A valuable beginning of social change in China in the 20th century - a look at the New Deal in the late Qing Dynasty
The beginning of China in the 20th century was marked by the New Deal in the late Qing Dynasty after the Boxer Rebellion Incident and the Eight-Power Allied Forces. In recent years, more and more historians in mainland China have broken through the shackles of ideology, embarked on the path of studying this major event calmly and objectively from an academic perspective, and written a number of high-level monographs. They respectively confirmed:
“This New Deal is to reform the old feudal system to a large extent and implement a new capitalist system in all aspects of politics, economy, education, military and other aspects... It is a capitalist nature "The pure feudal autocratic system no longer exists. Some democratic politics and related laws are being tried out, and some are being prepared and established. The entire political system is moving towards capitalist modernization."[ii]
The New Deal in the late Qing Dynasty (1901~1911) was a very valuable beginning of social change in China. [iii] The most noteworthy thing is that it provides a typical example of the transformation from Eastern traditional medieval society to modern society. Regardless of its achievements or failures, there is something enough to inspire future generations.
The greatest achievement is economic freedom
I secretly believe that the greatest achievement of the New Deal in the late Qing Dynasty is economic freedom. The self-evident premise of this statement is that there is no freedom in the modern sense in traditional or medieval China.
The Chinese people gained freedom in the economic field. As far as traditional economic fields are concerned, Chinese people can certainly operate agriculture, commerce and handicrafts. But there's an obstacle looming: property ownership restrictions. The "Rules of the Qing Dynasty" inherits the tradition and clearly stipulates: "If the grandparents and parents are still alive, and the descendants have separate household registrations, and the property is divided, they will be punished with a hundred rods. If the parents are dead and the brothers are registered separately, the person who divides the property will be punished with eighty rods." The reason is: "When grandparents and parents are alive, children and grandchildren are not allowed to have private wealth. It is a courtesy. Brothers should still serve their relatives when they are in mourning. If they set up separate household registrations and divide property, it is unfilial, so there is a staff of one hundred or eighty. It is a crime. It is still forbidden to cooperate with others. "[iv] This is a regulation that seriously suppresses business enthusiasm. What is even more serious is that the Qing government set up various obstacles to the development of the new economy. The outstanding manifestation is that when running new industrial and commercial, transportation and financial undertakings, an approval system is implemented, monopoly privileges are often set accordingly, and private capital is not allowed to enter freely.
For example, the dominant commodity in international trade in the 19th century was textiles. It and opium were the main factors in China's foreign trade entering the Supermarket in the 19th century. In order to compete with foreign businessmen for profits, relevant people from both the government and the opposition began to set up textile factories in the 1970s. In 1890, the Shanghai Machine Weaving Factory started production. This was the first cotton textile factory run by the Chinese themselves. From the time Li Hongzhang approved the establishment in 1876, it took 14 years after many twists and turns. In 1880, in order to set up such a factory, Li Hongzhang made a special petition, and with the emperor's approval, he granted the bureau a ten-year patent. "Within ten years, only Chinese businessmen are allowed to invest in the establishment of a factory, and no new bureau is allowed to be established." [v] In 1888, Zhang Zhidong was planning to set up a weaving official bureau in Guangdong, and had to call Li Hongzhang to negotiate: "After reading the "Declaration", the Shanghai Layout Office approved: 'No new bureau is allowed to be established within ten years.' Does it refer specifically to Shanghai? The establishment of official bureaus in Guangdong is different from the commercial bureaus; and the imported cloth is abundant and the consumption is booming, so it is definitely not something that the Shanghai bureau can provide. Guangdong is willing to give it to Guangdong, but it is afraid that it will not be used; it should not invade the Shanghai bureau. We hope to get back to you as soon as possible." [vi] Li Hongzhang's reply was: "It seems that there is no problem in setting up an official bureau in Guangdong. Doesn't stand up to scrutiny. Li Hongzhang and Zhang Zhidong were the two most powerful governors at the time. In the atmosphere of official culture in a society ruled by man, the conflicts were successfully resolved.
But the problem has not been truly solved, and other people running businesses will not be so lucky. Guo Songtao was the Qing Empire's first envoy abroad and a second-rank official. After sadly returning to China and retiring, he said this in a letter to Li Hongzhang: "Everyone in the world knows that ships are convenient. Foolish people like the people in Hunan know their benefits through habit. So ten years ago , the obstacle lies with the gentry; in the past ten years, the obstacle has only been with the officials.
After three petitions... the people are not allowed to buy anything." The third time was organized by Guo Songtao. More than 20,000 yuan of capital had been raised, but the shipping company still couldn't be launched! [viii]
These two examples It is universal. In the final analysis, this is a system problem: there was no economic freedom in traditional China. Therefore, all walks of life faced the obstacle of official approval if they wanted to run the new economy at that time. How was it broken? On July 19, 1895, the Qing government issued an edict: "Overlapping domestic and foreign ministers' work regulations and current affairs... such as building railways, minting coins, making machinery, opening various mines, diverting the southern canal, Reduce the number of troops, create a postal service, train the army, reorganize the navy, and establish schools; raising pay for military training is probably the top priority; and the principle is to support business and workers. This should be done promptly. "[ix] With this imperial edict as a symbol, the Qing government's economic policy changed from suppressing private capital, that is, depriving citizens of their freedom of economic activities, to "supporting industry and commerce," that is, striving to protect and support private capital. There are still many resistances and difficulties. , but generally moving in this direction.