The Qing Dynasty originated from the Jurchen people in northeastern China and was dominated by foraggeration and nomadism. In 1616, Nurhachi unified the Jurchen people and established the Later Jin regime. In 1635, Huang Taiji ordered the name of the clan to be changed to Manchurian. In 1636, Huang Taiji was proclaimed emperor. Changed the country name to Qing. In 1644, Fulin led the Qing army into Beijing, entered the Central Plains, and officially began to rule China. The ruling group at the beginning of the Qing Dynasty was vigorous and energetic, quelling the rebellion, reunifying Taiwan, consolidating Xinjiang, and gradually strengthening the national strength, which was not inferior to the era of the Han and Tang dynasties, and was known as the prosperous era of Kangqian in history. In the 18th year of Shunzhi in the Qing Dynasty, that is, in 1661, the population was only more than 19 million, and by the 55th year of Qianlong, that is, in 1795, it reached more than 300 million. In 1722, the last year of Kangxi, the treasury silver was only 8 million taels, and in 1735, the last year of Yongzheng, it reached more than 60 million taels.
But from the First Opium War in 1840, the decline of the Qing dynasty was revealed. On February 12, 1912, the Empress Dowager Longyu of the Qing Dynasty issued an edict of abdication, and the Qing Emperor Puyi abdicated, which marked the official withdrawal of the Qing Dynasty that ruled China for 268 years from the stage of history, and also marked the end of the last emperor ** dynasty in Chinese history, which is embarrassing. Looking back on the history of the Qing Dynasty, there are too many lessons and experiences during this period, which have left the world with endless reflections and learnings, which are worthy of deep reflection and learning.
The last emperor of China, Pu Yi (1906-1967).
One of the reasons for the fall was that the Qing Dynasty implemented the national policy of closing the territory to the outside world.
The national policy of closing the country began with the sea ban of the Ming Dynasty, and the Ming Dynasty ** for the safety of coastal defense, only opened Zhangzhou Yue Port as a treaty port, and the export control was stricter. In 1757, during the Qianlong period, the policy of complete seclusion and seclusion of the country was implemented along the coast. Except for Guangzhou, other ports are closed to the outside world**. The reason was that they were afraid that Western foreigners would go north and go deep into the interior to support the anti-Qing sentiment that already existed in the coastal areas, and colluded with the inside and outside to directly threaten the rule of the Qing Dynasty. Emperor Jiaqing's foreign policy was more conservative than Qianlong's. The prosperity of Kang Yongqian of the Qing Dynasty for more than 100 years blinded the rulers, making them reluctant to forge ahead and indulging in the glory of the past. The consequence of the isolation of China is that it is isolated from the rest of the world and ignorant of the changes in the world.
In 1793, the British envoy Magalny visited the Qing Dynasty. Magalny brought the most advanced celestial orbiter, globe, warship model, and howitzer in Europe, with the aim of enhancing contacts with China, developing the first opportunity, and opening up the Chinese market. The Qing Dynasty, on the other hand, regarded the visit of the envoy as a tribute. In the eyes of the Great Qing, the gifts they carefully selected were nothing more than tricks. Qianlong declared, ** is rich in products, and there are no surprises. Categorically refuse to add ** ports and fix tariffs. After investigation and research, Magalny believed that the Qing Dynasty was nothing more than a giant with feet of clay, and as long as he reached it lightly, he could be beaten to the ground. The failure of the British Magalny mission to talk to the Qianlong Emperor deprived China of an opportunity for cultural and economic exchanges with the world. The Qing Dynasty had no idea that it was facing an era of globalization with overseas expansion and colonial expansion, and that Western capitalism urgently needed to find a new and huge market, and China was undoubtedly their best choice. At that time, in 1819, the Englishman Stephenson invented the steam locomotive, and Britain entered the industrial revolution, from an agricultural island country to an industrial power, occupying the European market. Since 1860, Japan has been transitioning from Asia to Europe, and has devoted itself to learning from the West. Western countries have learned about their own national strength and strength through investigation. No matter how big the storm is, it can't stop the Europeans' determination to open up the Chinese market. Whether the Qing dynasty wants it or not, it will be swept up in the turbulent tide of globalization. The two opium wars from 1840 to 1860 forced China to open its door, and the signing of a series of treaties such as the Treaty of Nanjing was undoubtedly a slap in the face for most Chinese, but it was a relief to the Daoguang Emperor and the ** who handled the negotiation affairs, getting rid of the trouble of foreigners asking to go straight to Beijing for negotiations, and secretly rejoicing that it was limited to 5 treaty ports, except that Guangzhou resolutely opposed foreigners entering the city and launched a huge movement, Aside from the painstaking compilation of several books on foreign countries, there is no indication of how much this incident shook the Qing Dynasty's system. Therefore, even though sovereignty has been repeatedly violated, the Qing Dynasty, which has closed itself off from the rest of the country, still shows passivity and numbness to advanced Western technology. The defeat did not prompt the Qing ** not to realize their backwardness. Until the First Sino-Japanese Naval War, the Beiyang Navy was completely annihilated, and the signing of the Treaty of Shimonoseki, which lost power and humiliated the country, completely shattered the Qing Dynasty's dream of becoming a great power. The most far-reaching impact of the First Sino-Japanese War on China was to puncture the image of the paper tiger of the Qing Dynasty. Only then did the Qing Dynasty feel the huge gap and huge impact from the first kingdom to the defeated country. In the Xianfeng period, it was finally recognized that the strength of Britain, the United States, France and Russia was stronger than that of the Qing Dynasty.
Marx once commented on the Qing Dynasty: A large empire with a population of one-third of mankind, regardless of the current situation, content with the status quo, artificially isolated from the world, and trying its best to deceive itself with the illusion of perfection. Such an empire was destined to be crushed in a duel to the death.
First Sino-Japanese Naval Battle**.
The second reason for the fall was the corruption of the Qing Dynasty.
The Qing Dynasty established the Beiyang Navy in 1888 through the Westernization Movement. At that time, China's naval strength was the 8th largest in the world and the largest naval power in East Asia, while Japan's navy was ranked 11th in the world. After the Meiji Restoration, Japan embarked on the road of modernization, and its national strength soared. The essence of its mainland policy is to open up thousands of miles of rivers and waves and invade and expand abroad. To this end, preparations for aggression against China and the DPRK have been intensified. Japan increasingly became a problem for the Qing Dynasty. Under such circumstances, Li Hongzhang, the minister of the Qing Dynasty, repeatedly demanded that the navy's military expenditure be increased and advanced naval guns should be purchased to replace the backward equipment of the Beiyang Navy. But the Empress Dowager Cixi of the Qing Dynasty did not allow it. The Empress Dowager Cixi decided to build the Summer Palace for her own selfishness, in order to celebrate her birthday, which cost a huge amount of money and embezzled naval construction funds, and prohibited the North and South Ocean Navy from purchasing ** and guns within 2 years. In 1889, the wedding ceremony of Emperor Guangxu cost 5.5 million taels, which is equivalent to the purchase of 3 Dingyuan ships, the flagship of the Beiyang Navy. In 1894, the Sino-Japanese War broke out. North Korea fought for two hours in Asan, Pyongyang for 12 hours, and the Yellow Sea for five hours, and the Beiyang Navy was completely defeated and completely wiped out. At this time, the 60th birthday celebration of the Empress Dowager Cixi was being held in Beijing, and the capital was singing and dancing. Cixi announced that on the 3rd, all major military affairs would be put down. While reveling, while defeating. How can such a corrupt Qing Dynasty not die.
In her later years, the Empress Dowager Cixi**.
The third reason for the collapse is ** and the imprisonment of the people's minds.
The Qing Dynasty learned the lesson of the Mongol and Yuan dynasties' rejection of Han culture and its demise, and the Shunzhi Emperor established Confucianism as the basic national policy. Since the Song Dynasty, the neo-Confucianism of Cheng Zhu Lixue, with the "Three Principles and Five Constants" as the core, has consolidated the rule of the feudal dynasty, but it has also made it difficult for the spirit of democracy and science to be produced and spread. During the Yongzheng period, because of the fear of the association of friends, the *** policy was implemented. In the more than 100 years of Kangxi, Yongzheng, and Qianlong, the unjust torture of ** was unprecedented, and there were hundreds of cases. The Qing policy should reach the world, and the scholars dare not have two hearts only for the purpose of using it, so as to realize the society from chaos to order. As a result, scholars were mostly used to protect their own knowledge, lacking contention and exploration, and the Qing Dynasty's ideology and culture became narrow and constricted.
Before the First Opium War, the Qing Dynasty, which regarded itself as a superior country, never took Westerners seriously, and after the war, the Qing Dynasty, which was led by the nose by the West, still could not face up to the fact that the West was stronger than itself, and the Qing court and outside still believed that the Chinese civilization was the best, and the enemy was uneducated. To learn from the West is to defeat the defense of summer. It can be seen that compared with the decline of national power, the superiority of culture seems to make the Qing court talk about it.
After the First Opium War, from 1842 to 1848, Wei Yuan compiled a 60-volume Atlas of the Sea Kingdom, which was a comprehensive book that introduced in detail the science and technology of Western countries and the knowledge of world geography and history. The Qing Dynasty criticized, rejected, and boycotted the book from top to bottom. More ** do not want to learn, do not want to change the inertia that has become history. In addition, most of the conservatives in the Qing Dynasty were well-read Qingliu people, who hated the aggression of the foreign powers, believing that any act of compromise and negotiation would be a loss of power and humiliation of the country, and that any behavior of learning from the West would lead to the transformation of Yiyi into Xia, which would tarnish the Chinese civilization, and this kind of moral purism became an obstacle to social progress. However, when this monumental work was transmitted to Japan, it was unexpectedly warmly received, and it was reprinted in more than 20 editions, which played an important role in the ideological enlightenment of Japan's Meiji Restoration. From the First Opium War, the Second Opium War, and the burning of the Old Summer Palace, the signing of a series of treaties that humiliated the country did not really touch the scholars from the spiritual and cultural levels. In the First Sino-Japanese War, China was defeated by Japan in one fell swoop, and this stimulus really stung the Chinese scholars. Through the humiliation of defeat, the Chinese finally understood the significance of the rule of survival of the fittest in international politics.
The fall of the Qing Dynasty was a historical inevitability. By analyzing the reasons for its failure, we can get the following revelations.
First, China's opening-up to the outside world is never-ending. The Qing Dynasty is a typical example of Chinese history when the country was closed to the outside world, but there were also open dynasties in China. The rule of Zhenguan and the prosperity of the Kaiyuan Dynasty were inseparable from its policy of opening up. The Tang Dynasty received more than 30,000 students and diplomatic envoys from more than 70 countries, making Chang'an an an international metropolis that people from all over the world yearn for. The economic development of the People's Republic of China over the past 40 years of reform and opening up has been achieved under the conditions of openness, and the high-quality development of China's economy in the future must also be achieved under more open conditions. China has persisted in opening up the country to engage in construction, and has achieved a great historical turning point from being closed and semi-closed to opening up in all directions. Openness has become a hallmark of contemporary China. Practice has fully proved that openness brings progress, while closure inevitably lags behind. The more economic and cultural exchanges with foreign countries are opened to the outside world, the richer and stronger the country will be. Therefore, our door to the outside world should be opened wider and wider and will never end.
Second, China's fight against corruption is always on the way.
The fall of the Qing dynasty proved that corruption was the most likely problem to lead to the collapse of the regime. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, we have taken a multi-pronged approach to "fight tigers," "swatting flies," and "hunting foxes" to resolutely eliminate corruption, the greatest danger, and resolutely win the struggle against corruption, which we cannot afford to lose. The fight against corruption is only in progress, not in completion. Anti-corruption is always on the way.
Economic globalization is an irreversible historical trend. Those who go along with it prosper, and those who go against it die. With copper as a mirror, you can be dressed; With history as a mirror, we can know the rise and fall. We should draw profound lessons from the fall of the Qing Dynasty, bravely face the tide of globalization, persist in reform and opening up, persist in fighting corruption and advocating clean government, and continue to accumulate strength and make new contributions to the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.