What is the process of modernization?

Since the Opium War in 1840, China has gradually been reduced to a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society. Faced with the destruction of their country and their family, the Chinese people began to learn from the West in order to save themselves from the national peril and to get rid of the national predicament. Liang Qichao in the "fifty years of China's evolution of an overview of the article, had the Chinese people to learn from the West, the pursuit of modernization of the historical process is divided into three stages.

In the first stage, the feeling of being inferior to the West in terms of material and technology led to the foreign affairs movement, which was guided by the idea of "applying the West to the Chinese body"; in the second stage, the feeling of being inferior to the West in terms of system led to the Restoration of the New Law; and in the third stage, the feeling of being insufficient in terms of culture and psychology led to the New Culture Movement.

This is how China's modernization process has progressed from the recognition of "inferiority to others" to the cry of "down with Confucius".

From the Opium War to the Sino-Japanese War: the landowning class learned "the artifacts".

For a long time, Westerners coming to China were known as paying tribute to the Celestial Kingdom. On the eve of the Opium War, the Qing Dynasty faced a crisis in its rule, while European and American powers rose to power and stepped up their foreign expansion.

1, Lin Zexu, Wei Yuan: "open your eyes to the world"

In 1840, the Opium War broke out, and China was defeated under the British, forced to sign the first unequal treaty in modern history, the Treaty of Nanjing. China began to degenerate into a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society;

In 1856, the second Opium War broke out, and Yuanmingyuan, the royal garden of the Qing Dynasty, was burned by the British and French allied forces, and the Treaty of Tianjin and the Treaty of Beijing were signed, which further deepened the semi-colonial and semi-feudal socialization of China; during this period, the Tsarist Russia took advantage of the fire and ceded more than 1.5 million square kilometers of land in China.

From then on, foreigners' churches were built on Chinese soil, foreigners' warships sailed into China's rivers and seas, and foreigners' soldiers enforced the law on Chinese territory, and the original maple-leaf like a million miles of the country's borders turned into a fat chicken with a long tumor on its back. Some people in China are still numb, but some are waking up.

The Chinese nation was defeated by a Western island nation, making the traditional concept of China's contempt for distant barbarians suffer a violent shock. Some patriotic feudal scholars in the face of the grim reality, open eyes to the world, seeking to strengthen the country against the way. Lin Zexu was the first person in modern China to "open his eyes to the world".

Lin Zexu set up a translation library in the government office, but also imitated the Western warships, took the first step to "learn from the barbarians", he advocated learning from the West's "long skills" mainly refers to military science and technology. Wei Yuan, in the book of "the sea state", further put forward the idea of "learning from the barbarians to control the barbarians" to save the country, and clearly put forward the specific contents and methods of learning from the West.

Additionally, the books that introduced world knowledge at that time also included Yao Ying's Kang Trifling Chronicle and Xu Jishe's Yinghuan Zhiliao, etc. The spread of these ideas contributed to China's early development. The dissemination of these ideas provided valuable intellectual preparation for China's early modernization, broadened people's horizons, guided them to pay attention to the world situation, and had a certain influence on the modern ideology of modernization and reform.

2. The foreign affairs school: "Middle school for the body, western learning for use"

After the Second Opium War, foreign economic aggression intensified, and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom movement at home made the political situation precarious. Seeing that the Western ships were strong and powerful, the foreign affairs faction advocated "secondary school for body, western learning for use" to change the status quo. Middle school refers to traditional Chinese culture, especially Confucianism, and Western learning refers to Western culture, mainly modern science and technology.

"Middle school as a body" is to take the Chinese program as the fundamental to determine the fate of the country; "Western learning as a use" is to adopt the modern science and technology of the Western capitalist countries, follow the example of the Western countries in the areas of education, taxation, martial arts, etc., and organize the New Deal of foreign affairs to change the status quo. The "Western learning for use" is to adopt the modern science and technology of the western capitalist countries and imitate some specific measures of the western countries in education, taxation, armament and so on, and organize the New Deal to save the Qing Dynasty.

In the 1860s and 1890s, the foreign affairs movement was carried out for more than 30 years under the banner of "learning from the barbarians". The foreign affairs movement trained a number of translators, military and scientific talents, and opened a window of communication between modern Chinese and Western cultures and the study of modern Western science and technology.

However, the premise of the landlords' choice of path was "to take the middle school as the body and the West as the use", that is to say, they forcibly grafted the advanced Western military and economic technology (i.e. advanced social productive forces) onto the backward social system, and this kind of practice, which violated the law of social development, was doomed to failure.

2. From the Hundred Days' Reform to the eve of the May Fourth Movement: the bourgeoisie learnt about the "system"

1. The Reformists: Learning about constitutional monarchies

Early Reformist ideas arose from the 1860s onwards, accompanied by the introduction of the ideology and culture of Western capitalism, and the emergence of national capitalism. The early reformists recognized the need to learn from the Western capitalists and the national capitalists. The early reformists realized that learning from the West could not be confined to the "material level", but had to go up to the economic, cultural, ideological and political system in order to save the nation from peril.

However, the early reformist ideas did not rise to the level of systematic and complete theories, much less practical action.

In 1894 and 1895, China suffered the unforgettable shame and humiliation. 1894, the hallowed "old empire" was defeated in the war of the small country Japan, and the Beiyang fleet, which had been painstakingly operated for many years, was wiped out; in 1895, the humiliating Treaty of Shimonoseki was signed, and the treasure island of Taiwan was reduced to a Japanese colony. In 1895, the Treaty of Shimonoseki was signed, and the island of Taiwan was colonized by Japan. The imperialists set off a frenzy to carve up China.

During this period, the emerging national bourgeoisie ascended to the political stage in China. The tragic defeat in the Sino-Japanese War and the signing of the Treaty of Shimonoseki made the Chinese people feel that the crisis of the end of the country and the destruction of the race was near, and a new national awakening was aroused, and it was the bourgeoisie intellectuals who stood at the forefront of the struggle for salvation and survival.

The bourgeois intellectuals were at the forefront of the struggle for national survival.

The bourgeois intellectuals realized that the Meiji Restoration, the complete overthrow of the feudal shogunate, and the establishment of a constitutional monarchical political system in imitation of the West as well as a capitalist economic and cultural system had set Japan on the road of capitalist development. The bourgeois intellectuals realized that to save the country, they had to reform the country, and the only way to do so was to learn from the West.

In the 1890s, there was a further development of the idea of restoration. The reformists, led by Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao, combined Western capitalist political thought with traditional Chinese Confucianism and culture, and came up with a systematic theory and a clear program of governance. They called for a constitutional monarchy in China and the development of capitalism.

Through their polemics with the stubborn feudal forces, they made the social and political doctrines of the Western bourgeoisie begin to spread in China, and some intellectuals got rid of the fetters of feudalism, forming the first trend of ideological liberation in modern China, and promoting the upsurge of the Restoration and Reform Movement.

Yan Fu, a famous thinker, used the theory of evolution as an ideological weapon to argue for the urgency and reasonableness of the reform and restoration of the law, so as to achieve the purpose of salvation and survival, self-improvement and preservation of the species. Although the Hundred Days Reform failed after only 103 days, it had an impact on the feudal authoritarian system and traditional concepts, promoted the awakening of the Chinese people, and played a role in the enlightenment of the society.

2. Revolutionaries: learning democracy*** and

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the bourgeois revolutionaries led by Sun Yat-sen began to transform China with the idea of democratic revolution and put forward the Three Principles of the People (Sanmin Doctrine), which called for the implementation of democracy*** and the system of government, and the development of capitalism.In 1905-1907, the bourgeois revolutionaries and the royalists In 1905-1907, the bourgeois revolutionaries and the royalists engaged in a heated debate, the central issue of which was whether or not to overthrow the Qing government by revolutionary violence.

As a result, the idea of democratic revolution was further spread, forming the second ideological emancipation trend in modern China, and promoting the climax of the bourgeois revolution. Although the fruits of the Xinhai Revolution were later stolen by Yuan Shikai, the idea of democratic **** and had taken root in people's hearts.

Third, Chen Duxiu and Li Dazhao: learning "democracy" and "science"

After the Xinhai Revolution, the powers supported Yuan Shikai's claim to be the emperor and stepped up their invasion of China, and the Chinese advanced elements were looking for a new way out to change the situation. On the economic front, Chinese capitalism developed further during World War I, and the bourgeoisie strongly demanded the implementation of democratic politics in China; on the ideological front, the Xinhai Revolution made the ideology of democracy **** and y rooted in the people's hearts, and Yuan Shikai engaged in the reversal of the trend of respecting Confucius and restoring antiquity, which was not tolerated by the democratic intellectuals.

And the previous bourgeois reformists and revolutionaries did not thoroughly criticize feudal Confucianism when they publicized their political ideas. Therefore, the emergence of the New Culture Movement was not only a product of the combined effect of economic, political, ideological and cultural factors in a specific historical period at that time, but also the inevitable result of modern China's experience of a long period of material and ideological preparation.

In 1915, Chen Duxiu founded New Youth, which raised the banners of "democracy" and "science", and attacked the feudal dictatorship and feudal morality. Chen Duxiu's "democracy" referred to bourgeois democratic thinking and democratic politics; "science" mainly referred to the modern laws of natural science and the spirit of science.

The bourgeoisie preached democracy and opposed feudal autocracy, directing its struggle against Confucianism, the theoretical pillar of feudal autocracy; it preached science and opposed feudal superstition and ignorance. This slogan reflected the requirements of the development of Chinese society and the urgent needs of the people, and gave a powerful impetus to the development of the New Culture Movement.

The New Culture Movement shook the orthodoxy of Confucianism and was the third trend of ideological liberation in modern Chinese history. It was both a tonic to the old democratic revolution led by the bourgeoisie and a prelude to the new democratic revolution led by the proletariat.

The erection of the banners of "democracy" and "science" in the movement brought about great changes in many aspects of Chinese society, and also created a great opportunity for the wide dissemination of new ideas and theories. It was under these circumstances that Marxism, riding on the wind of the victory of the Russian Revolution, spread widely in China.

Three: From the May Fourth Movement to the Founding of New China: China's ****production party went from "following the Russian way" to "following its own way"

The founding of New Youth in 1915 brought in two Western gentlemen, Mr. De and Mr. Sai. --Mr. De and Mr. Sai were invited to transform China's national character.

In the early stages of the movement, the goal was to build a modern, Western-style bourgeois state by learning from the West about capitalist democracy and bourgeois natural and social sciences. The vision was beautiful, but divorced from China's reality, and impossible to realize.

Late in the New Culture Movement, with the October Revolution, Li Dazhao was the first to raise the banner of socialism on Chinese soil. He published articles such as "The Triumph of Bolshevism" in New Youth, vigorously publicizing the October Revolution in Russia, glorifying the socialist revolution and calling on the people to learn from Russia.

After the May Fourth Movement, the New Culture Movement developed into a new stage of systematic dissemination of Marxism. Chinese advanced intellectuals such as Chen Duxiu, Mao Zedong, Deng Zhongxia, Cai Hesen, Xiang Xuanyu, and Zhou Enlai, after analyzing and comparing the incoming ideas from the West, and comparing them with China's practical experience, firmly gave up bourgeois ideological ideas and non-Marxist ideas in all their forms, and transformed themselves into Marxists.

After the establishment of the early organizations of the C***nese Communist Party in 1920, they systematically propagated Marxism, promoted the combination of Marxism and the Chinese workers' movement, and provided the basis for the birth of the C***nese Communist Party.

With the help of the ****Products International, in July 1921, the China ****Products Party was founded, guided by Marxist theory. The birth of the C***nese Communist Party was an inevitable part of Chinese history and a product of the combination of Marxism and the Chinese workers' movement. After the founding of the C***nese Communist Party, it combined Marxism with the reality of the Chinese revolution and put forward the Party's democratic revolutionary program at the Second Congress of the C***nese Communist Party in 1922.

After the failure of the Revolution in 1927, the CPC, represented by Mao Zedong, explored the path of "armed rule by workers and peasants", in which the countryside encircles the cities and the latter are finally captured. At the Zunyi Conference in 1935, Mao Zedong established the leadership of the new Party Central Committee, and the Seventh National Congress of the People's Republic of China in 1945 enshrined Mao Zedong Thought as the Party's guiding principle.

The Chinese Revolution, under the leadership of the C***nese Communist Party and the guidance of Mao Zedong Thought, continued to move from victory to victory, eventually overthrowing the three great mountains that had been weighing down the Chinese people and founding a new China.

In these 100 years, modern China has never given up the exploration of the road to self-help, and has never stopped learning from the advanced, which is undoubtedly worthy of recognition.

The times are constantly evolving, and the classes and factions at the forefront of learning and exploration are constantly changing. Most of them have not found the right path, but they are all honorable, and the zeal of these advanced Chinese to save the country, the love for the motherland, and the spirit of continuous learning and exploration are always worthy of our study.

Summary

The trend of intellectual emancipation in modern China presents the following three major features:

First, the ideological theme of modern Chinese people in learning from the West and seeking for change is for the sake of China's independence, democracy, and prosperity. Learning from the West was linked to resisting aggression, enlightenment and salvation, reflecting a strong anti-feudal and anti-aggression nature.

Secondly, the course of learning from the West is a complex one that goes from the shallow to the deep, from the surface to the inside, from "artifacts" to "system" to "culture".

Thirdly, the Chinese people's understanding of Western culture has gone through a process of passive acceptance (such as Lin Zexu's new ideas and the foreign affairs movement) to active choice (such as the Xinhai Revolution), and finally the Chinese ****productivity party chose Marxism, which has become the ideological weapon to save the country and transform the society.

Expanded:

The greatest existential significance of Marxism is that it tells us to observe that any one thing must begin with practice, to seek truth from facts, to be unafraid of all ideological constraints, and to correct even what was once thought to be correct, but later proved to be unfeasible or anachronistic, and that it doesn't matter what form it takes, as long as our goal remains the same! .

Marxism is a way of thinking about problems, not a prediction or a norm for society, and one should not have a preconceived notion that Marxism is an advocate of a certain social system when studying it.

The Marxist way of looking at the world is first-rate, and when it is used well, it is invincible.

Baidu Encyclopedia-Marxism