Secret: What gift did Li Hongzhang give for Empress Dowager Cixi's birthday?

On Cixi's birthday, Li Hongzhang gave a miniature railway with a length of 1,5 meters. After the completion, Empress Dowager Cixi and the minister got on a small train with six carriages. The train wobbled around the garden in a big circle, which was more stable and faster than riding a carriage and sedan chair. After this personal experience, Cixi's attitude took a 18-degree turn. Five months later, the Qing court finally issued the first official document on the establishment of railways.

On September 7th, 191, Li Hongzhang signed the famous unequal treaty "Xin Chou Treaty" in China's modern history with 11 countries on behalf of the Great Qing Dynasty. It is worth mentioning that in this document, Li Hongzhang signed the word "Li Hongzhang" as the word "Su". These three words are crowded together, which is weak and bitter ...

Li Hongzhang, an important official in the late Qing Dynasty, became the most controversial historical figure in the late Qing Dynasty with his changeable life. This book transmits Li Hongzhang's inner world, writing about his great ambition, shrewdness and cunning, his compromise and iron fist, and his scenery, loneliness and fragility; Write a life legend that is the promoter of an era and the biggest stumbling block of an era. This is not only a biography, but also a symbol to examine the fate of China's traditional culture. Perseverance, urging the railway to be built in China

In the late Qing history, China's machinery manufacturing, modern coal mining, railway, telegraph, ship transportation, textile and other industries, mining, transportation and information enterprises were all related to Li Hongzhang's promotion and support. What he faces is the lack of funds, talents, judgment in front of strange things, all kinds of obstacles and the weakness of the whole knowledge system. Li Hongzhang's railway construction can illustrate the difficulty of the Westernization Movement, as well as Li Hongzhang's painstaking efforts and perseverance.

To some extent, the significance of railway goes far beyond the scope of transportation. It is a sign that human beings have changed their concept of life and a milestone that integrates human imagination, creativity and natural ambition. As early as 1863, Li Hongzhang, who was fighting with the Taiping Army, received a joint letter from the bosses of 27 British and French foreign firms in Shanghai, proposing to build a railway between Shanghai and Suzhou for the first time. Foreigners said that if this railway was built, the Qing army could use it to attack the Taiping Army. Li Hongzhang reported this suggestion to the court, but the court didn't reply at all. However, Li Hongzhang has been persistent. In 1874, when the Qing court organized a famous discussion on coastal defense, Li Hongzhang once again proposed to build a railway. In that famous book, Li Hongzhang once expounded the reasons why the railway should be built. Seeing that the imperial court has been silent, we have to obey the rules of the sun and prepare to build a railway ten miles long in the coal mining area of Tangshan. This short railway has also cost Li Hongzhang a great deal of effort.

on June 9, 1881, this railway with a length of more than ten miles was finally completed. On this day, it was also the British train inventor George? Stephen's centenary birthday. Li Hongzhang specially chose this day to cut the ribbon, which was really well-intentioned. Soon, rumors came, saying that the train shook Dongling and the black smoke from it hurt crops. As a result, the court ordered that locomotives were forbidden to be used, and the wagons used to transport coal were replaced by donkeys and horses again-a strange thing happened on the first railway track in China, where a large group of donkeys were running with heavy carriages.

this delay has passed for several years. In 188, Liu Mingchuan, an old subordinate of Li Hongzhang, became the first governor of Taiwan Province. During his term of office, Liu Mingchuan wrote "Please Build a Railway Discount", demanding that Daxing Railway be built in Taiwan Province and China. Liu Mingchuan's memorial was inspired by Li Hongzhang. In the Qing court, this aroused the Xuan Ran * * *-the government ministers around the country, such as Li Hongzhang, Liu Kunyi and Zuo Zongtang, were mainly in favor of railway construction. The opposition mainly comes from DPRK officials, especially Manchu officials. Under such circumstances, Li Hongzhang came to Beijing and met Cixi. When he met Cixi, Li Hongzhang gave Cixi a "gadget"-building a small railway in the North, Central and South China Seas where Cixi lived, which was fully sponsored by French businessmen. Li Hongzhang is really well-intentioned. Such behavior is actually an enlightenment education for the decision makers of the imperial court on railway transportation. Soon, a 1,5-meter-long miniature railway was completed. Empress Dowager Cixi and the minister got on a small train with six carriages. The train wobbled around the park in a big circle, which was more stable and faster than riding in a carriage and sedan chair. After this personal experience, Cixi's attitude took a 18-degree turn. Five months later, the Qing court finally issued the first official document on the establishment of railways.