What was the social nature of China during the Opium War?

1, landlord class: Lin Zexu, Wei Yuan and other people of insight advocate learning from foreigners to control foreigners and learn from western military technology; ? In the Westernization Movement, the landlord class advocated asking for wealth from itself and adopting Chinese style and western style.

2. The early reformists, represented by Wang Tao and Zheng, put forward a commercial war and advocated the implementation of the capitalist system;

3. Bourgeois reformists: initiated the Reform Movement of 1898, advocated constitutional monarchy and carried out political, economic and cultural reforms;

4. Bourgeois revolutionaries: learn from America, be democratic and harmonious, and the Revolution of 1911 broke out.

Extended data

/kloc-In the first half of the 9th century, Britain took the lead in completing the industrial revolution and became the number one capitalist power. In order to expand overseas colonies and seize raw material producing areas and commodity markets, Britain and other countries urgently demand the opening of China market, with war violence as the main means to achieve their goals. At this time, China's feudal society has reached a period of decline.

Before the Opium War, it had reached the end of the road. The Qing government ruled corruption and economic backwardness, tried its best to suppress the budding growth of domestic capitalism, stifled the development of new ideas and technologies, brutally exploited the people, led to the intensification of class contradictions, adhered to China's dignity and closed-door policy, and finally led to the disaster of the Chinese nation.

During the Opium War, although the Qing government was the organizer and leader of the national war, China soldiers and civilians fought bravely. However, due to the corruption and backwardness of the Qing Dynasty and the policy of compromise and surrender in the war, the outcome of the war ended in failure, and foreign invaders adopted unequal treaties.

After gaining a lot of sovereignty from China, China's gateway was opened by the big powers with gunboats, and China began to be regarded as a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society ("semi-colonial" means losing some but not all sovereignty; "Semi-feudalism" means not only retaining the feudal system, but also developing capitalism. Both of them have political, economic and cultural connotations.

Baidu Encyclopedia-Modern History of China