What kind of person is Li Hongzhang? Comment on him

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 say responsibly: Li Hongzhang was indeed a traitor bribed by the Russian Empire! The evidence is irrefutable. If Li's immediate family members accuse me I am willing to take full legal responsibility for defaming his ancestors." For specific content, please refer to Mr. Gao Yang's "Tongguang Elder? Who presented the picture of Dukang when the city was cut off".

A great weapon of the country, rarely seen in a century

After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the evaluation of Li Hongzhang 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 very strong... He never looked arrogant. He is the kind of person who never asks for anything from others but always gets it. He could talk 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 spoke with great sadness. The voice murmured: "Farewell." His thoughts returned to the scene when he met with General Grant 17 years ago. At that time, they had a harmonious conversation, because like the general, he 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, *** and others can compare with them. 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.

However, 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 caused attracted the attention of American reporters and interviewed him on the matter. 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 Repeal the Chinese Exclusion Act, or at least make major changes to the Gurley Act...Chinese immigrants in places like California who have not been able to obtain their rights under the U.S. Constitution are asking me to help get their U.S. immigration status fully recognized. And enjoy the rights they should enjoy as immigrants in the United States. However, your "Greece Law" not only does not give them the same rights as immigrants from other countries, but also refuses to protect their legal rights and interests. Therefore, I do not like to treat my compatriots in this way. place...The Chinese Exclusion 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. Proud, but is your Chinese Exclusion 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. Many efforts were made to abolish the opium trade imposed on the Chinese. To this end, on August 27, 1894, they met with the British Joseph G. Alexander, the executive secretary of the World Anti-Smoking League. The London Daily News at the time said It was reported: "... He claimed in the strongest language that the Chinese government was as strongly opposed to the opium trade as ever. This trade was imposed on China by the great powers through war, and the Chinese government was not allowed to allow Indian opium to enter the mainland according to the treaty. ... Li The governor finally made it clear: You may understand that if you stop poisoning my people, we will immediately ban them from obtaining opium. I (Joseph) told him that the British Parliament has voted to appoint a special committee to investigate whether opium is in China. When it turned out to be as harmful as the accusation, he replied angrily: 'Absolutely ridiculous! ' He seemed to be very angry and contemptuous, then softened his tone and said: 'Everyone knows that opium is harmful' when I stood up to take my leave. At the same time, he still kindly praised the kindness shown by British citizens in freeing China from opium. "The secretary also expressed emotion at the end of the interview: ...Chinese politicians reflected this. The peace-loving spirit of the country's citizens would make it impossible for them to sanction the continuation of the war for the sake of revenge if any means of stopping the war could be found. (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 time. For example (during the Boxer Rebellion) Zhang Zhidong, then governor of Huguang, came forward to discuss countermeasures with ministers.

Beijing cannot be saved. 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 the first batch of Chinese students to study in 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 understood 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 something fair: "The great powers have not Part of the reason for being able to 'split China' is that China is good at using one country to contain another country (Tradition). The figure who came to prevent the Eight-Power Allied Forces from dismembering China was Li Hongzhang.

Li Hongzhang should be responsible for the failure of the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1894, but the fundamental reason for the defeat of the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1894 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, under the international environment at that time He has done everything a diplomat can do. 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 China. 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.