What kind of person was Li Hongzhang in history?

Throughout Li Hongzhang's life, there were many remarkable things, but under the imperial power system, his ambitions were not realized. This is a national and personal tragedy. Li Hongzhang was an elite of that era. The posthumous evaluation of Li Hongzhang is very complicated. Mr. Gao Yang, the master of history, believes, "I can responsibly say: Li Hongzhang was indeed a traitor bribed by the emperor! The evidence is irrefutable. If any immediate family member of the Li family sues me for slandering his ancestor, I will Bear full legal responsibility.” For specific content, please refer to Mr. Gao Yang's "Tongguang Da Lao Separated the City, Who Presented the Picture of Dukang". After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the evaluation of Li Hongzhang, a great weapon of the country, was very biased, and Li Hongzhang was often portrayed as a traitor. This view is inconsistent with history. Li Hongzhang enjoys a high reputation internationally. When Li Hongzhang visited the United States in 1896, an American reporter described it this way: His face had a striking kind expression, his eyes were bright and sparkling with wisdom, and his eyes contained humor and wit. He wore a pair of old-fashioned hard-framed glasses, his cheekbones were high but not thin, and his dark skin looked strong. He never looked arrogant. He is the kind of person who never asks for anything from others but always gets it. He was able to converse easily without making the person he was talking to nervous. He was especially polite to women and fond of children. When Li Hongzhang paid homage to General Grant's mausoleum, the Americans were even more impressed. They described it this way: The behavior of this distinguished guest was very touching. He stood up straight reverently and whispered in an extremely sad voice: "Farewell." ." His mind went back to the scene when he met General Grant 17 years ago. They had a good conversation at that time because he, like the general, had been on the battlefield for a long time to save the motherland. His farewell ceremony caught his entourage and American escorts by surprise. However, this is the most sincere eulogy and the most meaningful farewell full of respect: "Farewell, my brother!" - The standard, courtesy and popularity of the reception Li Hongzhang received in the United States were unparalleled when he later visited None of the beautiful Chinese leaders such as Deng Xiaoping, Mao Zedong and others can compare with him. Li Hongzhang's friendliness to the Americans and the favor he gained from the Americans were finally rewarded in the subsequent negotiations on the Eight-Nation Allied Forces incident. But Li Hongzhang would not give up any opportunity to fight for the rights of Chinese immigrants in the United States. After his visit to the United States, he deliberately avoided the western United States and chose Canada as his route back home, which attracted the attention of American reporters. Interview with him. Li Hongzhang took the opportunity to ask the American media to help Chinese immigrants: "I only hope that the American press can help Chinese immigrants. I know that newspapers have a great influence in this country, and I hope that the entire press can help Chinese immigrants and call for the abolition of exclusionary measures." Chinese immigrants in California and other places who have not been able to obtain their rights under the U.S. Constitution are asking me to help them have their U.S. immigration status fully recognized and enjoy being a U.S. citizen. The rights that immigrants should enjoy. But your "Greece Law" not only does not give them the same rights as immigrants from other countries, but also refuses to protect their legitimate rights and interests. Therefore, I do not like to go through a place that treats my compatriots in this way... The China Act is the most unfair bill in the world...Aren't you very proud of being Americans? Your country represents the highest modern civilization in the world, and you are also proud of your democracy and freedom, but your exclusion Is the China Act free for the Chinese? This is not freedom! I believe that the American press can help Chinese immigrants to cancel the Chinese Exclusion Act." Li Hongzhang also made many efforts to abolish the opium trade imposed on the Chinese. To this end, he met with the British Joseph G. Alexander, the executive secretary of the World Anti-Smoking League, on August 27, 1894. The "London Daily News" reported at the time: "...he claimed in the strongest language that the Chinese government As always, he strongly opposed the opium trade. This trade was imposed on China through war, and the Chinese government was not allowed to allow Indian opium to enter the mainland according to the treaty... Governor Li finally made it clear: You may understand that if you stop poisoning my people. , we would immediately ban their access to opium. When I (Joseph) told him that the British Parliament had voted to appoint a special committee to come to China to investigate whether opium was really as harmful as some people alleged, he replied angrily: 'Absurd. Unparalleled!' He seemed to be very angry and contemptuous, and he softened his tone and said: 'Everyone knows that opium is harmful.' When I stood up to leave, he still praised the British citizens in warm words in good faith. The kindness shown by China in getting rid of opium." The secretary ended the interview with a sentiment: ...China's politicians reflect the peace-loving spirit of this country's people. If any means to stop the war can be found, they will do it. It is impossible to sanction the continuation of the war for the sake of revenge. (The above information comes from the contemporary "New York Times") ---The opium trade was banned by the British Parliament. Li Hongzhang was also recognized by outstanding figures of his generation. For example (during the Boxer Rebellion) Zhang Zhidong, then governor of Huguang, came forward to discuss countermeasures with ministers. Beijing cannot be protected. If the Queen Mother and the Emperor are killed in the war, the central government will collapse and the country will fall into complete disorder. In order to avoid this situation, the ministers gathered together and unanimously elected Li Hongzhang as the "President" of China to preside over the overall situation. China almost expelled the Manchus and ended peace in advance.

Li Hongzhang attached great importance to Western science and sent China's first batch of overseas students to the United States to learn modern scientific and technological knowledge. This group of international students have been admitted to prestigious schools such as Yale, and Zhan Tianyou is the representative of this group of international students. In addition, China's telegraph industry was also pioneered by this group of students. Li Hongzhang actively learned new things. For example, he once convened a symposium with a group of young officials who had returned from overseas. He suddenly became interested in mathematics and caught a foreign student and asked him what a "parabola" was. The young man spent a long time explaining everything from functions to equations, but Li Hongzhang was still confused. The foreign student was anxious and said: "Master, did you pee?" Li Hongzhang didn't know why, and replied: "Of course you pee." The foreign student then explained: "That's right, Master, the urine you pee is a parabola. !" Li Hongzhang suddenly realized it and couldn't laugh or cry. Even Mr. Fairbank, an American Harvard sinologist who spent most of his life trying to deny the existence of "imperialism" in China, finally found his conscience in his later years and said some fair words: "The great powers failed to 'split China'. The reason is that China is good at cleverly using one country to contain another country (we still lack research on this method), and this clever use of one country to contain another country (Tradition) can prevent the Eight-Power Allied Forces from dismembering China. The character is Li Hongzhang. Li Hongzhang should be responsible for the failure of the Sino-Japanese War, but the fundamental reason for the defeat did not lie with him personally. Because industrialized Japan and agriculturalized China were fighting, the outcome had been decided before the war. Li Hongzhang was the most outstanding diplomat in the late Qing Dynasty. He devoted the rest of his life to China's diplomacy. Although almost all traitorous treaties had his signature, he had already become a diplomat in the international environment at that time. All the hard work. The failure of all foreign relations negotiations was due to China's corrupt political system, poor economic foundation and weak international status at that time, and all of this was ultimately due to the power of the Manchu royal family headed by Cixi. In order to cover up their incompetence, these people can only blame all the blame on the subordinate Li Hongzhang who directly came to do the work. In the nearly 100 years since the Second Opium War until the founding of New China, generations of Chinese diplomats led by Li Hongzhang took advantage of the complicated international environment to do everything possible to maintain the national spirit of the Chinese nation and safeguard the country's The overall integrity of the state system prevented China from being completely colonized like the countries in South Asia, and preserved a solid foundation for the rise and rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.