In the middle of the 19th century, what concepts hindered China's development

. The root of China's development was hampered by traditional ideas dominated by Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism. Confucianism talks about the Three Principles and Five Principles (abiding by the norms), Buddhism talks about the cycle of cause and effect (practicing good deeds and cultivating virtue in the afterlife), and Taoism talks about human beings and nature (unity of heaven and mankind). These ideas, when placed in China during the agricultural era, were conducive to social domination and stability, and at the same time were very much an obstacle to progress. Innovation and breakthroughs are anathema. Ru Shi Tao is very advanced in the agricultural society, but very backward in the industrial era. Precisely because they were advanced in the agricultural age, it was very difficult to break through to them. Ancient readers are also very smart, many philosophical discourse to see the problem is very thorough, but to the Confucian culture of the main they can only develop the Confucian culture rather than breakthrough and revolutionize away, even if one or two people to make innovations, but also by other people's strong opposition.

If you don't understand this, you won't understand the political struggles of the Ming dynasty, the struggle for statehood, the struggle for etiquette, the struggle for orthodoxy. You can change masters (Qing dynasty Ming), but not legal orthodoxy (Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, Hundred Days Reform). It is almost impossible to break out of traditional Chinese thinking if you are not beaten and pushed by the modern powers.

And the biggest problem is not that the ideas are wrong (it's easy to falsify the wrong ones), rather the problem is that they are right, and it was supposed to be a way of life for people, and the Chinese have been used to this way of life for thousands of years. Therefore, it is painful to make people who are used to A way, become used to B way. We have been accustomed to A, and developed under the leadership of A into a civilization that ruled a population of over a hundred million people and once led the world. So we will borrow from B and adapt to B, but instinctively reject becoming B.