In the early 1980s (1840- 19 19), China people started from "learning from foreigners to control foreigners" and put forward "learning from the middle school as the body, using western learning", and then put forward bourgeois democratic thoughts of freedom, equality and fraternity until the New Culture Movement put forward democratic scientific thoughts. In this process, China people reflect on themselves while learning from the west, and every step is accompanied by a dispute between the old and the new; There are absorption and exclusion; There are takenism and preconceptions; There is a blend of water and milk, and there are also dates to swallow. Every step forward has paid the price of blood and fire, experienced the pain of sublation and acceptance, and pushed the great ship of history towards civilization.

In early modern times, China learned from the West, and the process can be divided into three stages and three levels.

The first stage is from the Opium War to the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, mainly studying the western science and technology with the core of "building strong ships and guns" as the material level; The second stage, from the end of the Sino-Japanese War to the Revolution of 1911, mainly studied the western political system to change the shape of the social superstructure; The New Culture Movement to the May 4th Movement is the third stage, mainly studying the western spiritual civilization with ideology and culture as the core, and studying at the level of ideological superstructure. These three stages of learning from the west are manifested in three levels: the material layer of technological achievements (artifacts); Relevant social support system (system) political system level; People's values, ways of thinking, cultural thoughts and other ideological levels.

(A) the Opium War-the Sino-Japanese War

I mainly study western science and technology, especially military technology. From the Opium War in 65438 to1early 1940s, Lin Zexu, who created the world, and Wei Yuan, who advocated "learning from foreigners to control foreigners", were pioneers in learning from the West in modern times. Later, Zhang Zhidong, an intellectual representative of the modern landlord class, put forward the view that "middle school is the body and western learning is the use". "Middle school" refers to Confucianism with three cardinal guides and five permanent members as its core, while "Western learning" refers to social sciences such as natural science, business science, education, foreign trade and public law of nations introduced into China in modern times. On the basis of maintaining the feudal rule of the Qing Dynasty, he advocated adopting specific methods of natural science, technology, culture and education, such as gun-making, railway construction, mining and wire laying, to save the ruling crisis. Although their understanding and learning about the west only stayed on the surface of western civilization-the material shell, and the purpose of learning was not only to "control foreigners" but also to maintain feudal rule, it took great courage and superhuman courage to take this step at that time. It enabled China people to break through the closed-door cage and opened a new wind to explore the outside world, thus taking a gratifying and valuable first step for China to learn from the West in modern times.

/kloc-in the 1960s of 0/9, under the double blow of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement and the Second Opium War, the Qing government was at home and abroad, and westernization schools represented by powerful schools such as Zeng Guofan, Li Hongzhang, Zuo, Zhang Zhidong, Shen Baozhen and others appeared. Advocating the use of advanced western science and technology to maintain the rule of the Qing Dynasty, these enlightened landlord intellectuals, with the contradictory psychology of "learning from foreigners to control foreigners", launched the Westernization Movement of "learning from foreigners to control foreigners" in the 1960s and 1990s. Under the banner of "self-improvement", they adopted advanced western production technology to establish military industry, and under the slogan of "seeking wealth", they established civilian industry to realize Qiang Bing's dream of becoming a rich country.

"Today, the collegiate bench was established, and Chinese and foreign trade stopped. Buying foreign cultural relics is especially justified. After buying, I will visit those thoughtful and smart people, starting with practice and then doing it. However, in another year or two, steamboats will be a common occurrence for Chinese and foreign officials and people, with twists and turns and far-reaching diligence. " It can be seen from this passage that the purpose of learning from the West to engage in westernization was to safeguard the rule of the Qing Dynasty, but objectively it gave birth to the capitalist national industry, which made material preparations for the bourgeois revolution and the proletariat to step onto the political and historical stage in the later period, which was of great significance.

(B) After the Sino-Japanese War-Xinhai Revolution

I mainly study the western political system. As early as 65438+60s and 70s in 2009, Hong Rengan, leader of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, after studying and studying western political, economic and social theories, wrote "A New Chapter on Senior Minister" and took the lead in proposing a plan to develop capitalism in China. As the spokesman of the ruling class in the mainstream society, Zheng and others, the early reformists also put forward the idea of learning from the western political system, implementing constitutional monarchy and developing capitalism, which became 65438. Kang and Liang put the goal of learning from the west into the political system from the economic field and put the reform of the political system in the first place. Economically, they advocate the development of national industry and commerce and foreign commercial war. Culturally, they advocate the establishment of new schools to learn western natural science knowledge. Politically, they advocated the reform and implementation of constitutional monarchy, and put forward the idea of establishing parliament, establishing national assembly and formulating constitution. However, under the suppression of feudal die-hards, the reform movement died. Subsequently, the Revolution of 1911 led by Sun Yat-sen overthrew the Qing Dynasty, ended the feudal autocratic monarchy system, applied the theory of western countries, implemented the system of separation of kingship and responsibility cabinet system, and established the bourgeoisie and the state. However, the weak compromise of the bourgeoisie and the dictatorship of the northern warlords made the Republic of China a signboard, and the bourgeoisie and the country led by Sun Yat-sen eventually vanished.

(C) The New Culture Movement-May 4th Movement

I mainly studied western ideology and culture, and finally chose Marxism. The slogans of the New Culture Movement are "Mr. De" and "Mr. Sai", namely democracy and science. Chen Duxiu believes that to make China rich and strong, we must oppose feudalism, oppose old morality and advocate new morality. Oppose old literature and advocate new literature; Oppose Confucian traditional thought and learn western science and democratic thought. Chen Duxiu, Li Dazhao and others. Point the struggle at feudal orthodoxy and publicize western democratic science. After the October Revolution in Russia, Li Dazhao publicized socialism and took Russia as his teacher. Marxism was widely spread in the May 4th Movement, and China intellectuals mastered the scientific and ideological weapons to save China and transform society. As an independent political force, the proletariat stepped onto the historical stage.

In modern China, learning from the West has certain internal logical laws to follow. It has experienced a gradual evolution process from the outside to the inside and from the shallow to the deep; ② Learning from the West and resisting aggression are unified; (3) full of progressive and conservative struggles (westernization and die-hards, reformists and die-hards, revolutionaries and royalists). In the face of foreign capitalist aggression, we should learn from western military technologies such as ships, guns and weapons; And guns and ships can't cope with the subsequent foreign economic aggression, so they demand the development of industry and commerce and the revitalization of the economy; The development of national capitalist industry and commerce is bound to be opposed by the feudal system and die-hard forces, so there must be corresponding political reforms, and it is imperative to reform the feudal autocracy; Developing the military, revitalizing the economy and reforming politics are inseparable from science and culture, personnel training and the reform of the whole social system, which has led to the requirement of establishing a bourgeois republic. Because the bourgeoisie in China was born in a special semi-feudal and semi-colonial soil, its weakness and compromise will inevitably lead to the failure of their revolution. Where China goes, how to learn from the West and what to learn from the West must fall on the shoulders of the proletariat.

Second, the late 30 years of modern times (19 19- 1949)

During this period, the mainstream of learning from the West was the new-democratic revolution led by the proletariat, and the proletariat led the workers-peasants alliance with the broad masses of bourgeois intellectuals at the forefront of history. The October Revolution in Russia was successful, and the New Culture Movement provided ideological conditions for the spread of Marxism in China. This is the background for the proletariat to learn from the west.

After the October Revolution, Marxism was introduced to China and accepted by advanced intellectuals in China. The New Culture Movement, as an ideological weapon to save the country and the people and transform the society, made China intellectuals baptized by democracy and science in the movement and accelerated their pace of exploring the revolutionary road. The May 4th Movement made organizational, personnel and ideological preparations for the proletariat to step onto the historical stage. Since then, the proletariat, as the leader of the workers-peasants alliance and the pioneer of history, has started a massive revolutionary movement.

After the May 4th Movement, Marxism became the guiding ideology of China revolution, and the proletariat became the main force of new democracy, marking the beginning of new democracy.

In the historical stage of 30 years of new democracy, the proletariat, as the mainstream class in history, led a vigorous new-democratic revolution. His revolutionary practices included the May 4th Movement, the establishment of the China Producer Party, participation in the national revolution, opposition to the reactionary rule of the United States and Chiang Kai-shek, and leading the people of China to victory in War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression and the War of Liberation. In all previous revolutionary movements, the proletariat constantly absorbed the essence of Marxism–Leninism and combined it with the concrete practice of China Revolution. Through practice, innovation, practice and innovation, and summing up the lessons of the past, he gradually embarked on a road of combining Marxism-Leninism with China's practice, and formed Mao Zedong Thought, which guided the China revolution from victory to victory.

After many twists and turns, the China * * Production Party led the people of China to win the democratic revolution, overthrew the three mountains that weighed on the people of China, and established a new China with its scientific research on Marxism-Leninism and Mao Zedong Thought. Since then, China has made remarkable achievements in exploring and developing on the socialist road.

To sum up, in the historical process of China's learning from the west during the period of 1 10, due to the strong national strength of the western capitalist countries at that time, the advanced political thinkers in modern China explored the road of strengthening the country and enriching the people, taking the road of learning from the west and worshiping the west as their teachers. In the new historical period, a comprehensive review and summary of China's experience and lessons learned from the West in modern times with new viewpoints, new eyes and new thinking is of certain enlightenment significance for strengthening cultural, economic and political exchanges with other countries and building a modern country in Socialism with Chinese characteristics today. In the historical process of learning from the west in China's modern history 1 10, it has experienced the process from failure to success and from practice to theory, which enlightens us that we should proceed from China's national conditions, discard its dross, take its essence, prevent total westernization, open wider to the outside world, introduce advanced science and technology, civilization and ideas, and keep pace with the times; Harmonious development is accompanied by prosperity and progress.