After the Westernization Movement, its value became the guiding ideology of the Westernization Movement, especially the idea of "learning from foreigners to control foreigners" was inherited by the Westernization Movement, and the slogan of "learning from foreigners to strengthen ourselves" was put forward.
2. National Map:
Wei Yuan, an advocate of modern new ideas in China, wrote Atlas of Sea Countries, which was the most detailed monograph introducing western history and geography at that time. The title "maritime countries" means overseas countries.
1840 the opium war broke out. Due to the defeat of the war, Wei Yuan was indignant and patriotic. 184 1 in March, he angrily abandoned his pen to join the army, joined the governor of the two rivers and the resistance general Yu Qian, and went to the front line of Dinghai to make suggestions. 1842, he wrote a 50-volume marine atlas. Why did the author compile this book? Wei Yuan made it very clear in the preface to the book Atlas of Sea Countries: "What is a book made of? It means "attack foreigners with foreigners, pay foreigners with foreigners, learn foreigners with foreigners, and control foreigners with foreigners." "
In other words, the purpose of writing a book is to understand "foreign feelings" and help people learn "long skills" to resist foreign aggression and inspire national prestige. This has given a slap in the face to the die-hards who are arrogant and regard the advanced science and technology in the West as "fantastic in their skills and taking advantage of it" and blindly exclusive. Wei Yuan pointed out in "Atlas of the Sea": "What is useful is strange skills rather than obscenity." In dealing with foreign invaders, we should not "abandon their strengths and be willing to suffer", but "plug their weaknesses and take their strengths" Only those who are good at learning from the Four Foreigners can control the Four Foreigners.
1847- 1848, Wei Yuan added the Atlas of Seas to 60 volumes and published it in Yangzhou. To 1852, expanded to one hundred volumes. This book has reached 500 volumes. This is the earliest masterpiece in China's modern history, written by China people themselves, introducing the situation of countries around the world. In addition to Sizhou Annals, the 100-volume edition of Guo Hai Tu Zhi has quoted 14 kinds of historical records, more than 70 works of various schools at home and abroad, in addition to more than 10 kinds of recitations and some personal data. It should be noted that its historical source is also the writings of foreigners. Among them, there are about 20 kinds of works, such as A Brief History of Foreign Countries by British Ma Lixun and Geographical Preparation by Portuguese Maggis.
The book quotes nearly 100 kinds of materials at home and abroad, and systematically introduces the geography, history and political situation of western countries, as well as many advanced science and technology, such as the manufacture and use of new weapons such as steamboats and mines. The records of climate, products, transportation and trade, people's feelings and customs, culture and education, Sino-foreign relations, religion, calendar, science and technology are all more than those in previous books. Therefore, some people praised the Atlas of the Ocean as the "first mountain" for China people to talk about world history.
Because it not only records the situation of foreign countries in detail, but also affirms the necessity of studying world history and geography in theory for the first time.
The publication of Atlas of the Ocean has broken this ignorant situation, providing people with 80 brand-new maps of various countries in the world, and 66 volumes detailing the history and place names of various countries. In this way, the people of China at that time opened their eyes to the world through the telescope "Atlas of the Ocean". We have not only seen the western countries' "building a strong ship and benefiting from guns", but also seen the businesses, railway transportation and schools in European countries, which enabled China people to cross the "national border" and understand new things in the modern world.
In the Atlas of the Sea with volume 100, the author not only attaches importance to industry and commerce, but also expands from economy to politics, from the initial marvel at the exotic skills of the West, such as "building boats and guns", to the introduction of modern capitalist democracy in the West. At this point, Wei Yuan's thought of "learning from foreigners" reached the peak of his time.
3. Westernization Movement:
Westernization movement, also known as self-help movement and self-improvement movement in the late Qing Dynasty. This movement was a "self-improvement" and "seeking wealth" movement launched by the Westernization School in 19 from 1960s to 1990s, which introduced western military equipment, machine production and science and technology to maintain feudal rule.
Although the Westernization Movement did not make China rich and strong for more than 30 years, it introduced advanced western science and technology, which led to the emergence of the first batch of modern enterprises in China and objectively promoted the emergence and development of Chinese national capitalism.
The fundamental guiding ideology is "self-improvement" and "seeking wealth". Its classification ideas are "learning from foreigners to control foreigners" and "learning from China and using the West". The first four words "learning from foreigners to control foreigners" show the relationship between the Westernization Movement and foreign capitalist aggressors, that is, learning western skills to resist western aggression and pave the way.