In Chinese history, there were many heroic generals, such as Huo Qubing and Yue Fei, and in Europe, Napoleon was a god of war who founded the First French Empire. Although Napoleon is no stranger to Chinese, not only because of the description of him in history books, but also because of a saying that has been praised to this day: "China is a sleeping lion". However, this sentence did not come from the mouth of Napoleon, but was invented by two Chinese.
China was in the late Qing Dynasty and its national power was weakening, did Napoleon say such things at the time? In fact, various studies show that Napoleon did not say anything about it. Nevertheless, this phrase was widely circulated in China's most vulnerable moments, as if Napoleon's words could revitalize China's national power. However, as China grows in power, this thinking is nothing more than self-deception.
So, who created this sentence? One of them is Liang Qichao, a Chinese legend who created the image of the "lion". He first mentioned this image in an article in 1899, when he was in Japan, and he felt that China was very different from the Japan he saw, and he often dreamed of saving his motherland. In the dream, he heard someone talking about a sleeping lion in a museum in London, which inspired him to think about his homeland. Liang Qichao compares China to a sleeping lion, implying the need to awaken and save itself.
Unlike previous images of China, which were symbolized by dragons, intellectuals at the time saw dragons as religious and representative of imperial power, contrary to the nationalism they admired. As a result, the "lion" image quickly replaced the dragon as a symbol of the new era in China. Patriots and intellectuals began to spread the image of "lion awakening" abroad, making it a representative of China.
Zeng Jize is another character who created the image of the "sleeping lion". Although he is not well known, he is an important figure in the history of Chinese diplomacy and the first Chinese to publish English ** abroad. In 1887, he published "The Theory of China Sleeping First and Waking Later" in English, comparing China to a sleeping man who needs to wake up and save himself.
In short, Napoleon did not say that "China is a sleeping lion", the creators of this sentence are Liang Qichao and Zeng Jize, two Chinese, who hope to awaken the national consciousness of the Chinese, promote the awakening of the country, and realize the rejuvenation of the country.
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