The Qing Dynasty can be said to be the only feudal dynasty in ancient Chinese history that has both extreme prosperity and extreme decline, unfortunately caught up with the new trend of the times, the whole world was connected by the navigation movement, capitalism was born abroad, a large number of countries are reforming to seek new development, but the Qing Dynasty is still stuck in its own ways, thinking that it is a heavenly kingdom, but it is actually ignorant and decaying. In fact, the Qing Dynasty also had a prosperous era, the Prosperous Era of Kangqian, such a prosperous era is also one of the best in history, and it is the representative of the feudal dynasty, so what was the prosperity of the time?
In the Oriental civilization, the Central Plains culture is absolutely the most classic, there has never been a fault, in the eyes of foreigners has always been mysterious, in 1793 AD, the British sent a delegation to China, want to understand the China at that time, their understanding of China is still stuck in the former Marco Polo narrative, everywhere is gold and treasure. But the facts disappointed them, fifty-eight years after Qianlong, the prosperity is no longer the same year, the British people see the people only wearing coarse clothes and linen, that is, these people were sent to visit China after their death, wash and cook for the British, and pour tea and water.
They also found that the people here were emaciated, and always worked expressionlessly, and they would eat the leftover meals of the messengers, and if they gave a little reward, they would be thankful, and the tea used by the British, they would also take it home and continue to drink it. As a result, the British mission wrote "I See the Prosperous Era of Qianlong", which even recorded that China's poor and backward people did not have a rich life, ate rough tea and light rice, and lived in thatched huts. Judging that a country is strong and strong, and the lives of ordinary residents are also one of the key points of investigation, so it seems that such a prosperous world is actually a false name.
But even in this case, compared with the ancient dynasties and dynasties, the development is already very good, but with the progress of the times, the so-called Kangqian prosperous world is only developed in the feudal society, enjoying the glory and wealth is basically the royal family and princes and nobles, the businessmen who develop the economy are the last stream of society, so ordinary people can often only just achieve the basic conditions for survival and life, which is simply inferior to other world powers in the same period.
In the fourteenth century, the standard of living of Europeans was not up to standard, not as good as Chinese, and meat was rarely eaten, just eating some bread and drinking some soup. But then the industrial revolution of the eighteenth century brought great changes to society, just in the early stage, ordinary people can already eat meat, eggs and milk are not lacking, drink beer, life has undergone earth-shaking changes, moisturized a lot, and when the revolution is over, their living standards have improved again.
In addition, the concept of the supremacy of imperial power in feudal society made the common people submit to the face of power, and foreigners at that time had realized the importance of human rights, and they believed that the Chinese people had lost their human rights. It is said that at that time, the British mission was in the coastal area of Zhejiang, wanting to let a local person be the navigator, although the officials promised to complete the matter, but no one was willing to be the navigator, the officials were beating and cursing the people, the British could not believe that they saw the scene, and there would be people to scold, which is rare in Europe.
For example, the King of Prussia wanted to build a new palace on the wind mill street of the commoners, but this would block the wind and prevent the wind mill from turning, so the people protested, and the owner of the wind mill went directly to the court to sue the king, and finally the king compensated him. In China's feudal society, such a thing would certainly not happen, the majesty of the emperor could not be provoked by anyone, and the land of the whole country was free for him to occupy.
Eighteenth-century China was managed by Qianlong alone, he alone practiced autocracy, let the country develop according to his ideas, although the economy has been developed, but it is only the national treasury is full, the people's life is still barely living, in addition to the increasing population, it is true that they are all fed, but the spirit of the Chinese nation has been eroded, the people are accustomed to being slaves, against the grain, so the common people in the eyes of the British, life is not very happy.
At this time, the foreign countries have undergone earth-shaking changes, with the "constitution" and "representative system", the rulers can not be alone, they also need to be restricted and sanctioned by law, ordinary people also have human rights, can fight for their own interests and protect themselves. Such an approach is undoubtedly unbelievable in the eyes of China's rulers, who cannot understand why the power of the rulers should be decentralized, so they will not make changes and will still live by self-deception.
Resources:
["General History of China, Ming and Qing Dynasties: Chapter 6 The Extreme Prosperity and Decline of the Qing Dynasty", "The Records of the British Envoys Seeing Qianlong"]