Zeng Guofan, a subordinate of Shen Baozhen, was born a scholar. He succeeded Zuo in establishing Fujian shipping administration and served as Nanyang admonition minister.

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)—

Li Hongzhang (Zeng Guofan's favorite pupil, Han nationality, scholar in the twenty-seventh year of Daoguang, leader of Huai army, powerful figure in the late Qing Dynasty)—

Chonghou (Manchu aristocrat)-Tang Shuting

"Learning from foreigners to control foreigners" is the slogan and goal of Westernization Movement in Qing Dynasty.

The content of 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.