Westernization Movement, also known as self-improvement movement and tongzhi reform, was an industrial movement with the slogan and purpose of "learning from foreigners and mastering foreign skills" initiated by officials of the Westernization School of the Qing Dynasty in the late Qing Dynasty. This movement began at the end of 186 1 (the tenth year of Xianfeng in Qing Dynasty) and ended at 1895, which lasted for nearly 35 years. According to different goals, the Westernization Movement can be divided into two stages: the early stage and the late stage. After the British and French allied forces were defeated twice and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Uprising, the upper level of the Qing court formed two camps, the "Westernization School" and the "Old School", in response to domestic troubles and foreign invasion. Officials of the Westernization School, represented by Li Hongzhang, Zeng Guofan and Zuo, advocated imitating the industrial technology and business model of the great powers, and developing modern industries by means of government-run, government-supervised business-run, and government-business joint ventures, so as to acquire powerful military equipment, increase the revenue of the national treasury and enhance national strength.

Westernization Movement was the first large-scale imitation/implementation of Western-style industrialization movement in modern China, and it was a top-down reform movement on the premise of maintaining feudal imperial power. After the18th century, the Westernization Movement introduced a large number of scientific and technological achievements from the west, introduced and translated a large number of western works and documents, trained the first batch of children studying abroad, and opened the door to western learning. Drawing lessons from the modern company system, a large number of industrial and chemical enterprises have been built, which has opened the road of industrial development and modernization in China in the future. The direct result of the Westernization Movement-the annihilation of the Qing navy in the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, brought the Westernization Movement to an abrupt end, dealt a heavy blow to the upper class of the Qing court, set the stage for the later Hundred Days Reform, and profoundly affected a group of China people born at the end of 19. After the defeat of the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, the Qing court was forced to sign the treaty of shimonoseki, recognized the independence of Korea, and ceded Taiwan Province Province, Penghu and Liaodong Peninsula to Japan, which aggravated the ruling crisis of the Qing court. Japan's first military victory over China in the history of China profoundly aroused the national consciousness of the Japanese people and had a far-reaching impact on the culture, ideology, political trend and even the national movement of China and Japan.