After the outbreak of the Opium War between China and Britain, Zuo Zongtang, who had not yet been admitted as an official, was heartbroken when he saw that the Qing army was vulnerable, and he said in a letter to his friend Li Guangshu: "The bad things of Fang today are not wrong, and the virtuous and adulterous have lost their ways. ''
After the signing of the Sino-British Treaty of Nanjing, Zuo Zongtang, who heard the news, was very depressed. At that time, he was only a cloth cloth, but he still expressed his distress in his family letter: "The British invaded Zhejiang, plundered Wusong, and reached Jiangning, and the collegiate agreement of the five ports of trade was completed." The situation is like this, and the flesh of the other conspirators is better to eat! Dreams are unattainable, and there are no ancient and modern ones. In the face of the humiliation of the country, he said indignantly: "I cannot die in the sea, but I can only buy mountains and hide my ears." But it turned out that Zuo Zongtang was a man with a heart for his homeland, and later actively entered the army and became the pillar of the late Qing Dynasty.
After the opium war broke out, in June 1842, Zeng Guofan wrote in his family letter: "'Rebel Yi was a nuisance in Jiangsu, and on June 11, he captured Zhenjiang, with dozens of large ships cruising on the river; the second capital of Yangzhou in Jiangning was quite dangerous. However, the heavens do not bring calamities, and the saints are on top, so the hearts of the people of the Capital are calm. ''
But the heavens did not bring calamities, and the saints were on top, so the hearts of the people of the Kyoshi were calm. Whether this was his true thoughts or comforting his family is unknown.
In 1900, the 22-year-old French scholar Bo Xihe came to Beijing to buy Chinese books for a French library. Unexpectedly, he encountered the Boxer Rebellion. This young man was not only deeply learned, but also brave in fighting. He fought directly at the entrance of the French Embassy in China with the Boxers who had come to besiege foreign embassies. Bo xihe seized a battle flag from the Boxers. This flag became the pride of Berch and his life, and is still preserved in the Honorary Military Academy in Paris, France.
After the Sino-Japanese War, the Qing Dynasty's Dingguo Duke Zaize visited Japan and asked why Japan could defeat a talented and powerful China. Prime Minister Itō Hirobumi said to Zaizawa: Your country is not without talents, but your country is a land of despotism, no matter the genius or talent, when it comes to despotism, it is all slaves! This is the root cause of your country's ignorance and backwardness that cannot be strong, and it is also the reason why we have defeated you!
In 1792, the British East India Company purchased a number of scientific instruments as gifts to the Qianlong Emperor by the Macartney mission to visit the Chinese Empire, including models of steam engines purchased from bolton Watt's manufacturing plant. Fearing infringement, Watt was very cautious about this and hesitated for a long time before agreeing to sell the steam engine model to the mission to China. However, the steam engine, which represented the most advanced technology at that time, did not arouse the interest of the Qianlong Emperor at all. In this way, China has lost the opportunity to integrate into the trend of world progress.
In ancient China, women's chastity has always been valued. Women who keep their virginity can report to the imperial court after death and set up a 'Chastity Arch'" for recognition. According to historians, from the Zhou Dynasty to the Five Dynasties, there were 92 recorded virtuous martyrs, 152 in the Song Dynasty, 359 in the Yuan Dynasty, and 27,141 in the Ming Dynasty. However, compared with the later Qing Dynasty, it is "small witch sees big witch". In the Qing Dynasty, there were as many as 1 million virtuous martyrs who were commended.
On March 5, 1940, 74-year-old Cai Yuanpei died of illness in Hong Kong Sanatorium and Hospital. After the news was announced, a total of 5,000 people in Hong Kong attended the ceremony. People called him "academic titan, model of the world".