When our descendants look for the reasons for the demise of the Qing Dynasty, they usually focus on the dynasty’s blind arrogance, isolation, etc. Undoubtedly, this is an extremely correct statement. The problem is that arrogance and seclusion also require qualifications. It’s not that whoever wants to be arrogant can be arrogant, and whoever wants to seize the country can do so. For example, Yelang Kingdom is arrogant and has been ridiculed by others to this day. The pride and arrogance of the Qing Dynasty are well-founded.
During the Zhou Dynasty, the Manchus used "stone crossbows with multiple arrows" to pay tribute to the Central Plains Dynasty. They were not arrogant at that time, and they did not have the so-called arrogance for a long time after taking over the Central Plains. The feeling of arrogance arose when the Qing Dynasty completely consolidated its power, especially after the so-called "prosperous age" appeared. This complacency has been repeated countless times in our history, and it was not unique to the Qing Dynasty. Fu Jian of the former Qin Dynasty conquered cities and territories, made numerous achievements, and unified the north. Since then, he has been quite proud and complacent. Of course, his ending was not good. Not only was he ruined and died an unexpected death, but he also destroyed the great power of the former Qin Dynasty.
The boundaries between self-confidence, complacency, pride, and arrogance are not particularly clear. Sometimes they can be transformed into each other, and their corresponding different tones are infiltrated with the colors of different social backgrounds. The Manchus, a minority with far fewer soldiers, social population, and territory than the Ming Dynasty, and whose political, economic, and cultural development were far from developed, defeated the arrogant Han rulers, established a dynasty, and did it steadily. There was also the emergence of " "In prosperous times", it is normal to be arrogant. Through the compass, we may be able to guess Kangxi's true feelings towards southern China. Kangxi believed that the reason why people call directional instruments such as compasses "compasses" instead of "north needles" is that "in the north, all activities are withering and declining"; "Strength, energy and prosperity are all there." South” (Perefit: “The Stagnant Empire”). These words show that Kangxi was very conceited about his dynasty.
"Historical Report on the Prosperity of Kangxi and Qianlong" contains several materials that can help us understand why the rulers of the Qing Dynasty were so arrogant that they despised everything. Until the end of the 18th century, when Qianlong died, China's share of the world's total manufacturing output was still 5 percentage points higher than that of Europe as a whole, about 8 times that of the United Kingdom, 6 times that of Russia, and 9 times that of Japan. At that time, the United States had just been founded and there was no basis for comparison. China's GDP accounts for nearly 1/3 of the world's total. This is quite impressive. Today, the United States considers itself the leader. Its share of world GDP is only 30%. German Gund Frank said that until the 19th century, "China, as a central country, was not only the center of East Asia's tribute trade system, but also occupied a dominant position, if not the center, in the entire world economy." This achievement is Arrogant enough to inspire your own heart.
Few people who have some achievements and lack a sense of worry are sober. Even if you are calm on the surface, you will inevitably have passions surging in your chest, becoming arrogant and complacent, and making others look stupid. The same is true for countries, not just the Qing Dynasty. The Ming Dynasty not only dissatisfied that China was not located in the center of the world in the "Comprehensive Map of Yu Di" drawn by Matteo Ricci, but also felt that China was drawn too small; the "Comprehensive Examination of Documents of the Qing Dynasty" compiled during the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty believed that "the central land is located in the middle of the earth, and the Yinghai Sea is surrounded by ring". One ruler is a Han nationality, and the other is a minority. They have different bloodlines, but their spirits are surprisingly the same. In their bones, they cannot shake off the arrogance brought about by every drop of prosperity. This was not the case only for the Chinese. After the British won the Seven Years' War from 1756 to 1763, they regarded the borderless maritime world as something they wanted to conquer. Goldsmith once used this verse to praise his compatriots:
With unruly eyes and haughty manners,
The rulers of mankind passed before my eyes.
In other words, the British are equally proud. ─But they are not closed-minded, always paying attention to the outside world, and always looking for opportunities to expand new spaces.
As far as the Qing Dynasty was concerned, it was extremely easy to go from prosperity to seclusion. To put it bluntly, the prosperity at that time was based on the natural economy of small farmers and they lived behind closed doors. The main source of Qing Dynasty's fiscal revenue was land tax rather than industrial and commercial taxes. For example, before the Opium War, the total annual income of the Qing Dynasty was 48.5 million P, of which land tax was 30 million P, accounting for 63% of the total income; tariffs were 4.5 million P, accounting for only 9% of the total income. Insignificant position in fiscal revenue. Therefore, the Qing Dynasty believed that "the heaven is rich in products and has everything." Macartney said in his diary "Record of the British Envoy's Visit to Qianlong" that the Chinese people's "all ideas and concepts cannot go outside the scope of their own country... Their books rarely mention regions outside Asia." In fact, this is It is an idea forged by small-scale peasant economy.
People often say: China is a big country with a long history and splendid culture. Its industry, agriculture and culture were at the forefront of the world. The feudal rulers developed the arrogance and pride of claiming to be the "Celestial Dynasty". Coupled with the natural economic factors of small farmers, they are bound to be ignorant of external things. However, the feudal natural economy did not start from the Qing Dynasty. Why could China have frequent exchanges with foreign countries in the past, but the Qing Dynasty could not? This cannot but mention the rulers' perverted understanding of prosperity and isolation. It is this abnormality that allows prosperity to develop in a haphazard manner without the supervision of a sense of urgency.
"Prosperity", without the reminder of a sense of urgency, can easily lead to a closed country.
With common people's hearts, we can speculate on the intentions of the rulers at that time. "Retreating" was not to lose prosperity, but to maintain prosperity and long-term peace and stability. Generally speaking, poverty can lead to seclusion, because after cutting off contact with the outside world, people will close their eyes and listen, "I don't know how others are", and they don't know what other people's lives are like, and they may even think that others are worse off than themselves. People will think that "there are still two-thirds of suffering people in the world" - so people keep to themselves and add their hands to their foreheads; prosperity and wealth can also go hand in hand with seclusion, covering everything with a golden bell, and there is nothing that can be done to shake it from the outside. Currently, Everything can be kept. "Prosperity" without a correct sense of worry can lead to arrogance, arrogance can lead to seclusion, seclusion can lead to ignorance, and ignorance can further lead to seclusion. In the end, just like a chicken laying eggs and laying eggs, they were mixed together and became a confusing account, which was unclear.
However, the rulers of the Qing Dynasty also had a sense of worry. They closed themselves off to the country out of defense of their own ruling power and defense against colonial forces. However, this sense of worry is naive, damaged, and pathological. The kind of self-defense they use can only isolate themselves and isolate the Chinese nation from the general trend of the world. It will make us understand the world at all and mistakenly believe that only we are advancing and developing, and we do not know that others are also developing and falling behind. Without knowing it, I was shocked when someone else knocked on my door.
Qing Dynasty