☆ Evaluation of the Qing government's closed-door policy

"Closed-door policy" is a summary of a series of foreign policies implemented by the Qing government before the Opium War. Its contents mainly include: restricting the business activities, residence period, place, scope of action and exchanges between Chinese and foreigners; Establish a public bank system and restrict foreign trade. The reasons for implementing this policy in the early Qing Dynasty are as follows: First, the feudal natural economy was relatively stable and self-sufficient and did not need foreign goods; Second, the Qing rulers were afraid that foreign businessmen would contact with the coastal people and threaten their rule. As a passive defensive measure, the closed-door policy had a certain self-defense function against the aggression of western colonialism in a certain period of time, but it was a backward policy after all. Closing the door can not weaken the power of western capitalism, but only hinder its own development, make itself stagnant and isolated from the world, which is not conducive to the normal exchanges between the Chinese nation and all ethnic groups in the world; It is not conducive to China people's understanding of the world, going to the world and learning the excellent ideas and advanced science, culture and technology of all nationalities in the world to learn from each other.

traditionally, the closed-door policy played a role in national self-defense, but at the same time it showed the backwardness of feudal rule. The other view is basically negative, thinking that it only hinders the development of capitalism and the development and introduction of science, technology and culture in China. There is also a view that the closed-door policy has both positive and critical aspects. Generally speaking, the negativity of the closed-door policy has been generally recognized by historians, and what is disputed is the degree of this negativity.

☆ Reasons for China's defeat in the Opium War

The reasons for China's defeat should be analyzed from both China and Britain: ① Britain is a powerful capitalist country, which established bourgeois rule earlier, and capitalism has made great progress. After the completion of the industrial revolution, its strength was further enhanced, and it became a colonial power through colonial expansion. In order to meet the needs of colonial expansion, a powerful modern navy was established, and it has been fully prepared for China's aggression for a long time. (2) China was at the end of feudal society, with political corruption, backward economy, backward military technology and equipment. In addition, the Qing ruling group, which held the leadership of the war, was uncertain and its military command was improper, so it could not compete with Britain. In the highly competitive international arena in the 19th century, backwardness will be beaten, and decadent feudalism cannot fight against emerging capitalism.

☆ About the China Revolution in Modern Times

The change of China's social nature has influenced the change of the main social contradictions, which further determines that the task of China's revolution is to fight against aggression and feudalism. Both anti-aggression and anti-feudalism strive for freedom, equality, democracy and human rights. In the process of human historical development, the realization of this goal is generally accomplished by the bourgeoisie, so the modern anti-feudal and anti-aggression revolution is also called bourgeois democratic revolution. Due to the lag of capitalism and bourgeoisie in China and the influence of October Revolution in Russia, in the early 2th century, the proletariat intervened in the democratic revolution, and under the guidance of Marxism, the democratic revolution in China has undergone important changes, with the distinction between the old and the new. Its boundary was in the May 4th Movement in 1919.

☆ The difference between Russia and Britain, France and the United States

Russia acted alone and colluded with Britain, France and the United States in the process of invading China, but its purpose of aggression was different from that of Britain, France and the United States. Britain, France and the United States are trying to open the door to China and expand the market, while Russia is trying to embezzle China's territory. Before and after the Second Opium War, Russia plundered more than 1.5 million square kilometers of the northeastern and northwestern territories of China. The reason for this difference is the different degree of development of capitalism. The aggression of Britain, France and the United States is the result of the industrial revolution. Russia's industrial development level is low, and its demand for the market is not strong. Its interest in aggression still stays in territorial expansion.

☆ About "Tian Chao Tian Mu System"

(1) Main contents: advocating equal distribution of land in the means of production; Advocate the absolute average sacred library system in the distribution system; In social relations, everyone is equal, and the ultimate goal is to establish an ideal society that is "everywhere uneven and no one is hungry".

(2) Origin: First, social origin: After the Opium War, the people suffered from double oppression, and the land was highly concentrated for a long time in the Qing Dynasty, and the broad masses of people had no land, little land and a heavy burden; Second, the historical origin: "equal wealth and equal dignity" has always been the goal of peasant uprisings in past dynasties, and the slogan of "equal land and free grain" in the Ming Dynasty began to touch the fundamental problem of feudal society; Third, the root of class: the peasant class does not represent advanced productive forces, and its program can only reflect its urgent realistic desire to pursue a natural economy based on equality, equality and small private ownership.

(3) Evaluation and understanding (characteristics): First, it is strongly revolutionary: first, it inherits and develops the struggle thoughts of farmers in past dynasties, explicitly advocates the abolition of feudal land ownership, and forms a systematic revolutionary program, which has become the peak of peasant war for thousands of years; Secondly, it impacted the feudal ethics and discipline from all aspects (the content of the program is various). Second, fantasy: first of all, the equal distribution of land could not be realized in the society at that time, but it was only an urgent desire of small producers. In 1854, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom stipulated that "grain should be paid and taxes should be paid as usual", which in fact admitted that the landlord's land was private; Secondly, the absolute average distribution of the sacred library system violates the class nature of small producers, which can not be realized or mobilized. After the capital was Tianjing, the upper echelons of the rebel army moved from theoretical asceticism to practical sensualism. Thirdly, the equality of all people in social relations has also become a bubble with the gradual feudalization of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom regime and the establishment of the hierarchical system. Third, backwardness: this program takes the natural economy of small farmers as an idealized goal, but actually does not go beyond the economic category of feudalism. It advocates the abolition of commodity economy by small private ownership, which does not conform to the laws and trends of international and domestic economic development. Fourthly, we can draw a conclusion from the revolutionary program: the military victory of Taiping Heavenly Kingdom lacks a solid political, economic and ideological foundation, and it is impossible to put forward a program to completely transform feudal society, let alone stop the feudalization of political power. The climax of the revolution implies a crisis.

☆ How to understand the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement is the highest peak of the peasant war in China for thousands of years

The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement is a huge and magnificent peasant movement. It persisted in the struggle for 14 years, and its power expanded to 18 provinces, establishing political power and controlling half of the country. However, the so-called "peak" is by no means simply understood in the sense of time and space, and it is impossible to draw a correct conclusion only by comparing the length and scope of the peasant war. The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement took place after the Opium War, that is, China was reduced from a feudal society to a semi-feudal and semi-colonial society, and the contradiction between the Chinese nation and foreign capitalism rose to the most important contradiction among various social contradictions. This new era will inevitably give the Taiping Great Power Movement new content and significance, thus making it different from any simple and old-fashioned peasant war in history.

(1) From the reasons for the outbreak of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement, it was caused by the invasion of foreign capitalism and the further intensification of the internal contradictions in China society.

(2) Judging from the task and nature of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement, because foreign capitalism finally tore off the disguise of "neutrality" and colluded with the Qing government officially and openly after the Second Opium War, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom shouldered the task of opposing foreign aggression while opposing feudalism, thus becoming a part of China's modern old democratic revolution;

(3) From the perspective of the struggle art and development level of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, it has a relatively sound anti-feudal struggle organizational form, which is unmatched by the peasant movements in previous dynasties. It has such clear guiding ideology as Song of Salvation from the Original Way, Training to Wake Up from the Original Way and Training to Awaken the World from the Original Way, and a revolutionary program with the core content of "China's Land and Mu System", thus making this revolution.

(4) From the innovative spirit of the leaders of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, "Senior Minister New Chapter" was an advanced policy agenda in the late Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. Although it was not put into practice due to the social environment at that time, it had a strong flavor of the new era, which reflected the desire of advanced China people to learn from the West and develop capitalism in China.

In short, determined by the characteristics of the times, after the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom movement created by a generation of advanced China people represented by Hong Xiuquan, it finally developed into the peak of the peasant war in China for thousands of years, forming the first revolutionary climax in the modern history of China.

Modern History of China (Volume I)

☆ On the emergence of Chinese national capitalism

Whether China capitalism is the product of "European style and beautiful rain" is still inconclusive in historians. One view is: "Most of the emerging modern enterprises in China are from scratch, and they have transplanted complete sets of existing enterprises in the West." Therefore, it is "the product of European style and beautiful rain". Another view is: "Originally, the seeds of capitalism in China feudal society were slowly developing in the direction of capitalist society, and the introduction of foreign capitalism promoted this development, which destroyed the foundation of feudal natural economy and caused some objective conditions and possibilities for the development of capitalist production in China. These conditions enabled the modern capitalist industry in China to occur, and at the same time, they were developed by the pre-existing capitalist seeds. This is how capitalism in China manifested itself as a double occurrence process. Therefore, it can't be said that it is just "the product of European style and beautiful rain". To deal with this problem, we should distinguish the following two questions: whether the emergence of Chinese national capitalism in the 186s was a beautiful product of European style; Can the seeds of capitalism in China feudal society grow into towering trees? "Beautiful European style" played an important role in modern capitalism: first, it destroyed the original capitalist bud; Second, it promoted the disintegration of China's natural economy, expanded the commodity market, labor force and capital, and provided certain conditions and possibilities for the development of capitalism in China. On the one hand, it shows that Chinese national capitalism came into being under the new social conditions, which were formed after the invasion of foreign capitalism, which implies the theoretical understanding of the consequences of the invasion of backward areas by western capitalist countries, and China is no exception; But on the other hand, it also shows that if there is no capitalist invasion, the economic law of China's own development will surely lead to the formation of national capitalism. The emergence and development of capitalism in China is closely related to the "beautiful European style", which is dependent on capital, technology and machinery.

☆ On the staged characteristics of the economic aggression of foreign powers against China

During the two Opium Wars, the western powers were still in the stage of free capitalism, and their economic aggression was mainly focused on commodity export, that is, focusing on selling commodities and plundering raw materials. After the 197s, capitalism began to transition to imperialism, and the mode of aggression gradually turned to capital export, and the purpose of aggression turned to scramble for and monopolize investment places. In seeking aggressive rights and interests, in the early days, it was mainly to forcibly open commercial ports and set up concessions. In the later period, it turned into seeking the privilege of capital export. Divide the sphere of influence and seize the leased land. The Sino-French New Testament showed this change earlier, that is, France demanded the right to build roads in China, Guangxi and Yunnan. The performance of treaty of shimonoseki shows that it is more obvious to directly demand to set up factories and carve up large areas of land at China's trading ports, which embodies the requirements of the great powers for capital export and division of the world, and even quickly stimulates and triggers a frenzy of division. In addition, commodity export and capital export can't be completely separated. In the commodity export stage in the forties and fifties, there was an early capital export, which was mainly based on commodity export, and capital export served commodity export. For example, foreign-funded factories along the coast transported the cotton, tea and silkworm cocoons to their own countries after processing, which not only reduced consumption, but also increased efficiency. At the end of 19th century, capital export was the main stage, and commodity export still existed.

☆ About Concessions and Concessions

Concession is the first concession in China where capitalist and imperialist countries force semi-colonial countries to set aside certain areas at their trading ports or cities for foreigners to live and trade as their strongholds for further aggression against the country. "Leased land" is a special area where imperialist countries force semi-colonial countries to control a certain area of a country by economic means, and no other countries are allowed to intervene. It is a transitional form of colonial development.

☆ Comparison of two ways of aggression against China by capitalist countries. The large-scale aggression against China by foreign powers began with the Opium War, and was divided into two ways, namely, commodity export-oriented mode in the stage of free capitalism and capital export-oriented mode in the stage of imperialism.

The essence of commodity export and capital export is the same, both of which are to plunder China's wealth; The main differences between them are: the export of goods mainly gains privileges by signing unequal treaties, dumping industrial products, plundering raw materials, setting up factories at trading ports and exploiting the people of China; After the signing of treaty of shimonoseki, the great powers not only continued to export commodities, but also started industrial and mining and built railways to export capital through slavery loans. Capital export is more predatory. As we know, the export of foreign capital to China, the division of "spheres of influence" and the seizure of leased land have further plunged China into a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society, which will inevitably lead to the further upsurge of China's democratic revolution.

the change of imperialist invasion of China is fundamentally determined by the development and changes of world capitalism.

Capital export has a profound and extensive impact on the development of world capitalism: it is one of the important factors for the further expansion and development of capitalism before World War I.. Its influence on colonial and semi-colonial countries is twofold: on the one hand, it intensifies the poverty and backwardness of these countries' economies and seriously hinders the development of local national industries; On the other hand, it objectively promotes the further disintegration of natural economy and accelerates the development of national capitalism in these countries.

☆ The connection and difference between Kang and Liang's reform thoughts and early reform thoughts

Connection: ① Early reform thoughts are the basis of Kang and Liang's reform thoughts, that is, Kang and Liang's reform thoughts are the inheritance and development of early reform thoughts. Both advocate political reform: economically, they advocate revitalizing industry and commerce and developing capitalist economy; Politically, it advocates learning from the western political system and implementing a constitutional monarchy; Culturally, it advocates learning western ideology, culture, science and technology and running new schools. (3) all represent the interests and demands of the national bourgeoisie and are patriotic and progressive.

difference: ① the early reform thought only put forward some reform ideas aiming at specific problems, and did not form a complete theory. Kang and Liang Wei-xin's thoughts not only put forward specific reform plans, but also provided theoretical and historical basis for the reform, which made the reform thoughts form a relatively complete theory. ② Early reform thought was not put into action; Kang and Liang combined Wei Xin's thought with saving the nation from peril and quickly developed it into a political movement to save the nation from peril.

☆ The slogan of the Boxer Rebellion "Help the Qing Dynasty to Destroy the Foreign Countries"

The slogan of "Help the Qing Dynasty to Destroy the Foreign Countries" reflects the change of the main contradiction in China society at that time, that is, the contradiction between imperialism and the Chinese nation became the most important contradiction. However, this slogan was not put forward by the Boxer Rebellion in China on the basis of scientific analysis. Therefore, this slogan is the result of the intensification of ethnic contradictions, and most China people's understanding of the reactionary forces at home and abroad is still in place. This date inherited the simple understanding gradually formed by the masses in the anti-church struggle, and reflected that there was no new classics.