However, what really discredited Li Hongzhang was the defeat of the Sino-Japanese War. At that time, Zhang Yingting was tricked and the people of China were reviled. "If you make full use of your plan on the same day, you will know that the effect will not stop there; If you can't even show up at the evening festival, what about the scholar's theory? " This is the elegiac couplet made by Yan Fu, a famous thinker in modern times and a former subordinate of Li Hongzhang, after Li's death. The critical significance it expresses is mainly the emotion born from it. Today, we re-examine Li Hongzhang, so we might as well judge Li Hongzhang in the background at that time with a fair and just eye. Here, we are particularly willing to quote the new theory of Yuan Weishi, a famous modern historical theorist. In his book Thoughts and Figures in the Great Changes in the Late Qing Dynasty, Mr. Yuan discussed the right and wrong of Li Hongzhang in two chapters, and made a historical orientation for Li Hongzhang from the following three aspects ―― First, Li Hongzhang was a scholar among the common people.
On the whole, the ruling class in the late Qing Dynasty was a mediocre group from the supreme ruler to the officials of all sizes. They are the product of the declining traditional culture in China, and they are also active under the restriction of the decadent patent system. According to the level of human culture reached in the second half of19th century, these rulers are all shallow people with low knowledge and short knowledge. However, in the fierce social shock, some outstanding figures are also divided. Li Hongzhang is one of them.
Both Zhang Zhidong and Liang Qichao think that Li's knowledge is beyond his peers, which is reasonable. But this does not mean that he is superior to officials of all sizes in all aspects. Accurately speaking, he was one of the few outstanding Qing officials before the Sino-Japanese War.
He realized earlier that China was facing unprecedented changes and had reached the point where it had to be changed. In 1865, he pointed out: "It's a pity that a scholar talks about the wrong country! With foreign countries rampant here, how can China stand on its own feet without being rich and strong? With the passage of time, the situation has changed. I don't know this, and I don't know when C Jun came to power. You are willing to regard it as a god! " It is precisely because of this sense of unwilling to subjugate the country that he took it as his responsibility to carry out the "new policy of self-improvement", that is, the Westernization Movement. After careful study, some of his understandings were quite brilliant.
First of all, he was one of the first ministers to realize the irreversibility of opening up. During the 60 years from the beginning of the Opium War to 1900, the ruling and opposition parties have been arguing fiercely about how to treat the two teachers with the invaders and foreign powers. Die-hard old-timers should abide by the traditional creed of "looking good at the edge of the sky" and hold an exclusive attitude towards foreign things, which not only hinders the development of the country, but also often adopts some inappropriate measures to intensify the contradiction with western powers and cause some avoidable disasters. Of course, the western invaders also have their own guilt for the occurrence of these disasters, which is another issue to discuss. The focus here is on China. There is no denying the fact that the old school provided an opportunity for the invaders. Li Hongzhang's attitude is completely different. He urged that relations with foreign countries should be handled with an open attitude, and new ideas and measures should be adopted to adapt to "unprecedented changes in thousands of years".
Secondly, Li Hongzhang's genius lies in that he regards "self-improvement by law" as the key to saving the country. At that time, many ministers shouted "anti-foreign" and opposed learning from the West, which ran counter to the correct way of saving the country. Although some ministers also advocate learning from the west, their vision is very narrow. Li Hongzhang's westernization thought matured in 1970s. His thought also had many weaknesses, some of which were major weaknesses, but they were outstanding at that time.
He regards learning from the west as the urgent task of saving the country, and his patriotism is beyond words. He consciously inherited and developed Lin Zexu and Wei Yuan's thought of learning from foreigners, and took "external and internal reform" as the fundamental guiding ideology of Westernization self-improvement movement. The purpose of harmony is to create an international environment conducive to reform and construction, and the fundamental starting point is for reform and survival. He said earnestly: "Since the Qin Reform and its demise, everyone in the world has followed the principle of abiding by the law. After Shang Yang and Wang Anshi's political reform, they were completely eliminated, and the ministers of the world took pleasure in obeying the law. Today, all countries are changing and prospering, but China is afraid of abiding by the law, that is, the country is ruined and there is no regret! Oh, my God. Really? People? Evil knows its reason? "
As the undisputed leader of the Westernization Movement, Li Hongzhang realized that his activities were the continuation of Shang Yang and Wang Anshi's political reform. He took the traditional thought of "poverty means change, and change means communication" as the theoretical basis of the reform, and rectifying the army, buying and imitating ships, guns and foreign guns became the important contents of the reform.
At that time, the enemy was around, and it was an important thing for anyone in charge of state power to rectify the army and military affairs. Li Hongzhang's genius lies in that he put forward three fundamental events around national defense construction: one is to cultivate brand-new talents; The second is to develop industry and commerce in an all-round way; The third is to ask the court to save extra expenses. History has proved that the sluggish development of modern China and the failure of modern undertakings are closely related to the failure to implement these ideas. From the whole society, Li Hongzhang may not be the initiator of these thoughts, but it is rare for ministers to put forward these thoughts comprehensively. Second, the main pioneer of modernization in the late Qing Dynasty. A little investigation reveals that China has machinery manufacturing, modern coal mining, railways, telegrams, shipping, textiles and other industries, as well as mining, transportation and information enterprises, all of which are related to Li Hongzhang's promotion and support. It has also made indelible contributions in running new schools and sending international students abroad. There is no denying the fact that people have listed the disadvantages of these official enterprises or undertakings. However, we can't deny that the introduction of western machines and science and technology into China was a blow to ignorance and sowed the seeds to promote social development. Wherever China Merchants ships go, the commodity economy always develops in different scales. Didn't hundreds of western books translated and published by Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau give birth to influential figures such as Kang Youwei, Liang Qichao and Tan Sitong? Without the Westernization Movement, how could Lu Xun go to school in Nanjing? We should faithfully record the achievements and mistakes of those who have devoted themselves to defending China's independence and getting rid of the backwardness in the Middle Ages since the 9th century. Li Hongzhang should be no exception. Third, the cohesion center of a generation of advanced intellectuals.
After the Opium War, under the impact of Chinese and Western cultures, a number of new intellectuals gradually emerged. They first gathered around Zeng Guofan and then moved closer to Li Hongzhang. Before the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, these men of insight who knew more about the West and mastered modern scientific and cultural knowledge to varying degrees were generally centered on Li Hongzhang. They provided a lot of information and put forward many useful suggestions. The reason why Li Hongzhang is superior in knowledge is that he has learned a lot of fresh knowledge.
On the eve of the Sino-Japanese War, Sun Yat-sen's first thought was to write a letter to Li Hongzhang. Of course, it has something to do with Li being an important power center, but more importantly, Li's thoughts are more open and open, and he is the main promoter of various westernization undertakings, thus attracting young people with new knowledge. Before the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, not only Yan Fu, Ma Jianzhong and other technical intellectuals who returned from studying abroad mostly worked under the direct leadership or influence of Li Hongzhang, but also Guo Songtao, Wang Tao, Zheng and others were fiercely critical of his learning from the West, and they were also friends or important officials of Li Hongzhang.
In any society, knowledge can only be transformed into policies or activities through certain channels. Whether this transformation mechanism is sound or not has a great influence on social development. In the more than 20 years before the Sino-Japanese War, he played a role in transforming the hub to a great extent. Due to many factors, this role has not been well completed. But this situation strongly proves that these advanced intellectuals are still attached to the Qing dynasty; Different from the situation before and after the Reform Movement of 1898, they did not develop into an independent political force. It is in this big pattern that Li Hongzhang plays his role.