An Important Beginning of China's Modernization —— Comment on the Westernization Movement from the Perspective of Modernization and Understanding Laws I. Comment on the Rise of the Westernization Movement 1840, the fiasco of the Opium War shocked the Chinese Empire, and the gunboats of the great powers opened the door for the Qing government to close its doors. Some people in China began to wake up and saw the huge gap between China and the West. Enlightened landlord class intellectuals such as Lin Zexu and Wei Yuan put forward the idea of "learning from foreigners". It's a pity that China was still intoxicated with China's great power fantasy and was content with the signing of the "Peace Treaty of Ten Thousand Years". For most people in China, the defeat of the Opium War was just an accident. Besides, it is not unacceptable to cut an island and lose a little money, although it will lose face. Therefore, the idea of seeing the world with eyes open only exists in the minds of a few elites and is revealed in some works. No one dares to publicize their ideas too much, including Lin Zexu, and few people dare to try to implement them. By the time of the Second Opium War, China suffered a heavier blow and failure. The capital was looted by the invaders, and the emperor fled and died in other places. In addition, China's army is obviously unable to resist the confrontation with the western army. "Geng Shen's troubles caused great pain" and "the alliance under the city was a shame in the Spring and Autumn Period". In such a grim situation, more and more people in China have awakened, and they realize that the speed of western ships and telegrams is fast; The essence of military equipment and machinery is a hundred times stronger; Shells are invincible wherever they go; There is no limit to the land and water pass, and it is a once-in-a-lifetime enemy. "Therefore, the number of people who propose to introduce modern western military and science and technology has increased significantly. These people formed a powerful political force-Westernization School. They are represented by dignitaries as their representatives in the central government, and there are emerging Han landlord class bureaucrats such as Zeng Guofan, Zuo and Li Hongzhang in the local government. They also have a large number of enlightened intellectuals and private businessmen eager to adopt advanced production technology. 186 1 Xin You After the coup, Cixi, who was in conflict with conservative forces, stepped into the ruling center. In order to stabilize her dominant position, she adopted the policy of fostering the Westernization School. After the Westernization School entered the political stage in China, it introduced advanced western science and technology on a large scale, set up modern military and civilian enterprises, and China's modernization movement developed rapidly. From simple idea or thought to practice, it can be said that this is a very significant progress in China's early modernization. The progressiveness of Westernization School and Westernization Movement should be fully affirmed. Second, the evaluation of the two stages of Westernization Movement. The Westernization School unanimously advocated learning from foreigners in order to enrich Qiang Bing, resist foreign aggression and save the national crisis. They realize that modern industry with machine production as its core is the foundation of Qiang Bing, a rich country. After the military defeat, they took the military industry innovation as the first breakthrough point and put forward the slogan of "self-improvement". Under the auspices of Li Hongzhang and others, a number of large-scale modern military industries such as Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau, Jinling Manufacturing Bureau, Fuzhou Shipping Bureau and Tianjin Machinery Bureau came out one after another. In just a few years, China has possessed the ability of casting iron, steelmaking and mechanical production of various military products, including new weapons such as cannons, firearms, ammunition, mines and ships, and equipped some troops. Although the management and system of modern military enterprises founded by the Westernization School was a feudal yamen, it was definitely a great progress from ignorance to actively introducing, learning and exploring foreign artifacts. These military industries later played an important role. They also founded a number of military schools, such as Tianjin Beiyang Naval Academy, Guangzhou Torpedo Academy, Weihai Naval Academy, Nanyang Naval Academy, Lushun Torpedo Academy, Jiangnan Army Academy and Shanghai Artillery Academy, which made important contributions to the national defense cause. The establishment of Beiyang Navy can be said to represent the highest military achievement of Westernization Movement. Although the Beiyang Navy failed in the end, it was once an advanced military force in China that could deter the ocean, occupying a place in the history of the world navy, and in the process of cultivating the Beiyang Navy, it also promoted the development of a series of modern undertakings. With the establishment of military industry, the Westernization School realized that the strong national defense foundation lies in the economic development of the whole country, which needs the support of energy, steel and other industries. At the same time, in order to safeguard national interests, we should also develop the national economy and "compete for profits" with foreigners. As a result, they put forward the slogan of seeking wealth, and civil industry and new transportation industry also developed. 1872, Li Hongzhang established China Merchants Bureau for Ships in Shanghai. This is the first private enterprise founded by the Westernization School. Only three years after its establishment, China Merchants recovered more than two million silver13 million for the Qing government, and also developed overseas business, breaking the monopoly of foreign shipping companies. Later, China's modern mining, telegraph, postal service, railway and other industries appeared one after another. During the Westernization Movement, light industry also developed vigorously. From 65438 to 0880, Zuo founded Lanzhou Weaving Bureau, which became the originator of modern textile industry in China. China's modern textile industry, waterworks, power plants, machine reeling, ginning, paper making, printing, pharmacy, glass manufacturing, etc. Both were established in the 1970s and 1980s. Driven by the Westernization Movement, China's civil industry developed rapidly, which laid the foundation for China's modern industry. Beyond the material level, the Westernization School did not neglect the study of culture. They opened Wentong Museum, the first modern school in China, and trained a group of foreign language and diplomatic talents for China. The activities of these people became an important force in China's further modernization movement. Third, the evaluation of the dispute between Westernization School and Conservatives. Westernization and conservatism are both part of the ruling clique of Qing Dynasty, and their difference lies in their different methods of maintaining the rule of Qing Dynasty. The die-hards insist on the theory of "China culture is supreme" and think it shameful and hateful to learn from the West. He obstructed the Westernization Movement in many ways. Therefore, during the Westernization Movement, the Westernization School and the die-hards fought fiercely for a long time. During the struggle, the Westernization School paid great attention to the specific situation at that time and pointed out that it was not feasible to stick to the old method. If we want to save the crisis, we must learn from western technology. Fundamentally speaking, the historical conditions at that time made it indisputably necessary for the Westernization School to learn western ideas. Although conservatives kept their mouths shut about the benevolence and righteousness of sages, they were vulnerable to the cruel reality of the invasion of western powers at that time, and the Westernization School made great achievements in theory and practice. On the other hand, Empress Dowager Cixi, as the supreme ruler, also needs the support of the Westernization School to ensure her personal rule. Therefore, on the whole, the Westernization School has won a great victory in the struggle with the old school. The success of the Westernization Movement is inseparable from its victory in the struggle against conservative forces. Therefore, although the Westernization Movement didn't succeed in the end, people mostly discussed how to deepen the reform, but not many people thought that "foreigners won by force, and China won by courtesy", and the ideological trend of singing bad manners and opposing open innovation didn't have much market. Four. Evaluation of the position of Westernization Movement The failure of the Sino-Japanese War declared the end of Westernization Movement. Therefore, it is generally believed that this marks the failure of the Westernization Movement. However, I think this is not so much the failure of the Westernization Movement as the failure of the Westernization School. The failure of the Westernization Movement has always been evaluated from the perspective of politics and class struggle. Many people think that the failure of the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 shows that the Westernization Movement could not make China embark on the road of prosperity, and the reformists would lead the history in the future. But if we look at the whole process of China's modernization, the Westernization Movement should be regarded as a link in this process. Seeing the world from the eyes of a few people, to such a Westernization Movement from the central government to the local government, which put the modernization thought learned from the west into action, is a great leap from the emergence of modernization thought to initial action. The Westernization Movement did not make China rich and strong, but after all, a number of modern industries and enterprises were established, a number of modern industrial products were produced and a number of new talents were trained. More importantly, it broadens people's horizons, realizes the necessity of reform more and more deeply, and promotes the development of the whole modernization movement in China. The Westernization School realized the necessity of learning technology. From the perspective of class analysis, this is of course determined by their class attributes. However, from the perspective of cultural history, isn't this process from artifacts to systems to spirits just several stages that we must go through to understand different cultures? From this perspective, the limitations of Westernization can be explained not only by class analysis, but also by the laws of human cognition. Based on the above reasons, I think, from the perspective of people's understanding of culture, the next trend of reform is the development of China people's transition from artificial products of western culture to systems. Due to their historical limitations, the Westernization School could not achieve this development, but this development must be based on the Westernization Movement. What's more, from a human point of view, many of the later reformists themselves were differentiated from the middle and lower classes of the Westernization School. Just because Li Hongzhang and others, as the main force of the Westernization School, failed, we can't think that the whole Westernization School failed. They lost their position in power in the Westernization Movement, but more middle and lower classes of Westernization School continued to run modern enterprises in China, or realized the importance of the learning system and began to shout for reform. Therefore, the Westernization School failed as a political force, but in the whole modernization movement, the Westernization School did not fail, but split, some people tended to be conservative, and some people deepened their understanding; The Westernization Movement did not fail. As an ideological stage of China's social modernization, it did not die out, but developed and continued. Westernization Movement is an important beginning of China's modernization.