Editor's note: The Battle of Toshima in the Yellow Sea that broke out on July 25, 1894 marked the beginning of a large-scale war of aggression launched by Japan militarism against the mainland, known as the Sino-Japanese War. It has been 130 years since the First Sino-Japanese War. The battle ended with a crushing defeat for the Qing government and the signing of the very harsh Treaty of Shimonoseki. It was the Treaty of Shimonoseki that stipulated that China ceded the Liaodong Peninsula (which was later unsuccessful due to the intervention of the three powers), Taiwan Island and its affiliated islands, and the Penghu Islands to Japan, and compensated Japan 200 million taels of silver. The defeat of the Sino-Japanese War marked the failure of the Qing government's Westernization Movement, and at the same time, it also greatly deepened the process of China's semi-colonization. It was the founding of the Communist Party of China and Comrade Mao Zedong's leadership of the whole party and the people of the whole country who were not afraid of sacrifice, fought heroically, and struggled hard to save the ancient and glorious Chinese nation. At present, the socialist People's Republic of China is marching with vigor and vigor on the glorious road of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. In the report of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, General Secretary Xi Jinping clearly pointed out that "the world has entered a new period of turbulence and change"; "The development of the mainland has entered a period of coexistence of strategic opportunities, risks and challenges, and increasing uncertainties and unpredictable factors." At a time when the whole party and the whole country are concentrating their efforts on advancing toward the grand goal of Chinese-style modernization, and when the mainland and the East China Sea seem to be reproducing the treacherous and turbulent waters of those years, it is of great practical significance to look back and reflect on the poignant and heartbreaking First Sino-Japanese War in the history of the Chinese nation 130 years ago, so as to sum up the lessons of history, draw profound enlightenment from history, and stop or win all forms of wars of aggression that may break out or have already broken out, including the Third World War.
Whether or not a third world war will break out seems to have become a hot topic at home and abroad recently. Mao Zedong never asserted that World War III was inevitable. On February 27, 1957, Mao Zedong said in "On the Correct Handling of Contradictions Among the People": "Now people in all countries of the world are talking about whether or not to fight the Third World War. For this issue, we must also be mentally prepared and analyzed. We are committed to peace and oppose war. But if imperialism must wage war, we should not be afraid. Our attitude towards this issue is the same as our attitude towards all disorders, the first one, opposition; Second, don't be afraid. After the First World War, there was a Soviet Union with a population of 200 million. After the Second World War, a socialist camp emerged, with a total population of 900 million. If the imperialists are determined to start a third world war, it can be concluded that as a result, how many more billions of people will have to switch to socialism, and there will not be much left of imperialism, and the entire imperialist system may collapse. In April 1969, Mao Zedong said: "On the question of world war, there are nothing more than two possibilities: one is that war causes revolution, and the other is that revolution stops war." Deng Xiaoping never asserted that "the world has entered an era of peace and development." January-February 1992. Deng Xiaoping said in his southern speech: "Western countries are fighting a third world war without gunpowder. The so-called absence of gunpowder means that socialist countries should evolve peacefully." On October 23, 2020, General Secretary Xi Jinping said categorically in his speech at the meeting to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Chinese People's Volunteers going abroad to fight to resist US aggression and aid Korea: "The Chinese people do not cause trouble and are not afraid of things, in the face of any difficulties and risks, their legs and stomachs will not tremble, their waist will not bend, and the Chinese nation will not be frightened or crushed!" "There is no doubt that we have always advocated more learning and exchanges with the peace-loving, hardworking and intelligent people of Japan, and our relationship with the great Japan people is bound to be a "win-win" situation. At the same time, however, we must be highly vigilant against the resurgence and resurgence of Japan's militarism, which is bound to have a "zero-sum" relationship with Japan's militarists.
The continent has many favorable conditions for containing or winning all kinds of unjust wars of aggression, including World War III. We firmly believe that under the strong and correct leadership of the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at the core, the mainland will be able to unite more closely with all peace-loving countries and peoples in the world and form the broadest international united front, jointly and resolutely oppose all forms of hegemonism and power politics, give full play to its conscious subjective initiative, firmly grasp the initiative and leadership, dare to struggle and win, and make full preparations for all wars. We will continue to advance victoriously in the right direction of building a community with a shared future for mankind and make greater contributions to the cause of civilization and progress of all mankind.
The original title of the following article was "Chewing on the First Sino-Japanese War 120 Years Ago", and the editor is now changing it to "Chewing on the Tragic and Tragic First Sino-Japanese War More Than 100 Years Ago". The article was originally published in three consecutive days in Xinhua News Agency's "Reference News" on August 14-16, 2014. The full text is divided into five parts: 1. Social progress should be achieved, not social regression. Second, we must be alarmist in the prosperous times, and do not whitewash the peace. Third, we must put the country first and do not harm the country and the family. Fourth, be self-reliant and self-reliant, and don't rely on others. Fifth, we must rely on the people, not defend the people. On the occasion of commemorating the 130th anniversary of the First Sino-Japanese War, the original article from 10 years ago is published for the benefit of readers.
Chew on the tragic and tragic Sino-Japanese War more than 100 years ago
Li Shenming
It's another first day, three first days. The tragic and majestic First Sino-Japanese Naval Battle 120 years ago gave a special connotation to China's unique Ganzhi chronicle "First Sino-Japanese War".
The author agrees with this statement: the Opium War of 1840 was not a complete fatal blow to the Chinese nation; The First Sino-Japanese Naval Battle of 1894 was the decisive moment when old China slipped into a state of no return. This fiasco announced that the dream of a strong country in the "Westernization Movement" was completely shattered; China accelerated the process of its own decay and semi-colonization; Since then, the imperialist powers have followed suit and vied with each other to divide their spheres of influence in China, and the Chinese nation is facing an unprecedentedly severe national crisis of national extinction.
Once upon a time, the "Heavenly Empire" of the Huanghuang Qing Dynasty had the pride of accounting for about one-third of the global GDP, and it was defeated by the "Yuer Island". The taste is worth chewing on.
In 1939, Comrade Mao Zedong pointed out that "Japan imperialism has been persecuting the survival of all ethnic groups in China at all times by taking advantage of its close relations with China." After the founding of the People's Republic of China, in essence, the East China Sea on the mainland has never been clear and calm. In recent years, at the instigation and instigation of a few hegemonic countries, the Japan authorities are trying to accelerate their slide onto the road of militarism. The attitude of the Chinese government and the Chinese people, as General Secretary Xi Jinping said, does not cause trouble, but it is also by no means afraid of trouble. At a time when the East China Sea seems to be in turmoil again, it is of great practical significance to look back and reflect on the poignant and heartbreaking war in the history of the Chinese nation 120 years ago, recall the First Sino-Japanese War, sum up the lessons of history, and cherish the enlightenment of history.
First, we must make social progress, not social regression
Recently, General Secretary Xi Jinping made it clear that the method of class analysis is not outdated. This is very important. In a certain sense, whether or not we can use the method of class analysis to make a concrete and correct analysis of the First Sino-Japanese Naval War 120 years ago has a bearing on whether or not we can fundamentally draw the painful lessons of that war.
Personally, the author believes that there are many reasons for the failure of the First Sino-Japanese Naval War, such as the widespread corruption of the regime and society, and the failure to implement the political and economic system of the so-called modern state, but these are all sub-causes under the root cause, not the root cause itself. Fundamentally speaking, the internal cause of the defeat of the Opium War in 1840 was the decline of China's feudal society for thousands of years, and the feudal social system turned from stagnation to decadence and reaction. The defeat in the Sino-Japanese War in 1894 was due to the fact that in the 54 years after 1840, China's social nature, that is, the social and economic foundation, that is, the sum total of social production relations, had gradually degenerated from the original very mature feudal society and degenerated into a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society. The metamorphosis of this nature in Qing Dynasty society was a great historical regression and therefore a great historical reaction compared to a mature feudal society, relative to the historical trend of progress, and relative to the people's aspirations for political power. In this sense, the defeat of the First Sino-Japanese Naval War was not the corruption of individual individuals and ruling groups, but the decay and reaction of the entire nature of society, that is, the relations of production. The masses of the people are the main body of productive forces and production relations in any society, and they are the most revolutionary and active factors. The emergence of the semi-colonial and semi-feudal nature of the Qing Dynasty in the late Qing Dynasty caused the broadest masses of the people to suffer much more suffering and disasters than before, and finally lost their trust, support, and even the last patience. The ultimate orientation of the broadest masses of the people determines the course of historical development, especially the direction. The Mongolia are the production relations of nomadic civilization, the Yuan Kublai Khan destroyed the Southern Song Dynasty, the Manchu Qing also defeated the Ming, on the whole, the Yuan destroyed the Southern Song Dynasty and the Manchu Qing Dynasty destroyed the Ming, this is not the advanced production relations, but mainly caused by the strong dissatisfaction, indifference and even resistance of the main body of the people in the production relations of the Song Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty with the cruelty and decadence of their dynastic rule. Fundamentally speaking, the reason why the Soviet Union died without a fight was also caused by the gradual detachment of the Soviet party and regime, their deviation from, and even their eventual betrayal of the interests of the broadest masses of the people.
History is made up of chance and necessity, necessity determines chance and opens the way through chance, and chance reflects necessity. The economy is not only the basis of politics but also culture and ideology, politics is only the concentrated expression of the economy, and war is the highest expression of politics. There are many contingent factors in the outcome of any particular war. When we analyze these reasons for winning and losing, we must specifically analyze these specific accidental factors; But any war is rooted in a rich economic foundation. If we examine a major war and do not look for the root cause in terms of the economic basis, that is, the nature of society, we may not be able to see the essence of the war and the reasons for the victory or defeat.
Of course, academics may have different opinions on the above conclusions. Some scholars believe that although the semi-colonies have damaged China's sovereignty, they have brought about capitalist factors that are more advanced than feudalism. The author believes that the nascent capitalism in the era of free competition has great historical progress against the remnants of decaying feudalism. However, after entering imperialism, capitalism gradually lost its progressive nature, especially capitalism that entered the colonies and semi-colonies, and its reactionary and decadent nature became more thoroughly manifested. This is exactly what Marx said in his essay "The Future Results of British Rule in India": "When we turn our gaze from the homeland of bourgeois civilization to the colonies, the extreme hypocrisy of bourgeois civilization and its barbaric nature are laid bare before us, and it pretends to be decent in its homeland, while in the colonies it does not hide at all." After 1840, the capitalist factors that were "imposed" on China's feudal society from the outside with strong ships and sharp cannons were precisely the capitalist factors that were attached to colonialism under the ravages of colonialism. Compared with independent and complete feudalism and relative to the Chinese people, this kind of capitalism has lost its historical progressiveness, and has been replaced by the condensation of the most barbaric, dirty, bloody, decadent, and reactionary things in capitalist production, and gradually destroyed the entire social structure of the Qing government, so that China's new suffering, compared with all the disasters suffered in the past, is undoubtedly different in nature, but much more profound in degree. As a result, the Chinese people, like the people of other colonial and semi-colonial countries, have experienced "all terrible twists and turns" but have not been able to "enjoy all the positive fruits of the capitalist system." These mutated and deformed capitalist factors, which are fundamentally different from developed capitalism in the original sense, have caused the Chinese people to lose their old world and not gain a new one, and have given their calamities a very special tragic color. Lose in hake, but gain in herring. This bloodier and more reactionary production relationship that "penetrated" China with guns and swords not only stifled the young shoots of capitalism with important progressive significance in the original sense that sprouted in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties on the mainland, but also opened a new chapter in the struggle of the Chinese people against imperialism, feudalism and bureaucratic capitalism in the suffering of the nation and the people, and urged the birth of a people's republic in 1949, enabling the Chinese nation to directly enter a socialist society from China in a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society. As a result, it has come to the forefront of human history in terms of social system and production relations. The endless disasters brought to the Chinese people by imperialism over the past 100 years have merely served as an "unconscious tool of history" for China's social progress. The semi-feudal nature of Chinese society at that time was also dominated by foreign colonialism and the semi-colonial nature of China. Therefore, the semi-feudal society at this time, compared with the original complete feudal society, is also a historical regression. In this sense, the tragic defeat of the First Sino-Japanese Naval War should be the internal cause of the great regression from the complete feudal nature of the Qing Dynasty to the nature of a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society. Fundamentally speaking, apart from the economic basis of society, which is the sum total of class relations, that is, the relations of production, we will look at all major social and international problems in a fog.
China has a long history, and since it evolved from slavery to feudalism, it has created a splendid economic, political, and cultural system of feudalism, made considerable scientific and technological achievements, and has also had the economic strength to rank among the top in the world. However, in the later part of China's feudal era, due to the formation of a relatively mature and self-sufficient economic structure dominated by the natural economy, the emergence of a relatively stable centralized ruling class group of feudal emperors, aristocrats, and landlord absolutism, and the perfection of the imperial examination system with the Baguwen as the main carrier that excluded industrial and commercial people, Chinese society fell into a state of stunted development for a long time. In modern times, the rapid development of capitalism in Europe, but the further strengthening of feudal autocracy in China, which hindered the development of the budding capitalism that had appeared in the late Ming Dynasty, and gradually reduced to the laggards of history.
After the end of the Opium War in 1840, the Qing Empire was forced to open its borders and sign an alliance under the city. After that, under the pressure of the Western powers, the scattered Qing Empire was defeated and gradually fell into the abyss of a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society. The shackles imposed on China by the great powers through unequal treaties not only blocked the normal way for China to develop towards capitalism, but also greatly changed the nature of Chinese society.
In the 54 years from the Opium War in 1840 to the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese Naval War in 1894, the conditions, economic status, and political attitudes of the major classes in Chinese society inevitably changed with the changes of the times. Before and during the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War in 1894, what was the state of economic status and political attitudes of the main classes in Chinese society? In order to study the root causes of the defeat in the First Sino-Japanese Naval War, it is necessary to study it. At present, people from all walks of life have conducted a relatively in-depth discussion of the deep-seated reasons for the defeat of the First Sino-Japanese Naval War, and the author has been deeply inspired by this reading, but from the perspective of class analysis, I have not seen much. Here, I will first talk about some very immature and ugly views, in order to throw bricks and bricks.
The author believes that we should first study the imperial aristocracy and landlord class at that time, because the imperial aristocracy and landlord class were the dominant class in the Qing Empire at that time. In a certain sense, the ruling class of a country and the political power it establishes are the fundamental embodiment of the country's comprehensive national strength. The contest between countries is a contest between different countries and their regimes. The masses of the people are the ultimate decisive force. China gradually entered a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society, and although the natural economic basis of self-sufficiency in the feudal era was destroyed to a certain extent, due to the political and social turmoil and the reduction of fiscal revenues, this ruling class became more and more combined with comprador capital and usury capital to carry out more brutal economic exploitation and political oppression against the broad masses of peasants. Due to the intensification of class and social contradictions, they gradually adopted a policy of passive resistance to foreign invaders, but carried out even more brutal repression against the peasant class that resisted foreign aggression and suffered cruel exploitation. After entering the semi-colonial and semi-feudal society, the ruling class of the Qing government showed more and more its reactionary and decadent nature. For example, after the signing of the Treaty of Tianjin and the Treaty of Beijing in 1860 due to the defeat of the Anglo-French War, foreign invading forces not only expanded to China's coastal provinces, but also penetrated deep into the interior, recognizing not only the privilege of foreign merchant ships to sail in China's inland waters, but also the privilege of foreigners to freely preach and travel and trade in Chinese mainland. In the Sino-French War of 1884, the Chinese army resisted and won many victories, but the corrupt Qing government signed the humiliating Sino-French Viet Nam Treaty after the victory in the war. The people of the time said: "France won without victory, and China won without defeat." "The probability of relying on such a ruling class to win the First Sino-Japanese Naval War is almost zero.
The second is to study the peasant class at that time. This mainly refers to the poor peasants in China. They were the main bearers of the catastrophe of China's semi-colonial and semi-feudal society. Therefore, 10 years after the Opium War in 1840, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom revolutionary movement, which is rare in the history of Chinese peasant uprisings, broke out. This was a concentrated expression of the new situation of the peasant class at that time. The movement formulated a utopian program for the elimination of feudal landlord ownership and the creation of a "heavenly kingdom on earth" forever free from exploitation and poverty. In the later period, in the absence of a class basis and objective conditions for implementation, he put forward the "New Chapter of Capital Administration", which attempted to lead the peasant movement onto the capitalist track and a new tendency. Although this movement stubbornly persisted for 14 years and covered most of China, its essence was still the old-style peasant war without the leadership of the advanced class, coupled with the joint encirclement and suppression of the Qing Dynasty army and the invading armies of Britain, the United States, France and other countries, and it was inevitably a tragic defeat in the end. Nor could such a class become the mainstay leading the First Sino-Japanese Naval War.
The third is to study the new developments in the germination of the bourgeoisie and proletariat at that time. After consulting Comrade Zhang Haipeng, a member of the Faculty of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the author believes that the modern Chinese bourgeoisie, as a class, was generally formed gradually at the end of the 19th century, and it is difficult to say that it had already been formed before the First Sino-Japanese War. As a result of the imperialist economic aggression against China, the comprador bourgeoisie has emerged, but it is difficult to say that classes have been formed. The germ of the national bourgeoisie has emerged and is developing, but it is also difficult to say that classes have been formed. Nor can it be said that the Westernization Movement was led by the bourgeoisie, and this movement, in essence, was only a self-help movement of the landlord class. The Wuxu Restoration of 1898 can be regarded as the first time that the political spokesman of the national bourgeoisie appeared on the political stage. The anti-American patriotic movement launched by the Shanghai General Chamber of Commerce in 1905 can also be regarded as an anti-imperialist movement initiated by the national bourgeoisie. Before the First Sino-Japanese War, the Chinese proletariat had not yet been formed. In a small number of foreign-owned factories, there are some workers, but they have not yet formed a class. The formation of the working class should have been in the early 20th century. After the May Fourth Movement, especially after the founding of the Communist Party of China, the working class gradually moved from a class at ease to a class for itself, and only then did it awaken to the class. Most of the factory workers during the Westernization Movement were soldiers. The Treaty of Shimonoseki in 1895 stipulated that Japan could set up their own factories in China, which legally opened up foreigners to open factories in China at will. The factories that were previously opened were illegal. Only then did a larger plant take place. In 1903, during the implementation of the New Deal by the Qing government, the Ministry of Commerce (reorganized into the Ministry of Agriculture and Industry in 1906) was set up in the government, and only then did it encourage Chinese to set up factories, so the Chinese bourgeoisie and working class were created on a large scale in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The big Chinese bourgeoisie should have developed during the First World War. Before the First Sino-Japanese Naval War, precisely because the two new classes, the bourgeoisie and the proletariat, had not yet been formed, the Chinese side of the First Sino-Japanese Naval War was still essentially dominated by the more corrupt and declining imperial aristocracy and landlord class.
At that time, Japan, through the "Meiji Restoration", vigorously introduced Western capitalist production technology, imitated the Western capitalist social system, promulgated a constitution, convened a parliament, strengthened armaments, and established a new army and navy, thus rapidly rising and becoming a capitalist power in East Asia. At the beginning of the Meiji Restoration, it announced that it would "open up thousands of miles of waves and spread the power of the country in all directions", revealing its great ambition for foreign expansion. China and Japan are at different stages of social development, and this is the fundamental factor that determines the outcome of the war.
The trend of the world is mighty, those who go along with it prosper, and those who go against it die. The regression of the social nature of the Qing Dynasty and the encroachment of economic, political, and cultural sovereignty will inevitably make the country even more impoverished and backward, and it will be difficult to avoid the fate of being beaten. With Marxism as a theoretical weapon and anti-imperialist and anti-feudal banner as the banner, the Chinese Communists have been carrying out bloody revolutions for several decades, and have finally gained sovereign independence from the outside world and political unity at home. With the establishment and development of the socialist system of the People's Republic of China, the comprehensive crisis of the Chinese nation in modern times has been truly alleviated, and China's modernization and reform and opening up have the fundamental premise and guarantee. Practice has proven that under the leadership of the Communist Party, only by establishing advanced production relations with Chinese characteristics and corresponding economic, political, cultural, and social systems, and fully emancipating and developing the productive forces, thereby enhancing the overall national strength, can we ensure that we are free from aggression and bullying and realize the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.
Although the mainland is still in the initial stage of socialism, the primary stage of socialism is, after all, a socialist society, and not a society of any other nature. Only socialism can save China, and this is an irrefutable truth that has been repeatedly proven by history. In the initial stage of socialism, due to the constraints of economic and cultural development, we must uphold the socialist market economy, and on this point we must not waver in the slightest, but we must also not regress the economic foundation of the mainland, that is, the relations of production, to capitalism, as advocated by some people at home and abroad.
According to Marx's view on social formation, human society will pass through primitive society, slave society, feudal society, capitalist society and communist society. However, socialist society is not an independent social form, but only a specific historical stage in the transition from a capitalist society to a communist society. The Caftin Gorge is synonymous with the "Valley of Shame" in ancient Roman history. In 1881, when Russia was abolishing slavery and beginning to develop towards capitalism, Marx used the Kaftin Gorge as a metaphor and believed that Russia at that time could directly enter the stage of socialist production without going through the economic crisis caused by capitalist production and its catastrophe and some stages of capitalist production that led to the economic crisis. The mainland, on the other hand, has not gone through the typical stage of capitalist production and has directly entered the stage of socialist production. Based on this, some comrades believe that the socialist revolution on the mainland has been carried out early and has gone wrong, and that it is necessary to regress to capitalist relations of production, and only on the basis of making up for the lesson of the capitalist system and then vigorously developing the productive forces can we go back to socialism.
The author believes that the Chinese nation and the Chinese people have not crossed the "Kaftin Gorge", that is, the stage of capitalist society in the form of human society or the inevitable suffering caused by capitalist production to the people, from 1840 to 1949, this unprecedented suffering and humiliation for more than a hundred years, and at the same time a history of gradual awakening and resistance, is the "Kaftin Canyon" that the Chinese people finally crossed after a difficult trek. Semi-colonial and semi-feudal societies are only specific manifestations of capitalist society or capitalist evils on the mainland. Compared with the "Kaftin Canyon" under the semi-domination of the colonizers on the mainland, the "Kaftin Canyon" in the developed countries of the West is only more unique and more disastrous. We have already advanced through the calamitous "Kaftin Gorge" to a socialist society that is more advanced and advanced than capitalism, and we have established and gradually consolidated the relations of production that are even more advanced than the capitalist relations of production, and there is absolutely no need to go back to the "Kaftin Gorge", which represents the suffering of the disaster. If this were the case, it would be impossible for the mainland to become a capitalist power, because imperialism still exists and is very powerful, but it has only changed the way it invaded, oppressed and exploited the world in the past. If China is regressed to capitalist relations of production, the mainland will inevitably re-enter the colonial and semi-colonial society in which the masses of the people are extremely miserable, and in the extreme, it will lead to a repeat of the First Sino-Japanese War 120 years ago, but in a different way. This is not alarmism.
From this point of view, why is it that the United States has been wandering on the road of capitalism today and cannot directly "grow" into a socialist society? Because it has the world's unique financial, scientific, technological, military, cultural and other hegemonic powers, it can directly and indirectly obtain all kinds of huge excess profits from all over the world, thereby alleviating all kinds of domestic contradictions, and then locking and solidifying its own social nature and production relations within the framework of capitalism. The dialectic of history is exactly like this: the more profound the disaster, the more unique the scenery. In the next 350 to 100 years, the most promising countries to enter the socialist countries are the developing countries of today, that is, the vast number of third world countries. Wherever the oppression and exploitation are deeper, the more fierce the struggle and resistance will be, and the brighter the hope will be. This is the iron rule of historical development. Therefore, only when the hand of oppression and exploitation extended by hegemonism and power politicians to the vast number of third world countries is finally cut off, can the economic, political, and cultural hegemony and power of the imperialist powers that oppress and exploit the peoples of all countries in the world encounter a catastrophe of annihilation, and can the flames of resistance of the people at home be like a prairie fire.
Second, we must be alarmist in the prosperous times, and do not whitewash the peace
If a country wants to maintain progress, it must have a sense of being prepared for danger in times of peace. A nation without a sense of adversity can hardly develop sustainably and become strong forever. The sense of distress can arouse vigilance, generate motivation, keep forging ahead, and strive for progress. As the ancients said: "Born in sorrow, die in peace", "Sorrow can rejuvenate the country, and Yiyu can die." ”
In modern times, China is facing changes unseen in a thousand years, and some people of insight have seen the crisis of the Qing Dynasty's rule and issued a prosperous crisis, but it is a pity that not only did not attract attention, but most of them were suppressed by the rulers, leaving a painful lesson. Gong Zizhen, a well-known reform thinker, was the first to issue an early warning of the crisis. The era in which he lived was when China's feudal society was coming to an end, and the Qing Dynasty, which had passed through the "prosperous Kangqian era", had gradually shown a "declining era", but the rulers were still obsessed with the sweet dream of the "Celestial Empire". At the age of 23, Gong Zizhen wrote the famous article "Ming Liang Theory", which sharply criticized the dark and decadent feudal bureaucratic politics; At the age of 25, he wrote "The Average Chapter", which revealed a serious social crisis. He denounced the social reality that "the poor are getting more and more inclined and the rich are getting worse and harder," and strongly demanded "flexibility," "changing the law," and "reforming." At that time, it could be described as deafening. Lin Zexu played many times before the Opium War, bitterly denouncing the dangers of opium, pointing out that if he did not pay close attention to the ban on smoking, after several decades, "there will be almost no soldiers in the Central Plains who can resist the enemy, and there will be no silver that can be replenished." His poems also fully embody the sense of national distress and the patriotic feelings of forgetting oneself for the country. The defeat of the Opium War further sublimated Lin Zexu's sense of distress. He was wholeheartedly loyal, but the Qing court and some ministers repeatedly harmed him, and his worries about the country and the people made his hair turn gray quickly. However, Gong Zizhen and Lin Zexu's voices of distress were not widely echoed at that time. Lin Zexu was constantly ostracized and attacked by the powerful because of his ban on smoking and anti-British, and finally incurred the punishment of dismissal and exile.
Zheng Guanying, an early bourgeois reformist thinker, pointed out in his book "The Danger of the Prosperous Age" published in 1894, before the outbreak of the First Sino-Japanese War, that China lagged behind the West in many aspects of political, economic, and social life, and put forward a plan to transform Chinese society in political, economic, educational, public opinion, and judicial aspects. He successively criticized the diehards' ideas of "not seeking and not learning" and waiting to be killed, and the Westernists of "stealing skins" and admiring foreigners, and advocated that the constitution and democracy should be used in politics to make politics public in the media, and that all parties in the government and the opposition should comment on it, so that the administration could be perfected. Economically, it advocates the formation of industrial and commercial organizations by the non-governmental organizations to vigorously develop modern industry; In terms of education, there are new insights from basic education to higher education; In the judicial field, he criticized the darkness and brutality of China's laws and the application of laws, and advocated learning from the West, being lenient and strict, and taking the outside out of the country and taking the right from the middle. This is a program for comprehensively and systematically studying Western society, and it is strongly hoped that "people will make the best use of their talents", "make the best use of the land's benefits", and "make the best use of their resources" to develop capitalism in an all-round way to resist foreign aggression. However, it should also be noted that "business war" is the center and starting point of Zheng Guanying's social reform. Zheng Guanying believes that the economic aggression of foreign powers is "invisible to our country," which is far more serious and dangerous than their military conquest. Zheng Guan should attach great importance to the role of modern industry, believing that industry is the "foundation of prosperity and strength" of Western countries, and that "if there is a business with a wing, the clumsy can be clever, and the rough can be refined"; On the contrary, even if there are abundant resources, they can only "abandon their own interests for other purposes". He demanded that the feudal regime restrict and abolish the privileges of aggression such as negotiated tariffs and inland navigation, adopt tariffs to protect its own industry and commerce, and actively advocated the establishment of its own machine building industry, so as to provide an independent technical basis for the development of capitalist industry and commerce. Although Zheng Guanying had the limitations of trying to spread and learn Western culture and technology without touching the feudal Taoist system, many of these essence ideas were like a dazzling lightning bolt that passed through the cloudy ideological sky of China's semi-colonial and semi-feudal society at that time. It is a pity that there are not many people who appreciate Zheng Guanying's insightful views from the Qing Dynasty authorities to all walks of life. Zheng Guanying's state of mind at this time should be just like the emotion he expressed in his letter to Sheng Xuanhuai as early as October 13, 1884: "Over the years, fate has been bumpy, and things have been reversed. As a result, the boss and friends are responsible for the outside, and the father, brother and wife are resentful of the inside, and they are in a dilemma, and there is no way to appeal. ”
After the defeat in the First Sino-Japanese War, the profound national crisis further stimulated the Chinese nation's sense of distress. Liang Qichao, a well-known representative of the bourgeois reformers, shouted: "The enemy cannot come until there is a day, and the country cannot die without a day." A few years later, the village did not know whose clan's domain, whose family members did not know whose clan's slaves, whose flesh and blood did not know whose clan's figurines, and whose souls did not know whose ghosts. Yan Fu, a thinker of the Restoration, emphasized in his translation of "The Theory of Heavenly Evolution" that "natural selection is based on natural selection, and the survival of the fittest" called for the awakening of the whole nation with a strong sense of distress. Kang Youwei initiated the establishment of the "Strong Society" that advocated reform, and the "Book of the Emperor on the Seven Books of the Emperor in the Sorrowful Times" formed a trend of thought and contributed to the Wuxu Reform. It is a pity that the reform was suppressed, and just about to make progress, it retreated.
Maintaining a proper sense of adversity, constantly innovating and forging ahead, and not sticking to the old ways and stagnating is one of the important warnings given to us by the First Sino-Japanese War 120 years ago. Today's China is not the same as the poor and weak late Qing Dynasty. With their infinite wisdom, the Chinese people have constantly adjusted themselves, constantly explored new paths, combined Marxist theory with China's national conditions, and developed the theory of socialism with Chinese characteristics. And under the guidance of this theory, it has made remarkable achievements that have attracted the attention of the world. However, we must also be soberly aware that the world situation is changing with each passing day, China still has many deficiencies in science and technology, economy, and culture, and there is still a big gap between China and the developed countries. China's surrounding environment is not peaceful, and the national security situation is becoming increasingly complex, so it is necessary to maintain a high degree of vigilance and respond to various challenges at any time. Now some people are crying out for a new prosperous world, while others are enjoying the glitz and glitz of the new prosperous world. The CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at the core has repeatedly stressed the need to increase confidence, and has repeatedly stressed that it is necessary to be prepared for danger in times of peace and take precautions. This is of great practical significance. The better the situation, the more people must see the problem and dare to tell the truth. "A thousand people are not as good as a gentleman"; "Faith is not beautiful, good words are not believed"; "If you listen to both, you will be clear, and if you believe partially, you will be dark." On major and complex issues, we must at the same time attach great importance to the unique views of a small number of people.
Third, we must put the country first and do not harm the country and the family
The 10th day of the 10th lunar month in 1894 was the 60th birthday of the Empress Dowager Cixi, the supreme ruler of the Qing court. For this birthday, Cixi attaches great importance to it. As early as 1892, Prince Li Shiduo and Prince Qing were appointed to organize the longevity celebration; In the spring of 1893, the Celebration Division was established to take charge of the celebrations. In order to receive congratulations at the Summer Palace, Cixi attached great importance to the construction of the Summer Palace. Cixi's 60th birthday celebration became the overriding event of the Qing government. An important reason why Japan launched a war of aggression in this year was that "Japan knows that this year's benevolent celebration will be forbearant."
In 1894, the Japanese army, which had been planning for a long time, took advantage of the civil strife in Korea to send troops to land in Korea, and took control of the Korean palace and government, launched a surprise attack on the Qing army sent to Korea at the request of Korea, sinking the Chinese troop transport ship "Gao Sheng", resulting in the death of more than 800 officers and soldiers of the Qing army. In the face of Japan's aggressive attack, there are differences of opinion within the Chinese ruling class. Cixi was initially contemptuous of Japan and agreed to declare war. But with the news of the defeat at the front, Cixi thought of the preparations for her birthday celebration, and instead supported Li Hongzhang and others to avoid war and seek peace, so that the celebration could continue as usual. When someone suggested that the construction of the Summer Palace should be stopped and the cost of repairing the garden should be transferred to military expenses, Cixi was very angry and said fiercely: "Whoever dislikes me today, I will also make him unhappy for life!" "The Sino-Japanese Battle in the Yellow Sea and the Beiyang Navy suffered a crushing defeat, and the government and the opposition were in an uproar. Cixi was forced to declare on August 22: "When the time is for the use of troops, it is necessary to be lenient." In addition to the Ministry of Household Affairs at any time, the Ministry of Household Affairs issued 3 million taels of silver from the palace to save money, and handed over to the Ministry of Households to allocate it one after another, so as to collect the effect of full horses. On August 26, an edict was issued: "All celebration ceremonies are still held in the palace, and the congratulatory matters of the Summer Palace will be suspended immediately." On the 29th, it was announced that "all the scenery will be suspended, and the project will no longer add colored silk to those who have erected oil decorations." But in fact, Cixi was just perfunctory public opinion and duplicity. The artillery fire of the Sino-Japanese war did not prevent her from holding a lavish and grand Sixtieth Decade celebration. On September 25, the princes, ministers and provincial officials brought in a carload of longevity tributes into the inner palace. From October 1, the internal and external ministers began to solemnly congratulate Cixi on her birthday. On October 10th, the festivities reached their climax. The front-line soldiers were fighting the Japanese army in life and death, and military spending was repeatedly urgent, but the Forbidden City was full of singing and dancing, busy celebrating Cixi's birthday.
At a time when the country was facing internal and external troubles and national disasters, Cixi gave priority to her own 60th birthday celebration, and neglected the safety of the community and harmed the country and her family, which seems to be an extremely ridiculous move today, but it was normal in the eyes of the rulers of the feudal autocratic dynasty at that time. The feudal dynasty regarded the country as the private property of the emperor, and it was natural for the country to be harmed and the family was blessed. When such a dynasty faces Japan's frenzied attack with the strength of the whole country, how can it remain undefeated?
Before and after the First Sino-Japanese Naval War, Li Hongzhang's leading ideas were twofold: one was to seek diplomatic peace, and the other was to avoid war militarily. There are also two reasons for this: First, there is a lack of confidence and illusions, and the other is an attempt to preserve the so-called personal "private property" of the Huai Army and the Beiyang Fleet, and to spy on the opportunity to plot to display one's magnificent personal cause in the future. Before the Sino-Japanese Naval War, Japan purchased rice and coal from China in preparation for its invasion of China. After the outbreak of the First Sino-Japanese War, the relevant people immediately suggested that the supply should be stopped immediately. However, Li Hongzhang, the first important minister of the late Qing Dynasty, ordered 30,000 tons of coal and 3,000 stone of rice to be shipped to Japan "as a sign of credit" on the grounds that "the order was placed before the discord." After the Sino-Japanese Naval War, Li Hongzhang was told that he "had millions of taels of silver and deposited it with the Japan Chashan Coal Mining Company, and his son opened three foreign banks on various islands of Japan." He used "rice and coal to fund the enemy and release Japan's traitors." Li Hongzhang's deeds are worthy of deep thought by the world.
The core of the core values of socialism is, in essence, collectivism. And all the values of the exploiting classes are centered on extreme individualism. This is the deep inner ideological basis of why a country and its regime eventually collapse or are subverted from the outside. Because of this, Chen Liang of the Southern Song Dynasty issued a sigh of "what happened in the Six Dynasties · only a private plan for the door" and "relying on the Yangtze River, it can't be managed, and the river is endless". More than 700 years later, on July 28, 1975, when Mao Zedong read the word again in his later years, he couldn't help but cry bitterly, expressing his high approval of Chen Liang's views.
From the perspective of history, the pressing issue in modern China is the need to establish a highly unified political and cultural identity. Cultivating the patriotic consciousness of the people of the country and establishing a democratic republic in the modern sense has become the goal that people with lofty ideals have been striving for since modern times. The Communist Party of China led the Chinese people to create New China, and completed the construction of a people's democratic republic in the true sense of the word with an earth-shaking political revolution. This is the most exciting event in the changing times of the past 100 years. With the fundamental interests of the people and the Chinese nation as its fundamental demand, New China has greatly promoted the process of China's modernization and created a new situation that has never been seen before. However, the concept of "harming the country and protecting the family" still exists in those years, and it has greatly corroded our party, state, and people. After the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at the core took resolute and decisive measures to fight corruption, which was wholeheartedly supported by the whole party, the whole army and the people of the whole country, and socialism with Chinese characteristics has an incomparably brilliant future.
Fourth, be self-reliant and self-reliant, and don't rely on others
In the First Sino-Japanese War 120 years ago, the reason why China was defeated and retreated step by step, and the reason why it was passive step by step was not only one end, but a very important point was that the Qing Dynasty rulers always hovered between peace and war, and had no determination to resist the war to the end, and pinned the fate of the country on Lenin.
When war was imminent, Li Hongzhang asked United Kingdom to come forward to dissuade Japan from entering the army, and sent a telegram to the prime minister's national affairs department: "Even if the British and European envoys have talked, they do not regard the sending of troops as a matter of course, but have sent a message to their consuls in South Korea and British envoys to try to persuade them." "There is confidence in United Kingdom mediation. Li Hongzhang and others also asked Russia to mediate, trying to rely on Russia's strength to restrain Japan and make Japan stop its aggression. The Russian minister's reply said that the Russian imperialists had agreed to intervene in Japan's dispatch of troops to Korea, ostensibly sympathizing with China.
At the same time, the Qing government also invited France, Germany, and United States to mediate the Sino-Japanese contradictions. The apparent promise of pressure and mediation on Japan gave the Qing rulers the illusion that relying on foreign mediation would make Japan stop and not prepare for war. Hurd, an United Kingdom who served as the chief tax officer in China, said at the time that China was "unprepared for war, which is really astonishing" and that "diplomacy deceived China because it trusted mediation and did not send troops into Korea, so that Japan could take advantage of it."
Li Hongzhang and others pretended to be clever, thinking that they had found a wonderful way to "control razing with razing". In fact, the Western powers have their own evil intentions and trade China's rights and interests, so how can they really help the Qing government. United Kingdom, the number one power at that time, colluded with Japan in order to deal with Russia; Russia did not want to fall out with Japan, considering that the Far East did not have the strength to compete with Japan; The so-called mediation by France, Germany and United States is only verbal and has no practical help; United States also colluded with Japan to provide military loans and send military advisers to Japan.
During the entire process of the Sino-Japanese First Sino-Japanese War, the Chinese side pinned its hopes on the suspension of the Sino-Japanese War and did not have the determination to actively respond to the war and fight a decisive battle to the end. Li Hongzhang took passive defense as his purpose and tried to "avoid war and protect the ship." Therefore, in the war, other countries have no hope, and they have lost many initiatives. The Qing army retreated step by step, and fell into a situation of passive beating everywhere.
Here, history has given us another enlightenment: national development must be based on self-reliance and self-reliance, and must not rely on others, otherwise it will inevitably lose its autonomy and bring endless troubles. Blindly believing in the "public law of all nations" and fantasizing about resolving conflicts through the diplomatic mediation of other countries is tantamount to seeking the skin of a tiger, and in the end it will surely swallow the bitter fruit and become a laughing stock. This is another major historical lesson of the First Sino-Japanese War.
On May 23, 2014, Comrade Xi Jinping clearly pointed out when he visited the COMAC Design and R&D Center in Shanghai: "If we want to be a strong country, we must develop the equipment manufacturing industry and the large aircraft, and play a leading and symbolic role." China is the largest aircraft market, and in the past, some people said that it is better to buy than to build, and it is better to rent than to buy, but this logic should be reversed, and more money should be spent on developing and manufacturing its own large aircraft. "What kind of spirit is this? This is the spirit of independence, self-reliance and self-reliance. This spirit is an extremely valuable spirit not only for China today, which is in the initial stage of socialism, but also for the vast number of developing countries today.
Fifth, we must rely on the people, not defend the people
In our historical classics, it is often the heroes who play the leading role and act in the foreground, but fundamentally speaking, it is the masses of the people who determine the direction of history. Mao Zedong said: "The deepest roots of the great power of war exist in the people"; "Soldiers and civilians are the foundation of victory." Before or during the First Sino-Japanese War, the Qing government did not and could never fully mobilize the people, which was determined by the nature of the class represented by the Qing government, and was also one of the main reasons for its defeat.
In 1901, the Qing government was forced to sign the "Xinchou Treaty" with Russia, Britain, Germany, France, the United States, Japan, Italy, Austria and other countries. The "Xinchou Treaty" was basically agreed, and Cixi issued the "Edict of Guilt" in the name of Emperor Guangxu, in which she expressed her gratitude for the "lenient" treatment of the foreign powers: "I hereby negotiate a treaty, not to invade my sovereignty, not to cut my land, to remember the forgiveness of the nations, to be ignorant of ignorance, to remember afterwards, and to be ashamed and angry." Then, Cixi said the following two famous sentences: "Measure the material resources of China and form a friendship with the country." Although this is an expression of Cixi's heart after the First Sino-Japanese Naval War, it does reflect a very important corner of her inner world. Guided by such values, could the Supreme Ruler be victorious in the First Sino-Japanese Naval War?
The Qing Dynasty ruled the Central Plains with ethnic minorities, ruled the Han people, who accounted for the vast majority of the population, and strictly enforced literary prisons, preventing the people more than Sichuan, and pushing the feudal monarchy system to its peak. Under this kind of autocracy, the rulers did not dare to mobilize the power of the people, the national consciousness could not be cultivated, the concept of the nation-state could not be formed, and the people were like a plate of scattered sand. As Liang Qichao said: "It is the great trouble of our people that we do not know what the country is." ”
Due to the lack of modern national awareness, many Chinese people did not realize that the First Sino-Japanese Naval War was a desperate struggle between two countries, and even ignored the war. Although some people spontaneously fought against the invading enemy in various forms based on the concept of defending their hometowns, especially the desperate struggle between the Taiwan people and the Japanese invaders, composing a magnificent historical drama that can be sung and wept. Generally speaking, however, the Qing rulers did not dare to mobilize the people's forces, and the Qing court not only refused to provide assistance to the anti-Japanese struggle of the Taiwan army and people, but was worried that it would "hinder the peace treaty" and obstruct it. Japan, which launched the war of aggression, basically realized the mobilization of the whole people for war, pushed nationalism to the extreme, and condensed huge war energy. Although Japan is a small country and has a small population, it is united as one, so it has great strength; Although China is a large country and has a large population, it is scattered and scattered, so its power is small. Big and many do not necessarily have strength, unity has strength.
Everything is for the people, everything depends on the people, everything proceeds from the interests of the people, and always follows the mass line. This is one of the great magic weapons of the Communist Party of China to achieve victory. This magic weapon can never be lost, and it is even more indispensable in today's era, and has the significance of determining the future and destiny. This is also the profound significance of the mass line education and practice activities that our party is currently waging. At all times, we must bear in mind the purpose of serving the people wholeheartedly, rely on the masses of the people, integrate the immediate interests of the masses with their long-term interests, and then safeguard the fundamental interests of the masses of the people; only in this way can we sustainably mobilize the enthusiasm, initiative, and creativity of the broadest masses of the people, and only then can we have a reliable guarantee for realizing the Chinese dream of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. This is another profound historical enlightenment left to us by the First Sino-Japanese War.
At the end of this article, the author would like to express this feeling: History, I often feel that it is gone, but when I think about it, it seems that it is still lingering......
(The author is former vice president of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and director of the Center for World Socialism; Source: Kunlun Ce Network [Author's authorization], reproduced from "World Socialism Studies")