Chapter 10 4. Trendy people see the world

Director Xie Jin made a movie about the Opium War in the 1990s to commemorate the 155th anniversary of the Opium War. At the end of the movie, Lin Zexu was sent to Yili.In fact, the imperial court summoned him back a few years later. Lin Zexu successively served as the chief envoy of Shanxi and the governor of Henan, and finally died on the way to wipe out the Taiping Army.Lin Zexu is considered to be the first person who opened his eyes to see the world. He set up a post office in Guangdong and organized the compilation of "Laws of Various Countries" and "Records of Four Continents". In order to fight against Western warships, Lin Zexu proposed to build a new type of navy.It's a pity that none of these have been put into practice.

When Lin Zexu passed away, Emperor Xianfeng had just succeeded to the throne. Emperor Xianfeng valued him very much. He was extremely saddened by his passing.In the film, when Lin Zexu was exiled into the army, his relatives and friends went to see him off, and he met Qishan who strongly advocated signing a contract with the British.Because Qishan signed a contract with the British army, he didn't end well when he turned around. He was declared a traitor and was exiled into the army.Lin Zexu went up to say hello to Qi Shan. When Qi Shan saw Lin Zexu, he burst into tears and said, "Look at Shaomu, you are a national hero in the army, look at me as a traitor, no matter what I say, I am loyal to the emperor." what.Lin Zexu comforted him, saying that I would never have the chance to see the emperor again (he later became a magistrate, indeed he would never have the chance to see the emperor again), but because you are the clan Jueluo, you still have the chance to see the emperor.If you see the emperor again, as Lin Zexu said, he took out a globe from his car and handed it to Qi Shan, saying that please give this to the emperor, and tell the emperor that there are all heroes in the world today, and that you can no longer do things like the sky. country's dream.So Lin Zexu was the first person in China to open his eyes to see the world.He realized that China was lagging behind in many places at that time.

In 1865, shortly after the Opium War, Macdonald Stephen, the father of Western railways, proposed a grand plan for the development of Chinese railways to the little emperor Tongzhi on the dragon chair under the glazed tiles of the resplendent imperial palace: the commercial center of Central China in the Yangtze River Basin- Taking Hankou as the starting point, a railway was built to lead to Shanghai in the east, to Sichuan, Yunnan and other provinces in the west, and directly to India.In order to prove that what he said was true, Stephen purposely built a one-mile-long small railway in Xuanwumen and tested a train.When the monster blew its whistle, Jinghua shook.But the current emperor, Longyan, was furious. Because the train shook the mountains and rivers, ghosts and gods, which was not conducive to the temple and the country, he was deeply disturbed and confiscated the "monster dragon".Stephen left China disappointed. Before leaving, Stephen sighed that China's train era has not yet arrived.Waking up from the sweet dream of self-slumber is not easy.

Lin Zexu compiled a book and gave it to his friend Wei Yuan. Wei Yuan compiled "Illustrated Records of Haiguo" based on "Records of Four Continents", which was the most detailed monograph on Western history and geography at that time.Wei Yuan wrote this book, because the imperial examination does not take it, basically no one cares about it in China, no one reads it, why no one reads it?If you don’t take the imperial examination, why would you look at it? If you don’t take the history test in the college entrance examination, who will learn it?It is said that it did not sell many copies in ten years, but after being taken to Japan by the Japanese, it was translated into Japanese and sold 6,000 copies a year, which laid the ideological foundation for the Meiji Restoration to a certain extent, so "Illustrations of Sea Country" is famous east neighbor.

The content of "Illustrations of Haiguo" is very complex, which is a bit like an encyclopedia.Covers everything from politics to economics, geography, intelligence, military, and astronomy.Regarding the Opium War, Wei Yuan summed up the experience and lessons of the failure of the Opium War from the three aspects of defense, war, and money, and proposed preventive measures that should be taken after the defeat. ", and put forward his own brand-new views on issues such as strictly prohibiting opium, opening up trade, and setting up factories on a large scale.Part of the book is a map of the world and maps of various countries, which is a breakthrough to the outdated concept of "China is the center of the world".The book also introduces the geographical location, historical evolution, political system, products and mineral deposits, religious beliefs, customs, Chinese and Western calendars, and a comparison table of Chinese and Western chronology of various countries in the world.The manufacturing patterns of weapons such as intelligence, ships, cannons, guns, and mines, Western techniques, information on how to use telescopes, measurement methods and measurement tools with cannons are also covered in this book.The book also systematically introduces modern natural science knowledge such as the shape of the earth, the laws of operation, and Copernicus' theory of the sun center.

By sorting out the materials, Wei Yuan realized that the West is not only not barbaric, but also has a more advanced civilization.In "Pictures of the Sea Country", Wei Yuan very consciously advocated ideas with modern factors, boldly put forward the proposition of "learning from barbarian skills to control barbarians", and clearly defined three aspects of "barbarian skills": "A warship, Two firearms, three methods of raising troops and training soldiers." Wei Yuan also believed that "everything that is beneficial to civilian use" such as the measuring ruler, telescope, dragon tail cart, wind saw, steam turbine, running fire, self-rotating pestle, and thousand gold scales, etc. Should learn to import.

Wei Yuan said: "What are the skills of the barbarians? One is firearms, the other is shipbuilding, and the third is the method of training and raising troops." The foreigner's skills that the landlord class saw at first were only foreigners' skills, and the technology was only military. Technology, basically their understanding of foreigners is still very superficial.So you have to learn the firearms and shipbuilding of foreigners, but you have to know that the ship is not made in a workshop. If you say that I can find an iron frame to make a big cannon, you can’t. He has to be in a factory with big machines. It can be done, you have to understand this, and these claims have to be put into practice.

Yao Ying was a soldier in Taiwan, fought against the British in the Opium War, and wrote the book "Kang Journey". "Kang Journey" conducted a comprehensive inspection of the situation in the southwest, which played a great role in strengthening the southwest frontier defense.Xu Jiyu was the governor of Fujian. Because in "Yinghuan Zhilue", he said that foreign things were good, and he praised foreign systems, so he was impeached and dismissed from office. Xu Jishe praised Washington highly, thinking that he was more powerful than Chen Sheng and Wu Guang in rebellion, and stronger than Cao Cao and Liu Bei in separatism, but he was not the emperor and would not be passed on to his descendants.It is very similar to Yao, Shunyu in our China, Yao, Shunyu made abdication.Washington governs the country, respects humility, is committed to cultivating good traditions, and does not advocate violent conquest, which is completely different from many countries.Xu Jiyu said that she had seen a portrait of Washington, whose demeanor was resolute, majestic, and extraordinary.It cannot but be said that he is a hero among men!The United States of America is a country with a vast territory. It neither entrusts princes nor hereditary power, and public power is handed over to the public. It has created a precedent that has never been seen in ancient and modern times. It is a miracle!Historical figures in the West really have to push Washington as the number one!Xu Jiyu enthusiastically praised Washington, and someone in the court impeached him, saying that our Qing system was not good, and that our sons passed on to our grandchildren, and Xu Jiyu would be miserable. It can be seen that the conservative forces were very strong at that time.That is, these things, have the new ideas changed?Has China's concept of a heavenly empire and its policy of closing the country to the outside world changed?No change, China is a nephew playing lanterns - as usual, nothing has changed.

The earliest work involving institutional innovation was "The New Chapter of Senior Citizens", a book with a capitalist nature. In 1859, it was proposed by Hong Rengan, the so-called dry king of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.He used to be a key member of the God Worshipers, and he went to other places to preach. The court wanted him, so he hid in Hong Kong. Hong Kong was already a British colony at that time. New Chapter". Regarding "The New Chapter of Senior Citizens", the scholar Mr. Pan Xulan once pointed out: This is not the product of Hong Xiuquan's initiative to "seek the truth from the West", but out of the actual need to subdue the generals.List some foreigners' names from the book, saying "be kind to my younger brother" to show off myself, especially to illustrate this point.Hong Xiuquan approved the engraving after reading it, the direct reason is to establish prestige for Hong Rengan, and said that he is good at promoting the wisdom of capable people.There is also a deep reason, the beginning of the memorial and throughout the whole text "return power to one" and "the strong root is weak at the end", that is, it is hoped that the king of heaven will have a high degree of centralization.His method of preventing generals from all over the country from rebelling was very suitable for Hong Xiuquan.Even so, Hong Xiuquan not only expressed his disapproval in several eyebrows, but also only approved the printing and distribution of this memorial "to spread the holy news" to the generals as reference materials.Therefore, senior generals, including Li Xiucheng, dismissed "The New Chapter of Senior Citizens".What is even more noteworthy is that in 1862, Hong Xiuquan re-promulgated the fundamental policy document "Tianmu Farm System", which negated or at least canceled the "New Chapter of Senior Citizens" which was used as a reference material.