In the eyes of westerners at that time, Li Hongzhang was "the first person in China" and the father of China's reform. Yuan Shikai is the best heir of Li Hongzhang. He "has been responsible for promoting the modernization process of the whole Qing Dynasty", and he is one of the few politicians who can influence the political situation and lead China to modernization after Li Hongzhang. An American journalist who interviewed Yuan Shikai said that Yuan Shikai was the "first person" among the senior officials who tended to reform and progress in the Qing Dynasty. He is "the first person to seriously study the organizational methods, strategies and tactics of foreign troops, and also the first person to vigorously advocate that the army must realize modernization." He is "not the father of the Qing Dynasty Reform, but he can carry it on". He has "all-round quality", "extraordinary intelligence" and "great ambition". He is good at taking advantage of political opportunities and has the ability to push himself to the throne of supreme power. Drawing lessons from the Sino-Japanese War and the Boxer Rebellion, he advocated seeking the support and understanding of western countries for China as much as possible in order to promote the conservative gradual reform.
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In March of the twenty-seventh year of Guangxu, the Qing court set up the presiding organ to implement the "New Deal", supervised the government affairs office, and promulgated a series of New Deal decrees. Due to the lessons of the Reform Movement of 1898, many officials took a passive wait-and-see attitude towards this new policy. Yuan Shikai, then governor of Shandong Province, appeared as a "radical reformer" and immediately submitted 10 New Deal measures to the court that month, including the establishment of an official college and a museum for official training. Ordering students to study practical books and foreign academics; The provinces set up official newspaper bureaus to enlighten the people; Send governors' officials to study abroad; Establish a chamber of commerce, start a business, etc. And first of all, he practiced medicine in Shandong and actively promoted the New Deal. Teachers' halls and school teachers' halls have been set up successively, Shandong University Hall (the predecessor of Shandong University), General Chamber of Commerce and Silver Bureau have been established. After Yuan Shikai served as governor of Zhili, minister of Beiyang and minister of government affairs, he took the lead in advocating various new policies. Critics believe that "almost all the policies created by the Qing court came from their hands."
During this period, Yuan Shikai not only actually controlled the power of employing people, funding, ordnance manufacturing and inspection in national training, but also carried out innovations in politics, economy and education, so as to quickly complete the compilation and training of six towns in Beiyang with the thunderous power of the Qing government.
Political reform revolves around rectifying official management. There are rules and regulations, and the reform is carried out at public expense; Establish an official testing office and an investigation office; "Open up official wisdom" and cultivate talents for the New Deal.
"Bad rules", also known as "rules and rituals", refer to the "established" money and gifts given by subordinates to superiors during the New Year. Officials in the Qing dynasty had to do this because of their low salaries and high office expenses. However, in order to enrich his own pockets, the Chief Executive takes as much as possible; Subordinate members have made contributions to maintaining position and seeking fertilizer. Yuan Shikai believes that the biggest problem for bureaucrats is "nothing more than accepting bad rules". He adopted the old method of breaking away from convention and changing public expenses: according to the official's historical income, he clearly divided the grades and gave public expenses as appropriate, ranging from 1200 yuan to 120 yuan or 520 yuan every month, and he was not allowed to give or accept them privately, otherwise hell to pay would keep officials cheap and stop their greed. In the corrupt environment of the late Qing Dynasty, the effect of this move can be imagined.
Setting up a trial office and an investigation office is a reform measure for Yuan Shikai to test and evaluate new and old officials. Examination subject 5: 1. Experience; 2。 Criticism, such as official letters; 3。 Laws and regulations, such as old and new laws, constitutions of various countries, etc. ; 4。 Character, such as keeping a low profile, smoking opium, etc. ; 5。 Oral ability, such as whether the answer is detailed and coherent. The survey is divided into normal and temporary. Usually, it is mainly to understand official achievements and interview public opinion; The latter investigated and dealt with the important cases of participating in the Senate, the governor's bossing, the mutual evaluation of officials and the gentry's accusation against officials.
The way to cultivate New Deal talents by "opening officials' wisdom" is to set up official classes, which will soon be changed to Zhili Law and Politics School to recruit alternate and candidate officials to study. Enroll 120 students every year (plus Shandong and other five provinces 100 students), which are divided into preparatory classes (half a year) and ordinary classes (one and a half years). The main courses are: Qing statutes, Qing code, negotiation rules, politics, constitution, administrative law, criminal law, civil law, commercial law, international conventions, private international law, criminal procedure law, civil procedure law, court constitution, applied economy, finance, police science, prison science, statistics, Chinese and foreign trade history, Japanese, and the exercise of judicial power. Most of them were taught by Japanese teachers. After graduation, assign the difference between good and bad. Faculty of Law and Politics is attached to the staff school and specializes in teaching and administrative staff. In addition, before taking office, the new state and county officials will go to Japan for a three-month visit, visiting the administrative, judicial, various official families, schools and industries, and then go to new posts. There are also measures such as assigning international students to work in New Deal institutions.
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In addition, after the Boxer Rebellion, the "Xin Chou Treaty" stipulated that China was not allowed to station troops in Tianjin, and Yuan Shikai, a shrewd man, trained 3,000 policemen to station in Tianjin, instead of the army and the chief executive to manage social order and safeguard sovereignty. In the thirty-third year of Guangxu (1907), Tianjin held its first local municipal election under the impetus of Yuan Shikai's local autonomy movement.
Economic reform is mainly to promote industrial development. The guiding ideology of Xing Industry is to tap the potential and profit sources to make a living, increase the wealth of the country and run an industry against foreign goods.
In terms of industry, the General Administration of Arts and Crafts in Zhili was established with the guiding task. The General Administration of Technology has set up junior and senior industrial schools, an exhibition hall for advising people, an educational supplies factory, an internship workshop, an iron factory for advising people, a plantation, an official paper factory, a venue for advising people, and a primary school workshop in Beijing No.1 and No.2 Middle Schools. It has evening classes, equipment lectures, industrial and commercial research institutes and industrial and commercial lectures. The General Administration of Technology persuades and promotes industrial and commercial revitalization in various ways; Send teachers from industrial schools to give lectures in the street, and persuade the Committee members to go around to investigate the production and industry of each state and county; Persuade officials and gentry to jointly set up factories; Call on people from all walks of life to "Qi Xin make concerted efforts to catch up, or set up a workshop with independent investment, or set up a company with Comrade Kuang Zheng", "promote industry and make big profits", plan "all kinds of enlightenment" and handle exhibitions on behalf of others; Pilot industrial sales offices to sell our products and handle consignment business in this province, but not to sell foreign goods on a commission basis; Factory and mine assessment, Guangxu 3 1, in 2002 (1905, 1906), 75 model factories were evaluated, and 38 gold medals and 47 silver prizes were awarded; Send workers and apprentices to Hubei to learn to weave hemp fabrics, to Jingdezhen, Jiangxi to learn to make porcelain, and to Japan to inspect the methods of papermaking and weaving; Request the approval of the Ministry of Agriculture, Industry and Commerce to grant patents to the inventors of soybean oil press, machine wheel mill, folding table and black pancreas. All these make the word "industry" deeply rooted in people's hearts. "People in academia have the idea of industrial education, while people in business circles have the idea of scientific and technological creation." Established enterprises include weaving and dyeing sewing company, pancreas manufacturing company, tooth powder company, glass factory, machine paper making co., ltd, Wan Yi co., ltd (weaving felt, etc. ), Electric Light Co., Ltd., Ji 'an Water Supply Co., Ltd., Beiyang Ye Quan Iron Works, Industrial Technology Factory, Beiyang Tobacco Company, Tangshan Qixin Lime Company (Qixin Lime Company has a capital of 1 10,000 yuan and an annual output of more than 200,000 barrels of cement.
In the mining industry, Luanzhou Coal Mine Co., Ltd. was established with the main purpose of revitalizing commerce and helping Beiyang officers and men use coal. In addition, there are disputes over the recovery of mining rights in Kaiping and Lincheng. When Eight-Nation Alliance invaded, Kaiping Coal Mine Bureau supervised Zhang Yi to seek personal gain, deceived the Qing court, signed a contract with German Cui Lin and British businessman Maureen, and changed the mine into a Sino-foreign joint venture Kaiping Mining Co., Ltd., which was registered in Britain. In fact, Britain fraudulently occupied mining rights. In the 28th year of Guangxu (1902), Yuan Shikai found that the mines, rivers, ports and land fell into the hands of Britain, immediately negotiated with the British envoy to China, and repeatedly reprimanded Zhang Yi and De Cui Lin, and at the same time appealed to the Qing court, demanding that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs make a specific statement to Britain, and never admit the private contracts signed, especially the ports and rivers. The Qing court limited Zhang Yi to take back for two months, but after half a year, Yuan Shikai played several times in Zhang Yi to steal and sell mining rights, and so on. In Lincheng Coal Mine, Niu Hegong initialled an agreement with Shado in Belgium privately, and handed over the mine's industries and houses to Shado for management, which was called joint venture, but it was no different from piracy. In the 31st year of Guangxu (1905), Yuan Shikai declared the original contract invalid, and sent Tang, Liang Dunyan and Sha Duo to re-establish the articles of association of the Sino-foreign joint venture. Finally, it was agreed to borrow 3 million francs (922,000 silver) as a joint venture to recover mineral sovereignty.
In terms of transportation, the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway was built. Jing-Zhang Railway is the first government-run railway in China, which is supervised by Yuan Shikai, raised by himself, designed and built independently. Yuan Shikai appointed Zhan Tianyou as the chief engineer and road manager, and materials such as rails, sleepers, machines and vehicles were exempt from tax. The total length of Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway is170km, passing through Juyongguan and Badaling, with mountainous terrain and huge and arduous project. Foreigners contemptuously assert that the engineer who built such a railway in China has not yet been born. However, in the 31st year of Guangxu (1905), the Beijing-Zhangjia Railway was started and opened to traffic in four years, which inspired the national spirit and was also conducive to resisting aggression and safeguarding China's rights and interests. China people still enthusiastically praised Zhan Tianyou's achievements in building the Jing-Zhang Railway, but they don't remember or understand the decision-making and financing of this railway, including the decision to build it with funds from China and China. A Chinese-American historian said: "The Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway was initiated, proposed and completed by Yuan."
Zeng Guofan and Li Hongzhang.