No one can solve the problem of Jiaqing
Hong Liangji, a prescient and crisis-minded ***, his appearance undoubtedly brought hope to the Jiaqing Dynasty, however, his tragedy is closely linked to the tragedy of this empire.
Two hundred years ago, the Empire refused his help when it needed it most, which ultimately led to their own woe.
The Jiaqing Dynasty was facing the danger of a prosperous era, with population pressure and financial pressure superimposed, and Hong Liangji pointed out the hidden danger of population expansion, but the Jiaqing Emperor turned a blind eye to this. His inaction cannot be blamed, after all, he is also trying to make a difference.
The problem is that the benign interaction between population and finance is a structural problem that cannot be solved for Jiaqing. Although the land endowment is the majority, when its income reaches its limit, it needs to make a major adjustment to the fiscal revenue structure, which will conflict with the national policy of "emphasizing agriculture and suppressing business".
Around 1800, China's economy was not only at a different stage of development from the European economy, but also had a different structure and very different views ......Technological levels remain stagnant, with population growth tending to offset any increase in production.
In short, production is basically entirely for consumption, trapped in an endless cycle just enough to sustain people's lives, in which case pure savings and investment are completely impossible. ”
Everything seems to be Emperor Jiaqing's fault, and everything is not his fault. As early as 23 years ago, Qianlong was also arrogant and prejudiced, which probably shows that neither the king of the prosperous world nor the king of the declining world dared to make a systemic breakthrough on this issue.
Because behind them, there is something in common at work - culture, or Confucian culture. This culture of self-sufficiency, based on agricultural civilization, has a great effect of closure and spiritual comfort.
It covers the values of the outlook on life of generations of Chinese emperors, and neatly prescribes their actions and psychological paths.
Emperor Jiaqing faced a severe test, he had to deal with the high military spending of Shaanxi, Hubei, and Sichuan provinces, as well as the extremely low proportion of tariffs in the country's fiscal revenue.
However, he chose to take strict precautions, refused to break through the tariff figures, and even restricted the whole country to allow only Guangzhou to trade with foreign countries. He also despised Western technology, which led to the long-term inability to increase the output of agricultural products.
The Jiaqing Dynasty is a conservative dynasty, everything should be changed with the same, deviance is shameful, old and serious is commendable, and the court is full of gray hair.
In the end, the Jiaqing Dynasty only had such a group of ** walking in the court, and together with the Jiaqing Emperor, they constituted a conservative cultural personality, which put the empire in a predicament. In the end, no one can solve the problem of Jiaqing, and the back of the empire is getting farther and farther away, and the decline is finally a foregone conclusion, which is the fate of the Qing Dynasty after 180 years.