The reasons for China’s failure in the Opium War and historical lessons
China’s final failure in the Opium War is obvious. Needless to say. We focus on exploring the reasons and historical lessons.
⒈The reasons for the failure of the Opium War
For a big country like China to be defeated by a small country that was far inferior to itself in terms of land, population, etc., at first glance, it is indeed surprising. Incomprehensible. Let’s just talk about the military conditions of both sides: the British side only had dozens of ships, and the initial investment of four to five thousand troops increased to less than 20,000 at the most. Under the traffic conditions at the time, it would take at least four months to sail from the British mainland to China, and at least one month from India to China, so its backup and supply were very unfavorable. Under such conditions, Britain's invasion of China would have been a piracy-style adventure. Although the Chinese people lag behind the British in terms of weapons and equipment, they have a huge advantage in fighting on their own soil. China had such a large population, let’s just talk about the army at that time. The Qing Dynasty had a standing army of 8.9 million people (about 250,000 flag soldiers and 640,000 green camp soldiers, a total of 890,000 people). They were at the disposal of the Qing court, but China was completely defeated. Among the ruling class at that time People of insight felt deeply that "it is a loss of people's hearts and a harm to the country's body... we cannot but hate you!" (Yao Ying's words) At that time and later generations, many people summed up the lessons, explored the reasons, and put forward some opinions, such as the belief that the British ship Strong artillery is beyond the reach of China, the enemy is helped by traitors, China's "military morale is not solid", etc. Some opinions should have some truth, but they are either one-sided or superficial and do not touch on the fundamentals. The fundamental reasons are:
First, the decay of the Qing Dynasty’s social system and the backwardness of its economy and technology. We have already talked about the decadence of the Qing Dynasty’s social system in detail in “The World and China Before the Opium War” above. This is clearly revealed through the comparison between China and Western capitalist countries. Generally speaking, in terms of social conditions, Western countries are in a period of capitalist development. On the one hand, their social productivity levels are relatively high, their economies and technologies are relatively advanced, and their weapons and equipment are relatively sophisticated; on the other hand, their systems themselves determine It invades and expands outwards and cannot be contained. In this sense, it is a ferocious real tiger. The Qing Dynasty was in the period of decline of the feudal system. The politics were dark, various conflicts intensified, and the confinement of the traditional self-sufficient natural economy resulted in low social productivity, backward science and technology, financial constraints, depleted armaments, and inferior weapons. The feudal rule itself had Falling into a serious crisis, even the wise men of their own class feel that they are facing the "end of the world". Under such circumstances, foreign policy must be greatly restricted.
Second, the ruling group is ignorant and corrupt and adopts capitulationist policies. This is generally speaking. The corruption of the Qing ruling group was fully exposed during the Opium War. For example, living in peace and quiet, being arrogant and extravagant (for example: the epidemic of tobacco and drugs is getting worse, many bureaucrats are still lying in easy chairs, drunk and dreaming, and even people like Yijing who are considered to be commanders, still play in the water on the way to the front line, and enjoy themselves) Zaiyouzai); arrogant and arrogant (knowing nothing about the general trend of the world and little understanding of the enemy's situation, but claiming to be the "Sovereign Kingdom of Heaven". From the beginning, it was said that "it's just a barbarian country, why should I care about it" After being defeated, he still couldn't bear to care about the foreign barbarians and masturbated. This is no different from Ah Q's son beating me. "Spiritual victory method." For example, Yishan defeated the battle but lied about the victory. Emperor Daoguang knew his situation but went along with it and said: "That's right." Barbarians and other dogs and sheep are not worth comparing with them. After being punished and injured, they have shown their military power...and so on"); ignorant and extremely ignorant (such as Yang Fang's "toilet trick" is a typical example); restriction And attack the resistance faction, hostility and sabotage the people's struggle against aggression (typical examples in this regard are numerous: such as Yishan's "defending the people is better than guarding against the invaders", the Qing authorities' restrictions and destruction of the Sanyuanli anti-British resistance, etc.) To sum up, during the Opium War, the Qing government implemented a policy dominated by compromise and surrender. This was not only caused by the corruption of the Qing government, but also a specific manifestation of the corruption of the Qing ruling group. Only then could the British advantage be displayed and brought into play. Why could the British soldiers with the same weapons and equipment fail to win against Lin Zexu and Sanyuanli, but only against Qishan, Yishan, and Yijing? Winning? Doesn’t this explain the problem? So we say that the reason for failure lies in the above two points.
2. The historical lessons of China’s failure in the Opium War
The historical lessons and the above. The reasons for the analysis are closely related. Once the reasons are clear, the historical lessons will also be clear, but the perspective is different. Regarding the historical lessons, we summarize the following points:
First, falling behind will lead to If you want to stand among the nations of the world, you must be strong and strong. During the Opium War, China was backward, with backward weapons, backward technology, and backward economy. The most fundamental thing is that if you want to be strong, you must reform and develop society. productivity and strengthen national defense.
Second, the corrupt Qing government cannot lead the Chinese nation to victory in the struggle against foreign aggression. To achieve final victory in the fight against aggression, the Qing dynasty must be overthrown and seek a new era. Third, the broad masses of the people are the main force in the struggle against aggression. Only by resolutely relying on them can we win the struggle against foreign aggression. .
△Note on Lin Zexu’s circumstances after his punishment: He was dismissed from office in October 1840 due to false accusations by the compromise faction.
Although due to his loyalty to the emperor, he did not resist the wrong actions of the imperial court, he still remembered the war and asked for another opportunity to manage the military affairs. The lofty mind and valuable character of "avoiding others". The following year, he was sent to Zhejiang to assist in coastal defense. But he was immediately ordered to surrender to Yili. He had to prepare for the long garrison journey filled with anxiety and anger. However, in August of this year, the Yellow River burst near Kaifeng. Wang Ding, a great scholar, rushed to Kaifeng to block it and tried his best to keep him in Kaifeng to control the river. For half a year, he rushed around in the wind, sand and snow to plan, so that I became sick from overwork, but the Yellow River Project was finally completed. Wang Ding held a grand banquet, and Lin Zexu was promoted to the first place. At this time, an imperial edict suddenly arrived, saying: The reading will begin on Helong Day. The next day, the decree was issued, saying: "After Lin Zexu joined the dragon, he was still going to Yili." Wang Ding said goodbye to him with tears. Lin wrote in his farewell poem to Wang Ding: "On the westward journey, there is a dream with Danqi, who is looking forward to asking Ke Ke "Although he will be relegated to the west, he will still never forget the anti-invasion war on the southeast coast. Wang Ding repeatedly appealed to the court for justice for Lin Zexu, but failed. Some people even slandered and teased him as a lunatic. He hanged himself with grief and anger, hoping to use his body as a remonstration. After crossing the Wanli Mountains, Lin Zexu arrived in the ice and snow-covered Yili in the winter of 1842. Ili General Buyantai asked him: "How far do you want to be? Do you want to be close?" The answer was: "Lin Jin wants to be far away." He went to the east of the Pamir Plateau and the north of the Kunlun Mountains, especially along the Tarim River, heading north and south. Thousands of miles away, eighteen cities from east to west, traveling back and forth, began to reclaim wasteland and set up water conservancy. In the Turpan area, due to the excessive lack of ground water sources, the local Uyghur people. For a long time, a type of water diversion project called "Karez" has been used to irrigate the fields using underground currents. After Lin Zexu arrived here, he vigorously promoted karez irrigation and built the karez project. It is said that this kind of well was called "Lin Gong Well" from then on. Lin Zexu made important contributions to the development of Xinjiang.
In the autumn of 1845, Emperor Daoguang believed that Lin Zexu had made a contribution to the survey of wasteland and farmland, and ordered him to return to Beijing and appoint him as the fourth and fifth grade. In November, when he traveled to Gansu Province, he was appointed governor of Shaanxi-Gansu Province. At this time, the Tibetan people in Xining, Gansu Province (now part of Qinghai) revolted under the oppression of the Qing Dynasty. Lin Zexu quickly suppressed it. In the spring of 1847, he was appointed governor of Yunnan and Guizhou to suppress the anti-Qing struggle of the Hui-Han people there. In 1849, he asked to retire due to illness and returned to his hometown. He stayed in his hometown for a year. The Taiping Revolution broke out in Guangxi. Emperor Xianfeng was panicked. He thought of Lin Zexu and awarded him the title of Guan Fang, the imperial envoy, and ordered him to go to Guangxi to suppress the Taiping uprising. . When he arrived at Chaozhou Prefecture in Guangdong, he fell seriously ill and died in December 1850. The cause of his death is a mystery. According to records, when he was dying, he repeatedly shouted "Xingdounan". What did he mean? There are different opinions. According to Lin Zexu's descendants, because Lin Zexu offended the Thirteenth Line when he was in Guangdong, they hated Lin Zexu deeply. When they learned that Lin Fu was appointed and annexed to Guangdong, they bribed his cook with a heavy sum of money to poison Lin Zexu. The cook added croton to the rice, which caused Lin to suffer from diarrhea and death. He knew that he was harmed by Shisan Xing. Because Shisan Xing was near Xin Doulan, he shouted "Xin Doulan" in anger, which has the same pronunciation as "Xingdou Nan" in Fujian. The family was aware of it at the time, and because they were suspected of being poisoned and needed an autopsy, they were afraid that the body would not be intact, so they kept silent. The outside world also noticed it, but they did not dare to make any mistakes.
Lin Zexu’s life experience is complicated. In terms of official position, he not only served in the capital, but also served as a feudal official in many provinces and regions. Judging from the attitude of the Qing court towards him, there were times when he was given important rewards and rewards, and there were also times when he was demoted and punished. Judging from his traces, he left his footprints from the southeast coast to the northwest Segguan, from the coast of the Yellow Sea to the foot of the Pamir Plateau. Judging from the major events he handled, they included banning smoking, resisting foreign aggression, famine relief, river management and water conservancy, reclaiming wasteland to develop agriculture in Xinjiang, suppressing the people's anti-Qing struggle, etc. From today's historical materialist perspective, the first few items are beneficial to our nation, social and economic development, and people's livelihood. Therefore, it should be affirmative. The latter is a reactionary move. reflects his class limitations. As a feudal bureaucrat, he loyally maintained feudal rule and was loyal to the monarch, even when he was convicted for his merits and was exiled to Xinjiang. He also wrote a poem like this: "Relegation to a banished home is a sign of the kindness of the king, and it is appropriate to cultivate a weak and strong soldier in the garrison." It was out of his loyalty to the feudal dynasty that he tried his best to suppress the people's struggle against the feudal dynasty. In short, if we weigh him on the scale of history, he has both merits and demerits, and his faults should not be concealed. It should be said that he is worthy of being a great patriot and a national hero. Therefore, history will not erase him and the people will not forget him.