Li Hongzhang and his time have long since passed. However, as a very complicated historical figure in modern China, he played different roles in different periods, especially in many colors, so it is not surprising that people have different views. As the saying goes: "From the side of the ridge, the height is different."

A transitional figure in the transitional era

Li Hongzhang, a young soldier, a middle-aged frontier fortress, and a blind westernization in his later years, galloped in the political arena of the late Qing Dynasty for more than half a century. Liang Qichao commented that Li Hongzhang was "a hero created for the times, not a hero created for the times". Although it is difficult for Li Hongzhang to assume the title of "hero", it is an indisputable fact that he was "made by the times" and influenced the process of "the times".

The day when Li Hongzhang was active in politics coincided with the transition period of the late Qing society from tradition to modern times and from an independent country to a semi-colony. Li Hongzhang, who coincided with the meeting, became a transitional figure who rose in the transitional era of the old and new boundary centers. The times created Li Hongzhang, and Li Hongzhang also put his personal mark on the colorful picture scroll of the times with his words and deeds. Li Hongzhang's life journey spanned the four dynasties of Taoism, Sage, Tong and Guang, and almost involved all major historical events in the late Qing Dynasty. As a "pillar minister" of the Qing Dynasty, he was rooted in feudalism, inclined to capitalism, loyal to the traditional camp and full of reform spirit. His words and deeds are often a mixture of old and new, with "pioneering" and "conformity" inside and resistance and compromise outside, so he sometimes conforms to the trend of the times and sometimes blocks the wheel of history.

Dye your Queena Ding with the blood of farmers.

Li Hongzhang began his military career as a Confucian scholar. By compiling the Huai army to suppress the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and "smooth the disaster", he "sent it to Xinjiang early and praised it". The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement is a feudal declining peasant masses, who tried to change the existing ruling order of the Qing Dynasty with with fire and sword and establish a secular kingdom in China in this world. Although the paradise on earth they yearn for is "omnipotent" and can only wear a pair of feudal shackles with a halo, they oppose "eagle?" The rule of the Qing Dynasty, where wolves bite people everywhere, the disabled are arrogant and the country is humiliated, is undoubtedly a just move that conforms to the trend of the times. Li Hongzhang maintained the decadent rule of the Qing Dynasty, suppressed the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and dyed his tripod with the blood of peasants. Naturally, he goes against the trend of the times and is unforgivable.

Promote the transformation of China society from tradition to modernity.

Li Hongzhang is the head and banner of the Westernization Movement. The Westernization Movement is a product of the times, a positive response to the impact of foreign colonial aggression and the tide of world modernization, and a preliminary result of the collision and blending of Chinese and western cultures in modern times. Compared with contemporary westernization officials, Li Hongzhang not only had a deeper understanding of the domestic and international situation and the way out of China than his colleagues, but also adopted a large number of western methods to hold the New Westernization Policy, and achieved unparalleled great results. He clearly realized that China was in a "once-in-a-thousand-year-old change" and met a "once-in-a-thousand-year-old enemy", and that the Qing Empire was "worried about accumulating salary, which is really dangerous", so he advocated that "those who know the times should change their minds" and should never sleep in the dream of "going to China" and not cheer up. To this end, he proposed that we must learn from the West, adopt the new Westernization policy, and rely on "self-improvement" and "self-reliance". He refused to be old-fashioned, did not shy away from "human monarch", advocated reform for "self-improvement", and advocated Confucianism as the original, supplemented by Xichang's skills. He advocated the combination of "pre-cultivation of the sacred system" and "learning from others". The so-called "cultivating the system of saints before the Ming Dynasty" means "the reform must first change the official system" and improve the feudal political system. The so-called learning from outsiders is to introduce military equipment, machine production and science and technology belonging to the western "material civilization" in an attempt to protect the body of feudalism in the Qing Dynasty with the armor of western capitalism. It must be pointed out that he strongly rejected the western "political civilization", that is, the bourgeois democratic system, and was only keen on introducing the western "material civilization", that is, modern military technology. Obviously, it is impossible for China to get rid of the traditional agricultural society and realize the modernization of capitalism, but after all, it cracked the feudal system and gave birth to capitalism in China, thus making China society take a difficult first step on the road from tradition to modernity.