In the era of western colonial expansion, it is actually the process of western civilization expansion. Its way is a combination of military, economic and political. In the collision and conflict with western culture, other major human civilizations, such as Confucian civilization, Indian civilization and Islamic civilization, have to succumb to the influence of western civilization with strong vitality, so that after 100 years, almost all countries or regions have established western-style social management structures in considerable breadth and depth (including * * *), and colonial expansion has inadvertently greatly changed the whole world, thus This is really a causal relationship.
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The west won the world not only by violence, but by its unparalleled advantages in thought, values and religion.
1, which cultivated the seeds of capitalism and opened the modernization process of uncivilized or semi-open countries. By exporting capital and technology to the colonies, the suzerain provided them with infrastructure such as roads. The commodity economy of the colonies also developed, and the pace of urbanization accelerated. Railways, highways, telecommunications, telephones, hospitals and schools appeared, bringing the originally backward colonies into the market economy. Typical examples are India and Hong Kong.
2. In the colonial expansion, the western region broke the backward social structure, eliminated the isolation and isolation of all ethnic groups and countries formed in the past history, and made a historic breakthrough.
3. Spreading western humanistic ideas such as "human rights, freedom, equality, humanity" and publicizing human moral values as never before, thus making all traditional methods popular in some countries a crime. For example, the system of joint burial of husband and wife, which has been popular in India for thousands of years, was forcibly abolished by the British government in 1829; Another example is the female foot-binding fashion that has been popular in China for centuries. 19 12 years, the west urged the then China government to abolish this bad habit. There is also the number of closed vaginas in ancient African cultural customs, which was also stopped by western colonists.
The rudiment of modern government has been established. A rational written constitution and rational laws, a government bound by rules and laws, can only appear under the conditions of western culture. The suzerain country (especially Britain) introduced some democratic factors in some countries, which made more and more people participate in administrative management and adopted the government of most party organizations through elections. These practices laid the foundation for these countries to embark on the road of constitutional democracy after independence (such as India, etc.). ).
5. Modern cultural education has been implemented. In the past, education in non-western civilized countries was not only very backward, but also obscure. The suzerain country vigorously promoted rational, systematic and specialized science education in colonies (such as Hong Kong and India), and trained a large number of modern scientific and humanistic intellectuals, who brought modern scientific knowledge and concepts to all aspects of society and prepared conditions for the change of colonial knowledge and concepts.
Others, such as western architecture, which has a great influence on today's architecture and art, and the wide spread of western art in other regions have also benefited from the common practice of colonial expansion. All these have effectively changed the course of human civilization.
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It is not difficult to imagine what human beings would be like now without the western civilization that accompanied the colonial expansion. Modernity in the world is represented by western civilization and has universal significance. Before the western colonial expansion, other human civilizations were rigid, stagnant, declining, closed and backward. If the West did not break the deadlock by military means, would non-Western civilized countries or regions, including Japan, take the initiative to accept more moral Western civilization, or would they quickly find a way out of modernization by their own civilization? There is no doubt about the answer.
1, Africa. Africa may still live in thatched mud huts, and it is still in the primitive ignorance of slash and burn, fishing and hunting; The "state" is only a scattered and fragmented collection of different races and more tribes, and there is no concept of state in the modern sense, let alone the formation of civic awareness. Africa can be regarded as an extreme example of leap-forward modernization caused by external stimulus.
Before African colonization, most parts of the African continent did not have a "state" and a "nation" formed according to history and logic, and were basically in the tribal society stage of the former nation-state. Without westerners, Africans could not suddenly transition to a civilized society. It is precisely because of this history that Africans do not agree with the concept of state, which makes it difficult for the construction of modern democratic system to truly take root in the African continent. This explains why "modern" Africa, which has been cultivated by external forces, lacks internal driving force, and many countries are poorer after the withdrawal of Westerners.
2. Asia. For example, in India, ancient India may still be a scattered, poor and backward village community system. There is no unified Indian nation and no unified country, but conflicts between tribes and castes continue. After Britain conquered the whole territory of India, India began to achieve reunification, and on this basis, the Indian nation was formed. India's reunification is the primary prerequisite for India's revival.
China and China may still be a country with self-sufficient small-scale peasant economy as the main body, the unity of heaven and man, the supremacy of imperial power, and the worship of officials. "Men in China may still have long braids, women in China are still binding their feet, people in China are still using carriages as transportation, and education in China is Confucius and Imperial Examination ..." (Zhao Dagong's language). Only under the guidance of western values can China people realize that they are "people". Its symbol is an all-round criticism of China's traditional culture since the May 4th Movement, including Confucius' and Mencius' thoughts, patriarchal clan system and hierarchical concept. It is precisely because of the critical reflection on traditional culture that it is possible for China talents to move towards modernization.
Japan, Japan's social situation before Meiji Restoration was very similar to that of China. It's just that the traditional attribute of island culture is closed, but it can't stand any external pressure. /kloc-in the 9th century, the "Black Ship Fleet" led by American colonial fleet Perry knocked on the door of Japan in the shogunate era, which triggered drastic social changes and made Japan quickly embark on the road of modernization.
Arab countries. Although western culture has been advancing in other parts of the world, it has only had a long-term conflict with the Arab Islamic world. The reason lies in the fundamental conflict between Islam and Christianity. In Christianity, man is the "subject": man rules the secular society and God rules the spiritual society; In Islam, man is a "thing": both secular society and spiritual society should be ruled by Allah. In this respect, if we follow the western Christian civilization, it will be "anti-customer-oriented". For Muslims, this is against "God's will" and absolutely outrageous. Although some changes have taken place in the Islamic world after it was colonized, it turned to the west and established a western-style state structure. However, as Islam, the Arab world is hostile to western Christian civilization, and with the painful experience of humiliation in the ninth century, the Arab world generally tries its best to reject western culture. "Islam, in terms of its own characteristics, its religious creed involves everything in secular life: politics, economy, culture, ethics and so on. These tightly wrap people in a strong religious atmosphere, and every step must have a religious basis and obtain religious permission. As a result, the Arab world is struggling in the development of the times.
On the contrary, why do most areas with Confucianism as the core culture accept western civilization to varying degrees? It should be said that traditional Confucianism has not risen to the religious creed of legislation, administration and even economic life as social ideology, and Confucius has not been regarded as an invulnerable and inviolable god. Confucianism is only an ethical symbol that people follow every day, so people will not have a strong "guilt" about its division, deviation and rebellion. Therefore, areas with Confucianism as the core culture, after being invaded by colonialism, learned from a bitter experience and turned to western civilization. )
3. America. American countries are not even as primitive as Africa in the pre-colonial era. Stay in the early days of human food collection. European colonization has enabled the United States to step into a modern civilized society from the most primitive society in 500 years.
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However, when we look at the western colonial history from a positive historical perspective, it does not mean that we are inhuman or unfair. Although the colonial expansion of the west made advanced civilization replace backward civilization and promoted the development of human civilization history, it was carried out in an inhuman and barbaric way in the early days. Therefore, while affirming its positive role, it does not mean giving up its moral condemnation and criticism.