Historical illusion: Kangxi was the most successful emperor in Qing Dynasty?

Introduction: Our China people's understanding of the historical relationship between China and the world has usually fallen into two related "historical illusions" since the Kangxi era. Emperor Kangxi

One of the misunderstandings is that Kangxi was the most successful feudal emperor in the Qing Dynasty. If China's gate is locked, which is true, Kangxi can do a lot; But if you put Kangxi in the world at that time, it is another matter. To evaluate a historical figure who decides and influences the fate of a country, we can't leave aside the frame of reference of the world development trend of his time. Kangxi reigned for 60 years (A.D. 1662- 1722), at the turn of 17 and 18 centuries. In the meantime, the outside world is wonderful. As far away as Europe, the bourgeois revolution in Britain gave birth to the industrial revolution. For this historic change that is taking place in the western world, we can give an example to be more sensitive and slow. In May of the 42nd year of Kangxi (AD 1703), Tsar Peter I, who was contemporary with Kangxi, was building a hut on the desert beach in the north. He wants to stay in this hut and personally direct a large number of laborers to build "ports" on the delta of Neva estuary, so as to introduce a large number of advanced achievements made by western European powers since the industrial revolution. When Peter I ascended the throne, Russia was still in the stage of feudal serfdom, and the feudal system of China in the Qing Dynasty was "advanced" than Russia. But Peter I was shocked by the industrial revolution in Europe and inspired his strong changes and powerful ideas. To this end, he rebelled against the arrogant tradition that the czars of past dynasties thought that visiting other countries was "condescending", remained anonymous, disguised as a civilian to visit the western European powers such as the Netherlands and Britain, and sent a large number of aristocratic children to study in the western European powers, and so on. It is not difficult to understand why Russia became one of the western powers that invaded China continuously in the late Qing Dynasty.

In contrast, Kangxi's response to industrial revolution in europe was somewhat slow. Although China was far away from Europe, industrial revolution in europe's message was introduced to China by a group of western missionaries such as Matteo Ricci and Tang Ruowang as early as the end of the Ming Dynasty. After Kangxi ascended the throne, he seemed very interested in western scientific knowledge. He devoted himself to his research, but he didn't turn his personal behavior into national behavior. This shows that the information brought by western missionaries to industrial revolution in europe in China did not activate Kangxi's reform thought, which is a great pity.

The second illusion is that China is still in the leading position in the world when it is "prosperous". There are many people who hold this view. In fact, this is the "sense of superiority" of China people who grew up in the long-term closed-door environment. It broke away from the development trend of the world at that time and looked at China, but it didn't see the essence clearly. Kangxi didn't turn his personal behavior of learning western scientific knowledge into a national behavior, which was directly related to this conservative and arrogant "superiority". It is this conservative and arrogant sense of superiority that makes China suffer from the western powers and the Japanese invaders from the East. The modern history of the world spans from 1640 to 1900. The modern history of China spans from 1840 to 19 19, which is 200 years behind the modern history of the world. The Qing soldiers entered the customs in AD 1644. In other words, the oriental "Dragon Boat" in Qing Dynasty sailed in the fog of history from the first day of sailing. I don't know what historic changes are taking place in the distant west, let alone what this historic change in the west will mean to China. As a result, British steel gunboats crossed the ocean and sank China, the oriental "dragon boat" of the Qing Dynasty.

Once the 200-year "lag" between the modern history of China and the modern history of the world is left behind, it will be difficult for China to catch up with it in twice the time. China has made rapid progress in reform and opening up in recent decades, but it is still in the process of "catching up". Just saying that we are about to become the "boss" or "second child" will form a new "historical illusion".

During Kangxi's reign, he did make great efforts to stabilize the Qing Dynasty. Yongzheng was a transitional period, and was in office for 13 years. Ganlong reigned for another 60 years. The three dynasties of Kang, Yong and Gan were indeed the "heyday" of the Qing Dynasty. China people talk about "prosperous times", which was China's "drunken moment", and he was intoxicated with a "peaceful and prosperous time". The luxury of Qianlong surpassed that of Yang Di. He lives in the palace every day and is bored with antique calligraphy and painting. He went to the south of the Yangtze River on Saturday, making a tour and lingering. Every time he travels south, he travels on land, and there are dragon boats in the water, stretching for hundreds of miles. Along the way, the officials tried their best to give their treasures and welcome them. Along the way, people dug rivers, built roads, contributed, sweated, paid money and got whipped. "To find the emperor Qianlong, one year is always busier than two years; The official is as fierce as a tiger, and it is also missing three times a year. " Emperor Qianlong was overjoyed, and the people in Jiangnan complained. It is not surprising that the biggest corrupt officials and officials in the Qing Dynasty were all around Qianlong. The ruler was paralyzed by the sense of superiority of self-satisfaction. They can't hear the surging waves of the torrent of the times rolling forward day and night, the sufferings of the people, the demands of the bottom people, hate corrupt officials, and can't consciously take the reform of eliminating all evils as a normal strategy for governing the country. So they began to accumulate social contradictions, even difficulties, and went to collapse.

The time when the Opium War broke out from Kangxi's accession to the throne to Daoguang was 178. Saying short is not short, saying long is not long, which is equivalent to the three "terms" of Kangxi. Kangxi, of course, didn't know that the late Qing Dynasty was constantly invaded by western powers and Japanese militarism in the East. He didn't know that the Qing Dynasty was defeated again and again, and it was out of control. He didn't know that the Qing Dynasty * * made a series of reparations and humiliated the country. But the cause of the incident was the foreshadowing that had been laid in the Kangxi era.

During the Daoguang period, the Opium War broke out and China was knocked down by the British invaders. No "referee" stood next to the "boxing ring" for a few seconds, waiting for the Qing Dynasty to stand up and fight, or publicly announced that "no more fighting". As a result, a set of "combination boxing" between western powers and Japanese invaders in the East followed one after another: the Second Opium War, the Sino-French War, the Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, Eight-Nation Alliance's invasion of China, Russia's invasion of Northeast China, and Britain's invasion of * * * ... until the sunset in the Qing Dynasty, it was trampled underfoot. In the late Qing Dynasty, Empress Dowager Cixi was forced to promulgate the so-called "New Deal" in the name of Emperor Guangxu. But at this moment, the hurricane has begun, Shan Yu has arrived, and the dangerous building is shaking and shaking. This is only a matter of a few days. Alas, it's too late!

Sun Yat-sen launched the Revolution of 1911 to overthrow the corrupt and incompetent Qing Dynasty, which is the inevitable result of the logic of historical development.