微信公众号老子宸 李首之原创 《洋务运动式的“中兴”不过是黄粱一梦》
Recently, I seldom speak online, but mainly
communicate with relatives and friends offline. For example, my children like
to discuss history with me. Once, my child asked the question "Why did the
Westernization Movement fail?" I talked about some superficial views,
which involved that modern civilization is not only a change at the material
level, but also needs to be upgraded at the spiritual level.
They attempted to continue to sacrifice 400
million people to preserve the interests of a small group of members of the
Qing Dynasty. They used Westernization to temporarily turn around and call
themselves "Zhongxing", and then were beaten back to their original
form by the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895.
The Book of Changes says: "The
metaphysical is called Tao, and the physical is called Qi." The two are
not separated. Without Qi, where will Tao be attached? How can Qi be achieved
without Tao? If we do not change from Tao to Qi, we will repeat the same
mistakes.
Why did the Qing Dynasty reach the point where it needed
to prolong its life?
Its decline, stagnation and regression in
artifacts are rooted in the ideological and cultural system, and the reason why
the Westernization Movement failed is that it only scratched the surface and
did not address the root cause.
It was precisely because the Sino-Japanese
War of 1894-1895 proved the failure of the Westernization Movement that the Han
nationality was liberated, rejuvenated and the republic was established through
the Xinhai Revolution, and even the "Mr. Democracy and Mr. Science"
enlightenment of the May Fourth Movement took place.
Among them, Mr. Democracy and Mr. Science are
one for the humanities and one for the sciences. From artifacts to people's
ideological and cultural systems, both cannot be neglected.
Due to the drastic measures and
overcorrection, there were many radicals in the May Fourth Movement, and there
was an irrational and one-sided denial of national traditions. After the event,
we should treat it rationally and abandon the shortcomings of the May Fourth
Movement, but we should affirm that the general direction of Mr. Democracy and
Mr. Science was not wrong.
This commonality is universal value, and this
individuality is national characteristics.
The whole world is using paper invented in
ancient China and modern Chinese-made goods. Laozi's philosophy and civil
service system have great influence in the West. China is also using the
imported Internet and continental legal system... Most of the modernization in
the past hundred years is Westernization.
In addition to the level of artifacts,
Chinese people should not only support Mr. Democracy and Mr. Science, but also
share their national wisdom with the world, so that people in the next hundred
years can feel that modernization still has upgrades and innovations, and
history has not ended.
People pay attention to history mainly to
serve the reality and provide inspiration for the present.
In modern society, some countries are still
closed, poor and ignorant, while others are reforming and opening up to the
outside world.
But if they are still like the Qing Dynasty,
only introducing and manufacturing advanced artifacts, but not transforming to
modern ideological and cultural systems, it is just the second foreign version
of the Westernization Movement. Even if there is a temporary
"revival", it will be nothing more than a dream.
近期笔者很少上网发言，主要是在线下和亲友交流，比如小孩喜欢找我讨论历史。有一次，小孩提出了“洋务运动为什么失败？”的问题，我谈了一些浅显的看法，这涉及现代文明不仅仅是物质层面的变革，还需要从精神层面升级。
洋务运动是清廷给自己的续命之举，又称自强运动，只想引进、仿制先进的器物，而顽固抵制现代的思想文化制度。
它们妄图继续以四万万人为牺牲品，来保全清廷一小撮分子的利益，通过搞洋务一时回光返照，自谓“中兴”，然后被甲午海战打回原形。
《易经》说：“形而上者谓之道，形而下者谓之器”，二者并不割裂，无器则道将焉附？无道何以成器？若不由道而器地变革，就会重蹈覆辙。
为什么当年清廷会到了需要续命的地步？
它在器物上的衰败、停滞、倒退，根子还是思想文化制度，而洋务运动为何失败，也是由于隔靴搔痒，治标不治本。
正因为甲午海战证明了洋务运动的失败，才有了辛亥的华夏光复和共和，乃至于五四的“德先生、赛先生”启蒙。
其中，德赛二先生一是文科、一是理科，从器物到人的思想文化制度，二者不可偏废。
由于沉疴猛药、矫枉过正，五四存在诸多过激，对民族传统存在非理性的片面否定，事过境迁，该理性对待，扬弃五四之弊，但肯定德赛二先生的大方向没有错。
在现代社会，各国如水之对流，在共性之下有个性，全球在趋同。
这一共性是普世价值，这一个性是民族特色。
全世界都在使用古代中国发明的纸和现代中国制造的商品，老子哲学、文官制度等在西方颇有影响，中国也在使用舶来的互联网、大陆法系……近百年来现代化的内容大部分就是西化。
在器物层面之外，中国人既应拥抱德先生和赛先生，也应该将民族智慧向世界分享，让未来百年的人们感受到，现代化还有升级创新，历史没有终结。
人们关注历史，主要是为了为现实服务，为当下提供启示。
在现代社会，各国有的依然闭关锁国、贫穷愚昧，也有的变革维新、对外开放。
但如果还像清廷一样，只引进和制造先进器物，而不向现代思想文化制度转型，那不过是第二次、他国版的洋务运动，纵使一时“中兴”，终不过是黄粱一梦罢了。
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