Ye Mingchen is an important figure that cannot be bypassed in modern Chinese history, and there are many controversies about him in history. But we can't just judge this person with modern vision values, Ye Mingchen brings us not only a piece of laughter, but a contemplation of history, we want to enter this history through him, to see this era.
Portrait of Ye Mingchen
There is no doubt that Ye Mingchen is a typical outstanding talent cultivated by traditional society, who was admitted to the township examination deputy list at the age of eighteen, a mid-level soldier at the age of twenty-six, an inspector at the age of thirty-eight, a governor at the age of forty-three, and a xiangguo at the age of forty-six. His career was rare in the Qing Dynasty. Xue Yuanfu called him: "Ye Xiang is a Hanlin Qingwang, who is not yet forty years old, who has surpassed the rank of Frontier, who has accumulated meritorious achievements, who has been enthroned in worship, and who has doubted the success of ancient and modern times. It is true that Ye Mingchen is an excellent traditional social scholar, which can also explain that what he did was justified in the eyes of the people of Guangzhou. However, when taking modernization as the development direction of history, Ye Mingchen seemed pedantic and ridiculous.
Wuhan, Hubei Province, a statue of Fan Wenlan on the campus of Zhongnan University of Economics and Law
After the New Culture Movement, the field of historiography began to look at Chinese history with a progressive, modern perspective. In this context, not only historians, but also people have made harsh criticisms and scorns on Ye Mingchen. Mr. Fan Wenlan once said: ''So-called'
No fight, no peace, no defense'
, is his ideal diplomatic approach ... In the face of foreign invaders, they became tame captives and slaves. ''When we look at this tragic man with the eyes of the present, all we have left is disdain and contempt.''
But when we walk into this history and look at this living person, we think about whether it is a personal tragedy or a tragedy of the times. With doubts, let us review Ye Mingchen's actions when he was the governor of Liangguang, and re-sort out Ye Mingchen's motives!
Palmerston: Twice launched the Opium War and suppressed the Taiping Rebellion
First of all, on the issue of Guangzhou's entry into the city, before Ye Mingchen became the governor of Liangguang, qi Ying, the minister of Chincha who was the governor of liangguang, was responsible for negotiating with the British, who pursued a policy of compromise with the British, and in April 1846 reached an agreement with the British side in the "Treaty of the Return of the British Army to Zhoushan": "'The time is more and more perfect, and then the British are allowed to enter the city; however, this paragraph, although it is temporarily postponed, must not be abolished." After Qi Ying, Xu Guangjin and Ye Mingchen were in charge of Guangdong. After the arrival of the two
The Art of Taming
But it is diametrically opposed to the compromised foreign policy of the Elder Ying, and their methods of dealing with Westerners are concentrated in the two aspects of rejection and deception, and Ye Mingchen is the most typical representative of them. For the issue of Guangzhou's entry into the city, he has always stubbornly adhered to the bottom line of refusing to enter the city and will never give in. Ye Mingchen advocated relying on the people of Guangzhou to resist the British, and encouraged the masses to resist the British, and finally used the public opinion to refuse the British army to enter the city. At this time, because Palmerston was not ready for a second war, the British Empire retreated first.
In this matter, Ye Mingchen refused to let the British army enter the city for the national shame that the British army was forced to pay six million taels of silver when the British army invaded Guangzhou, and at the same time, this was also the common hope of the people of Guangzhou and the traditional scholars, at this time, Ye Mingchen obeyed the people and safeguarded local rights and interests. On the issue of entering the city, it can be seen that Ye Mingchen has not lost the patriotic tradition of traditional scholars, and in the face of the fierce ethnic conflict between China and the West, his blood for the shame of the snow country is still there. But he did lack modern ideas, and also let Guangzhou lose an opportunity for modern development.
Background to the signing of the Whampoa Treaty
This was followed by the amendment of the treaty, and the Five Ports Trade Charter: Customs Tariff Rules stipulates: "To the different situations of each port, all trade and sea surface paragraphs may not be without slight variations, and after twelve years, the two countries should send personnel to exercise fair discretion. Because the British were not satisfied with the situation after the five ports of commerce, the matter of amending the treaty had long been brewed, and it was Ye Mingchen who was the governor of Liangguang at this time. And Ye Mingchen was unwilling to deal with Westerners. "Whenever There is a diplomatic matter involved in China, outsiders are particularly strict, and every time they receive a document, they will answer it in numbers, or they will not answer it." Gu Qi's technique only stops here, and he does not despise the way of making friends with neighbors and communicating with the countries of trade; he does not try to judge the weakness of the situation of the various countries, but seeks to determine it. As a result, bao Ling, the new British minister, could not see Ye Mingchen at all, let alone negotiate with him. Therefore, for Bao Ling, his dissatisfaction and resentment are increasing. For the above two things, Ye Mingchen's bottom line was to resolutely forbid the British to enter the city and resolutely not to revise the treaty. It can be seen from here that Ye Mingchen is also a traditional outstanding scholar and doctor who has undergone the influence of science and has a national integrity and scrupulously abides by the mission of defending the territory. But beneath this is the tragic arrogance and the sorrow of ignorance.
''Aro' incident
Shortly after these two incidents, the "Yarrow" incident occurred, the British strongly protested against the Chinese side insulting the British flag, and did not have the permission of the British consul to arrest the crew, he demanded that the British flag be respected in the future, all 12 sailors be released, and within 48 hours, the governor of Liangguang issued a written apology, but Ye Mingchen at that time sternly denied that there was any flag on board at that time. He also questioned why the consul intervened in a case in which a Chinese patrol detained Chinese on a ship moored in a Chinese port and owned by Chinese. The British consul in Guangzhou, Pasha Li, thought that Ye Mingchen's reply was unsatisfactory, so he ordered the seizure of a Chinese division ship as a threat of compensation. After a long standoff, Ye Mingchen released 12 crew members on the 22nd, but flatly refused to apologize. On the 23rd, the British navy in China launched a brazen attack on Guangzhou, so the Second Opium War broke out, and Ye Mingchen would be discredited in the future. At the beginning of the war, the British army bombarded Guangzhou with artillery, at that time, Ye Mingchen was in the school yard to parade around the horse and arrow, when the cannon came from the east, Ye Mingchen did not move, two days later, the Westerners '' drove the cannon to attack the Governor's Office, Si Dao came to see him, please take shelter, Ye Xiang sat in a book, laughing and dispatching'.
It can be said that Ye Mingchen's composure in handling things is very commendable, but when rationality is most needed, Ye Mingchen takes the Zhanyu language as a guide: When his subordinates see that the situation is imminent, please dispatch troops to fortify, and do not allow it; please call the group to practice, and do not allow it; the crowd please, Ye Xiangyi: "Wait for it, after fifteen days, there will be nothing to do."' But these irrational things could not defeat the British after all, and two days later Guangzhou was occupied, and Ye Mingchen eventually became a prisoner. Eventually, he was imprisoned in Calcutta and eventually died in a foreign land.
Hanyang Yizhong, Ye Mingchen statue
This is Ye Mingchen's life, and commenting on his opinions is nothing more than dividing into two kinds of arguments and viewpoints, one is to look at Ye Mingchen's integrity and discipline, to affirm his value. The other is to interpret his backward behavior and thus criticize him.
Exclusive:
We cannot deny Ye Mingchen's supreme integrity, from this point of view, he is even the peak of traditional knowledge, after he was captured, he did not surrender to Bai Gui and betray the country, but compared himself to Su Wu '' Why should he ask Shu to avoid death, Su Qing He Que persuaded him to add food', according to his subordinates: ''The reason why I (Ye Mingchen) did not die, at that time, the Wenyi people wanted to send me to England, heard that his king was known as clear and reasonable, wanted to see the king, and theorized in person, even if he had made peace, why did he provoke for no reason, what was right or wrong, in order to convince his heart, And there is a state system. At that time, this body was already outside the realm, and I did not expect to look at it one day a day, and I could not always go to the country, drowning here, what was the reason for my birth? If the grain you have brought is finished, why eat foreign things?'' Judging from this passage, Ye Mingchen was still bent on serving the imperial court.
As a traditional scholar, after his captivity, he did show a very high degree of integrity. At the same time, in the traditional sense, he abided by the soil and the country, strictly abided by the distinction between Huayi and Yi, and respected etiquette, which are the noble conduct of traditional knowledge elements. At the same time, in the context of the 1850s, he could not be harshly asked to make how modern the choice was, after all, at that time, even the Westerners did not appear, and there were thousands of officials of all sizes in China, and I am afraid that few of them had such a consciousness.
In addition, it is true that he has a lot of backward behavior, these behaviors are indeed Ye Mingchen's life stain, it is his improper handling that largely led to the Second Opium War, it is also he who caused the city of Guangzhou to break through, it is he who has encouraged the arrogance of Britain, these are not the performance of a capable courtier, although he cannot be harshly reprimanded, but he is indeed a traditional defender, and he cannot open his eyes to see the world.
Ye Mingchen's tragedy is not only his personal tragedy, but also the tragedy of the intellectuals of this era, just as Zeng Guofan later said: "'Long-term official, deeply worried about the evolution of Ye Xiang's last road'", his "deep concern" not only expresses the idea of the way for officials and eunuchs, but also the trembling from tradition to modern times.
The tragedy of this era is clearly reflected in people who have crossed the era. For example: foot binding, before the movement of the foot, this is a symbol of beauty, and then after the movement of the foot, the little foot is not wanted. Then this generation of people with small feet is the tragedy of the times, they are not wrong, and the mistakes are indeed the times and society. We can transplant this theory to intellectuals, who have received a traditional education from an early age, they are martyrs of traditional ideas, and suddenly new theories of knowledge come in, making them give up years, decades, decades, decades of knowledge, to accept new theories, it is too harsh.
It can only be said that Ye Mingchen is a portrayal of the tragedy of outstanding intellectuals in this era.