[Keywords:] Westernization Movement in China, the impact of modernization
The Westernization Movement was initiated at the beginning of 186 1. At that time, Prince Gong, an imperial envoy who stayed in Beijing to discuss peace, wholeheartedly led the performance of "overall planning and overall folding". With the consent of the princes and the approval of Xianfeng, the Prime Minister's yamen was formally established. Since then, the Westernization Movement has officially started.
19 The "Westernization Movement" launched in the 1960s advocated "learning from foreigners to strengthen ourselves". The word "Westernization" originated in China in the19th century. At that time, the so-called westernization meant everything involving foreign countries. Those who advocate and preside over Westernization naturally become Westernization School. When the Westernization School was just emerging, the Qing court, which was mainly a diehard old school, was hostile to it. Because the government disapproved or even opposed Westernization, the Westernization School at that time could be said to be secretly engaged in Westernization, let alone any Westernization Movement. However, by the middle of19th century, the situation had changed. After the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the Nian Army, the first and second Opium Wars, the neo-westernization faction represented by Zeng Guofan, the governors of Liangjiang, Fujian and Zhejiang, and Zhili. It is proposed that in order to defend the ruling position of the Qing court and resist foreign aggression, we should abandon the stale "ancestral law" and introduce advanced western technology instead. As these representatives of the new Westernization School are all powerful military and political ministers, and the die-hards headed by Cixi also saw that they had to rely on western muskets and cannons to maintain their rule, they acquiesced in the proposal of the Westernization School, so a Westernization Movement that influenced the fate of modern China set off a wave of "doing Westernization" all over the country, which was called "Tongguang New Deal" in history.
Westernization Movement is an important event in China's modern history. It is not only related to the emergence and development of capitalism in China, the division of the old class and the emergence of the new class, but also related to the changes in China's politics, economy, military affairs, ideology, culture and other fields at that time, and also had a variety of influences on the social development of China in the future. The Westernization Movement opened the door to China's modernization and was the initial stage of China's modernization. Let's discuss the great influence of the Westernization Movement from political, economic, military, ideological and cultural aspects.
I. Political aspects
The political backwardness and external dependence of the Westernization School in the Westernization Movement decided that the Westernization Movement could only stay at the material level in the process of China's modernization, but could not enter the political and ideological level. The military industry and civil enterprises founded by the Westernization School adopted advanced material technology, but rejected and refused to adopt the corresponding political, economic and cultural systems as a guarantee. These military industries and civilian enterprises adopted advanced material technology, and their capitalist productivity began to break through the barriers of feudal production relations. However, due to the serious feudal political characteristics of the founders of the Westernization Movement, they stubbornly refused any social reform except production technology. So they firmly limited the Westernization Movement to feudal relations of production. In this way, the Westernization Movement actually entered a historical dead end from the beginning. As Li Jingwen, a famous economist, said, "Li Hongzhang has been seriously troubled by financial problems in the process of establishing Westernization. The funds needed are all invested by the government, and the guns he made are all allocated by the administration and cannot enter the market. This made the Westernization Movement disintegrated by the feudal political and economic structure. Its cultural chronic disease is the internal contradiction of "taking middle school as the body and western learning as the use" The failure of the Westernization Movement was not only due to the corruption of the Manchu government, but also because the hosts and supporters of the Westernization Movement turned science and technology into productive forces and simply coordinated the development of various factors such as politics, economy, education, science and technology and culture of a technology, which made the social structure composed of these related factors out of harmony, while the development of a single factor lost the cooperation of various social factors. "
The failure of the Westernization Movement made people of insight who inherited the Westernization School in the process of China's modernization see the serious defects of the Westernization Movement. If China wants to embark on the road of modernization, it needs to introduce the revolution from the material and technical level to the political, ideological and cultural level. Therefore, in the Reform Movement of 1898, which was marked by the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, the reformists put forward the requirements of reform. This reform movement completed the overthrow of feudal autocracy by the later Revolution of 1911, ended the feudal rule of the Qing Dynasty for more than 200 years, initially established the historical mission of the bourgeoisie and the country, and brought the modernization process of China into a new historical period. However, the backward psychology of attachment, fear and worship to western powers exposed in the Westernization Movement hindered China's modernization. Due to the serious influence of China's semi-colonial and semi-feudal social attributes, it was not partially eliminated until the May 4th Movement. After the founding of New China, especially the victory of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, people's self-improvement and self-love were stimulated, and a wave of modernization was set off. Therefore, the real historical role of the Westernization Movement does not lie in its positive role, that is, the Westernization School can face the reality, clearly observe the changes in the world situation at that time and the poverty and backwardness of China, criticize all kinds of outdated concepts, generously take holding modern emerging industries as its own responsibility, put forward plans to seek prosperity, establish modern enterprises in China, and train a group of scientific and technological talents. Objectively, it has to provide some favorable conditions for the development of national industries and become the beginning of industrialization in the process of China's modernization. It lies in its negative effect, that is, this negative effect reflects that if China wants to realize modernization, it must reform all aspects of production relations while developing productive forces, especially the reform of political, ideological, cultural and educational systems based on production relations, and at the same time improve the quality of the people, establish the people's independent, self-reliant and enterprising ideas, and dare to absorb all advanced foreign civilizations to serve us.
Second, the economy.
The establishment of modern new industrial and mining enterprises by the Westernization School was not accidental or unplanned. They want to learn from the west and gradually establish their own modern industrial system. First of all, the Westernization School set up dozens of enterprises in the form of "official supervision and commercial office" to consolidate the military and increase the government's fiscal revenue. Secondly, in the form of "cooperation between government and business", private investment in modern new enterprises should be encouraged as much as possible, and various protections should be given to promote it. The main reason was that feudal forces were dominant at that time, folk customs were not open, and the social environment of emphasizing agriculture and restraining commerce was deeply rooted. Ordinary bureaucratic landlords, compradors and wealthy businessmen want to run large enterprises, and most of them apply for "official supervision and business operation" or "joint operation of government and business". More or less keep in touch with the housekeeper, so stand firm. So this form is more appropriate. Without this beginning, it is difficult for private capital to transform into the industrial field, let alone form private enterprises in the future.
Of course, "official supervision and commercial office" or "official-commercial joint venture" enterprises have exposed many disadvantages in the course of operation. Such as cronyism, feudal management, harming others and benefiting themselves, have seriously hindered the normal development of enterprises. It is precisely because of the shortcomings of government officials and businessmen that the appeal of government-regulated commercial enterprises or enterprises with joint efforts of government officials and businessmen has declined, so the voice of commercial enterprises is getting stronger and stronger. So in the 1970s, capitalist enterprises with pure commercial operation began to appear. Although the road was bumpy at first, through the indomitable struggle of national capitalists, national capitalist enterprises were finally established and developed on the land of China. Its existence and development broke the unified situation of China's feudal economy for two thousand years, and it is a sign of great changes in China's social economy.
The objective influence of Westernization Movement's introduction of western science and technology is enormous and far-reaching, at least in the following aspects:
(1) The Westernization Movement directly promoted the development of production. In industry and transportation, machines began to gradually replace manual production, which is an epoch-making change with the nature of industrial revolution, making it possible to break through the old productive forces that have remained unchanged for thousands of years.
(2) The Westernization Movement promoted the progress of science and technology. The modernization of science, technology and education in China began with a large number of books on applied technology of natural science translated into Chinese, the first batch of technical and management talents trained in military and civilian enterprises in China, international students sent to Europe to study science and technology in batches, the reform of imperial examination system, the construction of new schools and the cultivation of new talents.
(3) In the field of ideology and culture, a group of new intellectuals' scientific and technological teams emerged, and their cosmology philosophy was deeply influenced by the western bourgeois evolution theory, which promoted the later bourgeois reform and even the Revolution of 1911. It can be said that the Westernization Movement was the enlightenment of China's early modernization.
The above is not all the objective influence of the Westernization Movement, but the most important thing is the change of productivity. Although this change is partial, just started and has various defects, science and technology are the primary productive forces. The introduction of science and technology, especially natural science, during the Westernization Movement was an important link in the history of China's science and technology development, and played a vital role in China's transformation from ancient science and technology to modern science and technology.
Third, the military aspect.
The establishment of Westernization is undoubtedly a major change in the mode of diplomatic, military and industrial production in the 1960s. Ideologically, Zeng Guofan, Zuo and others inherited Wei Yuan's thought of "learning from foreigners" during the Opium War, which was rooted in patriotism. Although Zeng Guofan and Zuo Zuo, who were in charge of the Westernization Movement at that time, mainly aimed at maintaining the rule of the Qing government and suppressing the revolutionary movement of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and maintaining the situation of "reconciliation" with foreign aggressors, saving the nation from extinction was the main thing. To this end, they hope that the Chinese empire will keep pace with the times and not lag behind the western countries. This is mainly manifested in the following two aspects.
1) started the military industry.
From 186 1 Zeng Guofan founded Anqing Ordnance Institute to 1894 Zhang Zhidong founded Gunxia Westernization School and 2 1 military enterprise in Hubei. Most of these enterprises used mechanized production at that time. Although the degree of mechanization was not high at that time, manual production was still widely used in production. Although these enterprises have strong feudalism, backwardness and conservatism in management, they are, after all, the first batch of modern enterprises in the history of China, which started the modernization process of China and objectively promoted the development of social productive forces and the emergence of capitalist private enterprises in China. In particular, the establishment of these military enterprises produced a large number of guns and ammunition, which changed the backward state of swords, bows and arrows, soil guns and soil guns before the Qing army, played a certain role in maintaining the rule of the Qing dynasty and resisting the invasion of foreign enemies, strengthened the national defense force of the Qing dynasty, and took a gratifying step towards the near modernization of the China army.
2) Establish a new army.
While establishing military enterprises, the Westernization School also attached importance to the construction of the army, and regarded it as one of the main contents of the Westernization Movement, which is also the purpose of the military industry. 1862, Tianjin set up a foreign gun team; 1866, the prime minister's yamen set up 15000 "training", and Li Hongzhang equipped his Huai army in Shanghai as a modern army; Zuo also set up a foreign gun team in Ningbo, making Huai Army and Zuo Xiang Army a new army. 1888, Li Hongzhang set up the North Shore Navy, 1894, and set up Fujian Navy, Nanyang Navy and Beiyang Navy respectively, with 6,000 or 7,000 warships, with considerable scale. Thus, for the first time in China's military history, a new branch of modern navy appeared. Although the navy was far behind the west in equipment, military quality and military strength, it finally became an important national defense force of the Qing government with the efforts of the Westernization School, which was a kind of progress at that time. The establishment of New Lu Haijun certainly served the rule of Qing Dynasty, but its existence posed a certain threat to the western invaders. History clearly tells us that the Qing army dealt a heavy blow to the French army; In the naval battle of the Yellow Sea, the Beiyang Navy, led by patriotic generals, severely damaged five Japanese ships, forcing them to withdraw from the Yellow Sea for the first time, showing the dignity of the Chinese nation. Therefore, we are sure that the Westernization Movement has suppressed the people, and we cannot deny that it has the purpose of "self-improvement" and the side of defending the country and opposing aggression. Although 1894, the northern and southern navies were completely annihilated under the domination of Li Hongzhang and others' surrender thought, it cannot be concluded that the troops equipped with new weapons in the Westernization Movement failed in this war and the Westernization Movement completely failed. War is the highest form of politics and the product of irreconcilable economic interests. Military failure includes political system, government attitude, military quality, disparity between Chinese and foreign forces, economic strength, domestic power struggle and many other factors. Therefore, we can't simply blame this complicated failure process on the industrial activities of the Westernization School. When analyzing any social problem, the absolute requirement of Marxist theory is to bring the problem within a certain historical range. Under the circumstances at that time, the Westernization School used the slogan of "self-improvement" in the Westernization Movement to build guns and warships to arm the army. Its main purpose is to hope that China's army will modernize and compete with the western invaders to protect itself from extinction, which is worthy of recognition. The Westernization Movement's spirit of advocating modern industry, pursuing progress and being beaten unwilling to lag behind is also worthy of recognition.
Fourth, the ideological aspect.
1, the westernization movement takes "Chinese style and western use" as the guiding ideology. In China society in the late19th century, the national bourgeoisie has not yet stepped onto the political stage, especially in the 1960s when "Chinese and Western styles" appeared, and China just broke its closed state. When facing an open world and in shock, it is really commendable to take the first step of modernization with "Chinese style and western use". It is precisely because of this thought that "Western learning" was legalized, and China's 30-year westernization practice brought about the large-scale introduction of 800 industrial and mining enterprises, three naval fleets and modern advanced technology, and even the emergence and development of Chinese national capitalism and the introduction of advanced western political culture. China's modernization started with "learning from China and using the West", which did have subjective class limitations and objective historical limitations. However, it was a wise move to conform to the historical development, and it was also the only possible choice made by ancient China despite the "unprecedented change for thousands of years". The Westernization Movement became the real beginning of China's modernization, which has explained its historical value.
2. The rise of modernization thought.
With the deepening of Westernization Movement and the initial development of capitalism, the subconscious thoughts of modernization gradually emerged.
1) the transformation from "reform and self-improvement" to "seeking wealth"
After two Opium Wars, China lost to the West. How to change this state, westernization theorists put forward the idea of "self-improvement through reform". This ideological origin of "self-improvement through reform" is the continuation and extension of Wei Yuan's patriotic thought of "learning from foreigners", and it is also a counter-judgment to the idea of "no way remains unchanged" for thousands of years. With the deepening of the Westernization Movement, the idea of "self-improvement" began to change to the idea of "seeking wealth". This idea of "prospering business" and seeking wealth is undoubtedly a denial of the idea of "people-oriented business at the end" for thousands of years. In world history, it is similar to the early industrial revolution in Britain.
2) Starting from the thought of "saving the country through industry and commerce", develop the transformation of capitalist thought.
With the emergence and start of national capitalist industry and commerce in modern China, the corresponding idea of "valuing business" gradually took shape and made important progress in the Westernization Movement. Those ideas of the Westernization School were undoubtedly advanced at that time, but they could not be put into practice at that time and became empty talk. However, it played an encouraging role in China people under the feudal atmosphere. In the Westernization Movement, these thoughts gradually formed and developed, which marked the beginning of China's modernization thought.
Verb (abbreviation of verb) cultural aspect
1, education
1) Cultivate modern talents
To establish Westernization, we must have talents who are familiar with Westernization, but the traditional old-fashioned educational content can no longer meet the needs of Westernization. Therefore, setting up new educational undertakings, learning new knowledge and cultivating new talents have become important measures of the Westernization Movement.
(1) Establish a new school.
From the establishment of Beijing Wentong Museum in 1862 to the establishment of Yantai Naval Academy in 1894, Westernization Academy has established 24 new schools. These schools mainly train translators, engineers, weapons, ship drivers, telegraph and communication, mining and military doctors who serve the Westernization Movement. Although these schools are small in scale and have few students, they have broken the unity of old-style education and imperial examination system, trained a group of modern scientific and technological talents and intellectuals, and also played an important role in cultural education.
② sending international students
In order to study advanced science and technology in the west more comprehensively and systematically, Westernization School also sent overseas students to the west directly. Starting from 1872, the Westernization School sent seven groups of overseas students to the United States, Britain, France and other countries on a large scale through the Qing government, with a total number of 20 1, including Zhan Tianyou, who will become an engineer in the future, and Yan Fu, a famous scholar. On the one hand, they systematically studied the advanced knowledge of science and technology in the west, and at the same time, they accepted the economic, political and cultural thoughts of western capitalism to a certain extent. After returning home, they all devoted themselves to the modernization of China with their own practical actions.
Run a school and send international students. On the one hand, it trained a large number of new talents with western knowledge for the Westernization Movement; on the other hand, it greatly promoted the modernization of education in China and prepared preliminary cultural conditions for the modernization of China society.
2. The publication of the translated works has promoted the widespread spread of western learning in China, and expanded the ideological exchange and integration between Chinese and Western cultures. Westernization School, while vigorously running schools and promoting learning, also fully realized the importance of cultural communication, and began to print newspapers and periodicals, set up publishing institutions, and translated a large number of western works.
In addition to a large number of translations of western works, a large number of newspapers and some famous publishing institutions appeared at that time. Among the modern publishing institutions in China, the Commercial Press and Zhonghua Book Company have the longest history and the greatest influence. The Commercial Press 1897 was founded in Shanghai and published a large number of influential books. Zhonghua Book Company was founded in 19 12. Textbooks and children's books are the focus of publishing by Zhonghua Book Company. These two publishing houses are well-known publishing institutions in China.
The translation and publication of a large number of western works and the emergence of newspapers and publishing institutions in modern China have broken the barriers between Chinese and western cultures and the ice of traditional culture, and greatly promoted the exchange and integration of Chinese and western cultures.
In short, the 35-year Westernization Movement not only brought bitterness and pain to people, but also had a far-reaching and positive impact on China culture. The people of China took this opportunity to get in touch with the West, understand it and learn from it, thus promoting the modernization of China. It can be said that the "Westernization Movement" is an important stage in the historical development of China, and its positive influence on culture and education can be regarded as an indispensable page in the cultural history of China.
Conclusion of intransitive verbs
To sum up, the Westernization Movement, which took place in the 1960s and 1990s of 19, failed to achieve the expected goal: to make China rich and strong in a short time, but after all, it opened the curtain of modern industry in China and made China begin to move towards the road of modern industrialization. Although the troops equipped with foreign guns failed to stop the invasion of foreign invaders, they also dealt a heavy blow to the invaders. Although the civilian industry it founded failed to make China rich, the capitalist mode of production it led to began to take root in China. Under its influence and promotion, Chinese national capitalism came into being and developed. The historical role and contribution of Westernization School in opening modern enterprises can not be obliterated or erased by any narrow democratic criticism or unscientific accusation beyond the historical stage; Although Zeng Guofan, Li Hongzhang and other founders of the Westernization Movement exterminated the people and betrayed the country for glory, we can't deny the objective influence of their industrial activities and thoughts on modern China. Although the purpose and motivation of the Westernization School were not as revolutionary and intense as those of the later reformers and the League, their series of Westernization activities were an unprecedented betrayal of the values of feudal society for thousands of years, and they sought justice instead of respecting it, and they emphasized equipment instead of morality, which violated the agreement of their ancestors. The same is true of the result of the Westernization Movement. It introduced western machines and enterprise management, and became "the beginning of China's industrial revolution". It introduced western machines and enterprise management, and became "the beginning of China's industrial revolution". It introduced capitalism, science and technology and moral values, opened new schools in China to train new talents, and sent overseas students who served the Westernization Movement and used western capitalist ideas. The concept of interests has opened and influenced China people who have been shrouded in the shadow of feudal autocracy for thousands of years. These factors are naturally the bane of feudalism, which has been undercurrent and finally surging in China, leading to the Reform Movement of 1898 and the Revolution of 1911, the collapse of the Qing government and the establishment of bourgeois regime. Although the Westernization Movement did not put China on the road of modernization soon, the spirit originated from the Westernization Movement led advanced China people to further explore the road of modernization in China.