In the thirteen years from the first year of Tongzhi (1862) to the thirteenth year of Tongzhi (1874), the Qing Dynasty had a brief situation of Zhongxing, known in history as "Tongzhi Zhongxing". If the time is pushed back to 1894, that is, before the Sino-Japanese War, this period is called "Tongguang ZTE".
So, since the Second Opium War, why did the invaders of Britain, France and other countries stop their military aggression and give the Qing Dynasty a chance to breathe?
The Tongzhi Dynasty was able to achieve the so-called ZTE because the Western powers headed by Britain adjusted their aggressive strategic policies, and the Qing government formulated and implemented the defensive diplomatic policy of "foreign faith and harmony" and "implicit restraint" accordingly, thus providing China with a short but relatively peaceful and stable space for development.
However, there are many prerequisites for the countries of the great powers to adjust their aggressive policies, that is, to adopt the so-called policy of cooperation:
First, in the 1860s, the capitalist countries in the West were still in the stage of free competition, and the aggression and competition against China were far inferior to the monopoly stage after this, and the competition between the powers in the West intensified during this period, while the competition in the East gradually eased;
Second, the countries of the great powers are still satisfied with their vested interests in China. As Prince Gong Yi said after the signing of the Treaty of Beijing: "All the provisions promised in the covenant have fulfilled their greedy hearts, and those who have been willing to get what they have wanted for years have now been fulfilled." The powers, led by Great Britain, had achieved everything they had hoped for through the two Opium Wars, and their immediate priority was no longer to grab new benefits, but to put into practice the treaties they had signed;
Third, the Qing government and people have eliminated or partially eliminated the hostility, fear, and rejection of the West, and are striving to achieve modernization and move closer to the Western countries. Western countries apparently discovered this possibility after the Xin You coup. At the same time, the cardinals with Yi and Wenxiang as the core were launching a foreign affairs movement with the study of advanced Western science and technology as a means, with the training of soldiers, instruments, talents, and coastal defense as the center, and with the purpose of maintaining the feudal rule of the Qing Dynasty.
It is precisely on the basis of the above three premises that the Western powers headed by Britain have adjusted their aggressive policies toward China. However, it is worth noting that what they changed during this period was only the policy and means of aggression, and the essence of their aggression against China did not undergo a fundamental change.
Although the great powers of various countries did not stop their aggression against China, the adjustment of the aggressive policy undoubtedly provided an excellent opportunity for the Qing Dynasty, but why did the Qing rulers not seize this opportunity?
The reason why "Tongzhi Zhongxing" was able to be short-lived and fleeting in the history of the late Qing Dynasty, and failed to fundamentally save the rule of the Qing Dynasty, in addition to the obstruction of this cause by domestic and foreign obstructive forces at that time, the most crucial problem was some problems existing in the rulers themselves, popularly speaking, the system, and the system problem was an insurmountable gap on the road of the ZTE cause. Specifically manifested in two aspects;
First, the Qing rulers did not have a unified plan and lofty goals for the ZTE cause
Zhongxing's various undertakings, especially the Foreign Affairs Movement, were pioneering undertakings unprecedented in China, which was still at the end of feudal society, and its initial rise stemmed from the tragic situation of the Qing army being defeated and retreated by the Qing army due to the obvious gap between the Chinese and Western forces due to the obvious gap between the chinese and Western forces in the later stages of the Second Opium War.
This tragic experience made them foresee that if China did not seek change and did not strengthen itself, it would be swallowed up by the Western powers. To this end, they requested the establishment of the Prime Minister's Office for State Affairs to handle diplomacy, and thereafter began to preside over various foreign affairs such as military training, weapon making, talent cultivation, and coastal defense.
It can be seen from the above that the objective environment in which Yi et al. presided over the foreign affairs undertakings showed two states; first, foreign affairs were pioneering undertakings, and Yi and other feudal princes and ministers had no experience in this; second, Yi and others carried out various foreign affairs relatively actively and passively in the desperate situation of the British and French soldiers in the city.
Therefore, they have always been poor in coping with the foreign affairs undertaking they are presiding over, and they are anxious to deal with the symptoms, although they have some plans, but they do not have overall planning and long-term goals for this.
All the foreign affairs undertakings presided over by Yi and others were gradually explored, proposed, and perfected step by step in the process of deepening their understanding of the great powers and self-improvement.
For example, in December of the tenth year of Xianfeng, Yi et al. first realized that "the art of self-improvement must first be trained." As a result, large-scale military training began to be carried out from the central government to various localities; by April of the third year of Tongzhi, under the influence and impetus of the localities, Yi and others realized that "self-improvement is to train troops as the key, and military training is to take the production of weapons as the first." Therefore, from the central government, he began to attach importance to the manufacture of weapons; by November of the fifth year of Tongzhi, Yi Ethan realized: "Foreigners make machines, firearms, etc., as well as ships and marches, all of which come from astronomy and arithmetic." "Therefore, please add an astronomy and arithmetic hall to the Tongwen Museum."
This phenomenon is not only reflected in the process of establishing various foreign affairs, but also in the case of a certain foreign affairs itself.
In the thirteenth year of Tongzhi's Japanese invasion of Taiwan, Yi and others realized the urgency of naval construction, and soon determined the general policy of China's coastal defense construction in the past 20 years, but in the early stage of construction, it was already exposed that the presiding officer lacked the determination of the imperial guards, and Ru Yi pointed out in the compromise: "If it is said that this is enough for the imperial Thai countries, not only do they have to count the ironclad ships that do not dare to believe, but they will make the coastal defense all complete, and there is no way to be sure." It is still necessary to prepare for maintenance in case of trouble, be cautious in maneuvering, and the non-mono-ironclad ship cannot be fully maintained. This remark is similar to Li Hongzhang's "the other clan is extremely rude, and it is necessary to respond to it as a last resort", and the fate of the modern navy and the foreign affairs undertakings planned by them can be imagined.
Second, bound by the dualistic value of "Chinese body and Western use", it only pays attention to the introduction of Western material weapons and equipment, and refuses to introduce Western political systems, legal systems and advanced ideological concepts
As mentioned above, when Yi, Wenxiang, Guiliang, and others stayed behind to preside over the peace bureau in the Beijing Division, they were most directly and profoundly touched by the fact that western countries had won the war with their strong ships and cannons. Therefore, after the coup d'état of Xin You, with the support of local officials Zeng Guofan, Li Hongzhang, Zuo Zongtang and others, they began a foreign affairs movement with the main goal of seeking strength and prosperity.
However, it is regrettable that Yi and others regarded the pursuit of strength and prosperity as only a realistic goal, not the ultimate goal they wanted to achieve when they led the foreign affairs movement, and the ultimate goal was to save the crumbling Qing feudal dynasty and realize the revival of the dynasty.
Thus, the concept of prosperity and strength coincides with the political reality that is still a traditional structure, and the program etiquette that has been enshrined by the Chinese feudal bureaucracy for thousands of years is still the sacred and supreme ideological norm of Yi and other military ministers, and all they can do is to find some possibility for innovation without touching this fundamental theoretical criterion.
Therefore, in the military ministers such as Yi and Wenxiang, the secular values of advocating wealth and strength are not the only values, and traditional values such as the "supremacy of etiquette" are still deeply rooted in their minds.
These two values coexist at the same time, often trapping them in the contradiction of binary values. In order to resolve this contradiction, Yi et al. tried to construct a theory that could accommodate both at the same time, and the guiding ideology of the Western affairs movement, "Chinese body and Western use", was such a theoretical model.
"Chinese body for Western use" means "middle school for the body, Western learning for the use", "middle school" refers to China's civil and military system, and "Western learning" refers to the Western ship and cannon, advanced science and technology. The meaning is to use advanced western science and technology to continue to maintain China's feudal autocratic rule.
This new type of thinking attempts to legitimize the content of "Western studies", affirming that it has a practical function that "middle school" cannot replace, and seemingly "organically" integrates the two. To a certain extent, this practice shook the absolute and sole authority of the traditional ethical values in the minds of the feudal bureaucracy. Although there is an element of progress in this thinking, it is also necessary to see the contradictions in it.
This contradiction is embodied in the reality of Yi, Wenxiang, and others leading the foreign affairs movement, they learn from the West, seek prosperity and strength, that is, gradually adopt the capitalist mode of production; and from the depths of their minds, they follow the Confucian classics at any time, lest they deviate from the scriptures, that is, adhere to the feudal autocratic system.
The contradiction of the dualistic value of "Chinese body and Western use" not only caused Yi, Wenxiang, and others to fall into theoretical contradictions and embarrassment when they faced the attack of the conservative faction with traditional values. Moreover, this contradiction has made them pay only attention to the introduction of Western weapons and equipment in the actual reform, but refuse to introduce the Western political system, legal system, and advanced ideological concepts, that is, they have not carried out political reform.
Modernization is a comprehensive system engineering including economy, politics, and ideology, and the three have both mutual influence and mutual restraint, even though the former is the basis of politics and ideology, but without corresponding changes in politics and ideology, economic strength and progress are impossible. This is precisely the fundamental reason why "Tongzhi Zhongxing" failed to save the Qing Dynasty and appeared short-lived.