0 1 Is Li Hongzhang a traitor?
After the Opium War, China entered a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society and became the raw material producing area and commodity dumping market of western powers. With a large number of foreign yarns and fabrics entering the China market, China craftsmen went bankrupt. In order to survive, they all joined the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement.
Under the leadership of Hong Xiuquan, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement quickly swept across half of China. In order to suppress the peasant uprising, the Qing government decided to let local officials organize a group to train the army themselves, so Li Hongzhang formed his own military team-Huai Army.
Li Hongzhang's Huai Army made outstanding contributions to the suppression of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement. Since then, it has won the favor of Empress Dowager Cixi, and the officialdom has become more and more smooth. Finally, he became the plenipotentiary representative of the Qing government in diplomacy.
1895, China was defeated in the Sino-Japanese War in the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, and was forced to sign "treaty of shimonoseki" which humiliated the country. As the plenipotentiary of the Qing government, Li Hongzhang signed treaty of shimonoseki, and was named a traitor from then on. So is Li Hongzhang really a traitor?
In fact, Li Hongzhang adopted the strategy of avoiding war and seeking peace in the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, because he knew that the Beiyang warship had not been repaired for a long time, and its combat effectiveness was already very weak, even if it fought with Japan, it could not win.
Moreover, when signing the treaty, Li Hongzhang was very angry with Japan for offering 400 million taels of silver in war reparations, and talked with Japanese Prime Minister Ito Bowen many times, hoping to reduce the reparations. But the Japanese resolutely ignored it and even wanted the lion to open his mouth.
Results On the last day of the negotiation, Li Hongzhang came to Ito Bowen's office in a sedan chair and was attacked by Japanese ronin. The whole left face was pierced, but it was not life-threatening. At this time, Ito Bowen asked how to deal with it. Li Hongzhang said that as long as the war reparations are halved, we only need to pay the war reparations of 200 million taels of silver.
1900, western powers stepped up Eight-Nation Alliance's war of aggression against China in order to safeguard their interests in China. Empress Dowager Cixi fled hastily, leaving Li Hongzhang in charge. At this time, Li Hongzhang is 78 years old. He is among the great powers and hopes that the great powers can give the Qing government a face and reduce some reparations.
During the negotiation, Li Hongzhang coughed up blood many times because of his poor health, and sometimes he deliberately pretended to be ill, just to gain Eight-Nation Alliance's sympathy, and then he could withdraw as soon as possible. It can be seen from these things that Li Hongzhang can even sacrifice his life for the benefit of the country, as if he were not a traitor.
Li Fangjing, the eldest son of Li Hongzhang, is a famous diplomat.
In the late Qing Dynasty, Li Hongzhang was not only a famous figure in the imperial court, but also a famous businessman. Driven by the idea of western learning spreading to the east, Li Hongzhang participated in the Westernization Movement and founded a series of military and civilian enterprises, earning huge wealth and leaving it to future generations. So what are Li Hongzhang's descendants like?
Li Hongzhang married many wives all his life, but he didn't give birth to a son until he was 40 years old. His sixth brother was afraid that he was childless, so he adopted his son, Li Fangjing, the eldest son of Li Hongzhang.
Li Fangjing, Li Hongzhang's oldest son, got a lot of love from childhood and read four books and five classics. So in 1882, he successfully passed the imperial examination and became an official of the Qing Dynasty. Like his father, he mainly engaged in various diplomatic activities and served as the ambassador of Japanese and British embassies successively.
190 1 After Li Hongzhang died, Li, as the eldest son of his family, resigned from all official positions and escorted his father's coffin back to Anhui from Beijing. Influenced by Confucian culture, Li decided to observe filial piety for three years.
After the mourning period, Li became the British Minister, specifically dealing with various foreign affairs with Britain. 19 1 1 year, the Revolution of 1911 broke out, overthrew the rule of the Qing Dynasty and established bourgeois democracy. The newly established interim government relieved Li of all his duties.
Since then, due to Li's special status, he no longer participated in politics, and occasionally did some small business, and spent his old age quietly.
Li Jingshu, the second son of Li Hongzhang, had a rough fate.
Shortly after Li Fangjing came to Li Hongzhang's house, Li Hongzhang's own son Li Jingshu was born. Although he is the eldest son of the family, he can only be the second son. He was also valued by Li Hongzhang since he was a child. He was admitted to Juren at an early age and has been with Li Hongzhang.
190 1 When Li Hongzhang died, Li Jingshu was heartbroken and couldn't recover from his father's grief for a long time, at the age of 38. Li Jingshu has an excellent son named Li Guojie. Due to the death of his father, Li Guojie, who was only 2 1 year old, inherited the title of Li Hongzhang.
Although the Revolution of 1911 overthrew the rule of the Qing Dynasty, the achievements of the revolution were stolen by Yuan Shikai. When Yuan Shikai became the president of the Republic of China, he thought of taking care of his old club, Li Hongzhang, and paid special attention to Li Guojie, making him his own diplomatic spokesman.
However, Li Guojie's fate is very bumpy. Because of his status as a diplomat, he has been in contact with foreigners many times and is also very tempted. 193 1 year later, Li Guojie was assassinated because he didn't resist the temptation.
04 abstract
Is Li Hongzhang a traitor or not? I think that although Li Hongzhang, as the plenipotentiary of the Qing Dynasty, signed a series of unequal treaties, which brought great harm to China, China gradually became a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society, and people's lives were miserable.
Although these treaties were signed by Li Hongzhang, as the plenipotentiary of the Qing Dynasty, Li Hongzhang could not refuse this mission. Moreover, in the process of signing the contract, Li Hongzhang almost lost his life in order to safeguard national interests and reduce the influence of foreign powers on China, which shows that he is still just and not a traitor.
Why are the descendants of Li Hongzhang concerned? In fact, besides being an important person like Li Hongzhang, we also have a sense of curiosity about the descendants of some important people.