Li Hongzhang was a transitional figure in the transitional period and an enlightened feudal bureaucrat in China politics in the late Qing Dynasty. As a representative of the landlord class, he must first safeguard the interests of the landlord class. Suppressing the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and establishing Westernization are the concrete manifestations of this class attribute. Li Hongzhang clearly realized the backwardness of China, and advocated learning from the West to realize the country's prosperity, which was objectively beneficial to China's modernization. But he didn't really realize that the root of China's backwardness is the political system itself. Learning from the West has essential limitations, and China can't really embark on the road to prosperity. In the foreign war, Li Hongzhang made a mistake in command and tried his best to compromise. After the war, he signed the traitorous treaty of shimonoseki and other treaties on behalf of the Qing government. Although he was forced to do so, objectively it was a disgrace to his country. He was one of the main traitors in the Qing Dynasty.
Second, Li Hongzhang's own background.
/kloc-In the second half of the 9th century, China was in an unprecedented period of great change, and this process was forced by the western capitalist powers under the situation that China was passively backward and beaten. Open the door? Yes It is in this great change that people from all walks of life and various identities in China put forward various opinions and plans, trying to find an ideal way to strengthen the country and enrich the people. At that time, after two Opium Wars and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement in China, a new ruling class reformist Westernization School appeared at the top of the Qing ruling group.
Because the leaders of the Westernization School have mastered a considerable part of the rights from the central government to the local government, the Westernization School has become the mainstream of many reformists for a long time. Within the Westernization School, there are many factions, among which the Huai School headed by Li Hongzhang is the strongest and the most effective in establishing Westernization. Li Hongzhang can be said to be an iconic figure accompanying the trend of Westernization Movement in modern times. Because of his power and position, he was intertwined with Cixi and Hurd of his time, forming a key figure in the political situation in the late Qing Dynasty.
Therefore, the day when Li Hongzhang was active in politics coincided with the transition period from tradition to modern times and from an independent country to a semi-colony, and Li Hongzhang, who coincides with it, became? Rise in the transitional era of the old and new border centers? Transitional figures. His life journey involved almost all the major historical events in the late Qing Dynasty.
Third, the negative criticism of Li Hongzhang's mistakes.
Li Hongzhang received many unfair comments behind his back, so that he was portrayed as a traitor and traitor in textbooks and TV dramas. The so-called historical facts, due to the needs of the later era, are constantly being excavated and explained, showing different faces! Maybe we can get some answers from this sentence about what Li Hongzhang has brought us!
Everyone needs the constraints and restrictions of the times and environment, and the evaluation of historical figures must be viewed in a specific period. From a modern point of view, everyone is a loser. The views in this paper are inevitably biased.