History cannot be forgotten
The history of the late Qing Dynasty is the pain in the heart of every Chinese with conscience. Open the history books, you will know how much blood and tears are immersed in them. The New York Times, to some extent, shows the crimes committed by these powers in the Qing Dynasty. Editor-in-Chief Zheng Xiyuan visited the New York Times Century Retrospective at New York Public Books and found the New York Times's coverage of China. From the mid-to-late 19th century, before Chinese newspapers and vernacular language became popular, the New York Times began to track china across the centuries.
This is a series of precious records, so it has been compiled into a book in order to give people today an outsider's perspective on the series of events that took place in the Manchu Qing Dynasty.
China's modern history began with the Opium War, which means that all the people of the Chinese nation will always be warned: if they are backward, they will be beaten! Praying and begging are not merciful, only bullying and oppression. And the tragic and magnificent scenes of China's modern history will always be remembered by us from generation to generation through history textbooks, we should not have twilight, we must strengthen ourselves, through their own study and curiosity, contribute their own strength to their own national society.
Many people think that serving the motherland is a very illusory word, no! If you are a cleaner, every street you clean has been cleaned and cleaned by countless people; if you are a civil servant, every convenience policy you implement will make our lives better; if you are a programmer, every program you write has the potential to make our lives more convenient; if you are a teacher, your hard teaching every day may educate countless talents for our country; if you are a soldier, The daily hard work and sweat and blood of the guard make those of us who are protected feel at ease...
The rule of the great unity is not an illusion, not a rare term that exists in the books, and our ancestors were all seeking strategies for governing the country, seeking ways to give people a way to live and work in peace and contentment. Isn't that the same world today? Everyone has a job, everyone has clothes to wear, no one is not full, and even further can achieve a rich standard of living.
I was thinking of writing about the after-reading feeling of "Memories of Empire: Observations of the Late Qing Dynasty of the New York Times", and I wrote it one by one, but it should be a split in thought, and I actually wrote that it was off-topic. I blame it for this, and I feel it.
But this is different from the theme, but it is not a problem. With the good life we have now, we should be able to compare with the past.
02 The interest groups behind the Opium Wars
In the book "Commentary: British Opium Dealers Try to Prevent The Qing Dynasty from Banning Smoking", the New York Times also made a strong criticism of Britain. But criticism cannot replace weapons, nor can it save the suffering Qing people. But I'd like to excerpt this passage anyway:
"Opium consumption is not much for the development of Christianity. Christians should be ashamed to inflict condemnation on these infidels who are being destroyed. What is even more intolerable is that a people that has always helped other nations is now imposing evil on an empire of 360 million people, regardless of whether the people of that empire can afford such a catastrophe; and that the sin-making nation receives no condemnation until this page of shame in its history is kindly forgotten. — "Commentary: British Opium Traffickers Try to Prevent Smoking in the Qing Dynasty," April 26, 1863
Even with the criticism of the New York Times, it had no impact on the British Empire, the Qing Dynasty continued to lose blood, countless opium addicts lost their homes, sold their children and daughters, their wives and children were scattered, and their people were skinny, and the whole society presented a twilight image of a leprosy ghost, and the theft and robbery and cases caused by it were numerous.
How could the British Empire, with such a civilized civilization, be like this?
Because this is a double eagle with one stone, one is to completely destroy the people of the Great Qing Kingdom from the spiritual will, and the other is to let the Great Qing Kingdom continue to lose blood to maintain the rich life of the British royal family and all his people. The East India Company, which was built by the British Empire, took the lead, and all the national royal families were staked, saying that the people were innocent? Indeed, none of the British kings and ministers and the commoners who carried out the opium trade were innocent in this Opium War, who snatched the anointing blood of the Qing people, who damaged the people's bodies and hurt our national spirit. So that there is a shame hat of "the sick man of East Asia". It was not until the 23rd Olympic Games held in Los Angeles, USA, in 1984, that the title of "Sick Man of East Asia" was officially shattered with the chinese shooter Xu Haifeng winning the first gold. Yang Chuanguang won a silver medal in the decathlon at the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome after already winning the gold medal in the decathlon at the 1954 Asian Games. In film and television, in 1972, Bruce Lee starred in the original movie "Jingwumen", which was officially roared out: Chinese is not a sick man.
Again and again to fight, again and again to be unyielding, I think this is our nation.
I am proud to be born in such a country, and I am proud. I will do my best to contribute to the world!
03 Conclusion - Modern history is both a history of humiliation and a history of struggle
Someone said before, why is it that as a Chinese look at modern history, it feels very painful and uncomfortable?
I say that suffering is because you are a Chinese with a conscience, and uncomfortable because you cannot change the history of the past.
But history should not be read in this way, you should see from modern history Chinese the strength and struggle of the people, modern history is not only a history of humiliation, but also a history of struggle.
Remembering the humiliations of the past, so that our country will not have such humiliations again.
Remembering the struggle, let us not forget how we are on the road to prosperity and strength.
Even in my opinion, the Chinese nation expressed in the whole modern history is all-round, unyielding, and uplifting, and the Chinese of the heroes of generations has bravely stood up! That's what I learned from history.
Aircraft carrier Liaoning
bibliography
Zheng Xiyuan, eds., translated by Li Fanghui, Hu Shuyuan, and Zheng Xiyuan, Memories of Empire, Observations of the Late Qing Dynasty, The New York Times[M], Beijing: Contemporary China Publishing House, 2018.11