On the evaluation of li hongzhang.

Speaking of Li Hongzhang, a powerful minister in the late Qing Dynasty, people always think of such comments as "traitor" and "sinner through the ages". However, when we think calmly and rationally about the embarrassing situation that Li Hongzhang's era building will collapse, we find that Li Hongzhang cannot and cannot bear the tragic consequences of the failure of foreign exchanges in the late Qing Dynasty.

The dilemma between ideal and reality

The conflict between China and the West is a conflict between two independently developed civilization systems. Such a conflict is not only a conflict in the situation, but also a conflict in the internal concepts of literati. Therefore, the dilemma of diplomacy in the late Qing Dynasty is essentially the dilemma of China's traditional culture. Evaluating Li Hongzhang in the world environment of contrast between China and the West is helpful to deeply understand the fate of Li Hongzhang and the late Qing Dynasty. In the historical tragedy of the disintegration of China's traditional diplomatic system, Li Hongzhang was a politician and diplomat who treated the "eternal change" soberly and rationally in the China bureaucratic group in the late Qing Dynasty. He tried to establish new clear principles and adaptation methods for China's foreign relations, but his thoughts were full of contradictions: he realized that the changes of the times required changes in China, but he could not take fundamental changes in the system or even culture; He realized the change of political values from worshipping imperial power to advocating national strength, which proved that he was still a realistic diplomat in essence, but his realism in diplomatic operation and diplomacy in the late Qing Dynasty faced a dilemma: is it to maintain the traditional diplomatic system of the empire? The traditional ideal of China's ritual system or tribute system has to adapt to the reality of the completely opposite international relations system of modern nation-states, which constitutes an irreconcilable contradiction.

In this predicament, we must pay full attention to Li Hongzhang's distinct sense of the times when evaluating his foreign negotiations. Objectively speaking, Li Hongzhang was the most insightful minister in the late Qing Dynasty. Li Hongzhang has a sober view of the current situation and put forward the famous proposition of "eternal unchanging". In his letters and memorials to friends 1865, 1872 and 1874, he repeatedly emphasized that the situation at home and abroad was "unprecedented for thousands of years" and deeply realized that China must open up and compete with the west. Westernization movement just rose.

Li Hongzhang's view of political reform faithfully reflected the characteristics of the times at that time. Without a strong sense of hardship, there would be no proposition of "Millennium change" and no calm thinking about the current situation.

Debate between fortress defense and coastal defense: Li Hongzhang's modern sea power consciousness

1875, there was a dispute between fortress defense and coastal defense in the Qing court. At that time, the Qing court faced a double crisis: Xinjiang in the west was almost completely lost, and Japan in the east was invading Taiwan Province Province. In fact, this also involves two issues, one is the financial budget, and the other is the modernization of national defense thinking. The former question is related to the personal power of Zuo Wenxiang (left) and Li Hongzhang. In addition to patriotism, both of them are somewhat selfish. The left is in charge of the northwest, while Xinjiang is the fortress of the northwest. It is natural to strive to recover Xinjiang. At that time, the national finance could not win two wars at the same time. Zuo Tang Zong later studied in Xinjiang, a considerable part of which was raised by himself. However, Zuo's theory seems to be more inflammatory than Li Hongzhang's, advocating equal emphasis on fortress defense and coastal defense. Whether it is feasible or not, he is better than Li Hongzhang, who advocates coastal defense construction, only from the political struggle. The court dominated by Prince Gong Yi neutralized the dispute between the two men, and Li Hongzhang was appointed Minister of Beiyang. The construction of Beiyang Navy and Nanyang Navy is the beginning of China's national defense modernization: on the one hand, it has changed the traditional strategy of focusing on inland defense; On the other hand, the construction of modern navy became an important opportunity to promote China's modernization (Westernization Movement), which was beyond the power of national defense theory. In addition, Li Hongzhang thought that Japan was China's biggest enemy at that time, which still has warning value for China people today. Of course, if the policy focuses entirely on coastal defense, it may not be able to defeat Japan. After all, Japan, which embarked on the road of a modern country after the Meiji Restoration, has been far from the Qing Dynasty in terms of system, economy, strategy and armament.

Facing the deepening national crisis, the first and urgent task of the Qing Dynasty is how to re-establish an effective national security defense system. After several large-scale foreign wars, where is the focus of the national defense strategy and where should the strategic focus be set? This issue caused a wide debate among many politicians in the Qing Dynasty. The result of this debate initially changed China's national defense strategic pattern which lasted for thousands of years, and had a far-reaching impact on the reconstruction of modern national defense in China. Taking this national defense discussion as an opportunity, China's modern national defense began to realize a strategic shift? Coastal defense has become the focus of national defense. This is the historical value of the dispute between coastal defense and fortress defense.

The views of Zuo and Li Hongzhang were debated in a specific case at that time, but we can't think that they hold completely opposite views on the long-term national defense issue. As important figures of the Westernization School, Zuo and Li share the same view on the issue of military modernization. Zuo's vigorous establishment and support for Fuzhou Shipping Bureau proved his coastal defense consciousness. Moreover, Li Hongzhang is not only engaged in the navy.

Visiting Europe and America: Clear Modern Consciousness

After the signing of treaty of shimonoseki, Li Hongzhang was accused by many people and lost his position as governor of Zhili and minister of Beiyang. 1896 In February, Li Hongzhang visited Russia as the first-class plenipotentiary of an imperial envoy to congratulate Tsar Nicholas II on his coronation and celebrate "United Russia Day". Soon, he made a global visit to Europe and the United States. The signing of the Sino-Russian Secret Treaty convinced Li Hongzhang that "twenty years can do anything, but it actually opened the door for the great powers to open up China. However, for this experience, his fundamental conclusion is: "As for the fundamental plan, especially about strengthening ourselves through reform. "

He arrived in Berlin on June 1896. In order to discuss the strategy of strengthening the country, Li Hongzhang rushed to visit Bismarck who had stepped down near Hamburg. For the visit of "Oriental Bismarck", Bismarck provided the key to building a powerful country: building a strong army. Obviously, this is in line with Li Hongzhang's reform orientation. However, this is not the fundamental way for China to strengthen itself.

1On August 28th, 896, Li Hongzhang arrived in new york. American President Cleveland, who is on vacation by the sea, came to visit Li Hongzhang. The dragon flag of the Qing Empire hangs everywhere in new york Port, which is a roaring salute and an empty lane, and has received "unprecedented courtesy" (new york Times). When answering questions from American journalists, Li Hongzhang also showed an outstanding diplomat's keen sense of national sovereignty and modernity:

He attacked the American Chinese Exclusion Act. It coincides with the passage of the Chinese Exclusion Act "Gail Act" by the US Congress. When Li attacked the bill, "his eyes shone with burning light." He said, "The Chinese Exclusion Act is the most unfair act in the world." "You are proud of your democracy and freedom, but is your Chinese Exclusion Act free for Chinese? This is not freedom! "

He realized the mutual benefit of the international economy. When asked about investment in China, Li Hongzhang believed that investment in China was mutually beneficial, and said that the Qing government welcomed any capital to invest in the establishment of modern industrial enterprises. At the same time, he said: "We should control railway, telecommunications and other affairs by ourselves. We must protect national sovereignty and not allow anyone to endanger our sacred rights. "

He expressed his openness to women's education. An American reporter asked, "Are you in favor of women's education?" At that time, he said: "In our Qing Dynasty, girls hired female teachers to provide education at home, and families with financial ability hired female tutors. At present, we have no public girls' schools or institutions of higher education. This is because our customs and habits are different from yours (including Europe and America). Maybe we should learn from your education system and introduce what suits our national conditions to China. This is really what we need. "

He realized that newspapers or news media should reveal the truth. He said: "The Qing State Office has newspapers. But unfortunately ... the editors of the Qing Dynasty were stingy when telling the truth ... because they couldn't tell the truth honestly, our newspaper lost the lofty value of the news itself and didn't become a way to spread civilization widely. "

This is Li Hongzhang, a man in the contradiction between tradition and modernity, a man in the crevice. Liang Qichao, the master of the Reform Movement of 1898, once commented on Li Hongzhang: "I ... respect and mourn Li's encounter." Li thinks he is just a poseur. In that decadent Qing dynasty from the inside out, it was acceptable for the "paperhanger" to decorate the broken house (Qing dynasty) completely. Occasionally, a small storm can survive, but in a big storm, the broken house is exposed. Can one and a half "paperhanger" make up for it?