Whenever we talk about the history of the late Qing Dynasty, it is inevitable that there will be some sadness, because this is the most tragic time in China, the rulers are faint and incompetent, and the Qing Dynasty was also signed by the great powers to sell their country. Therefore, most of the members of the imperial court at that time were not very interested, at least in the subjective impression that they were not good people.
In fact, these bad people in our subconscious are similar to ordinary people, even more ordinary than we think. What is more interesting is that many foreign journalists came to the Qing Dynasty that year and left a historical mark on these figures with early photographic techniques.
Let's take a look at the old photos of the late Qing Dynasty, walk into the historical figures that are familiar and unfamiliar to us, and see how they are different from what we imagined.
Qing Dynasty soldiers. This is a shot of foreigners interviewing Qing Dynasty soldiers, and from the photos we can see that the Qing Dynasty soldiers at that time were not like we thought, only knowing that they also had hot weapons with cold weapons. Even, the appearance of these Qing Dynasty soldiers holding hot weapons still looks like this, which really subverts our understanding of the Cold Weapons Qing Dynasty.
And what is more interesting is that some scholars have specifically studied the military history of the Qing Dynasty, and the results of their examination are also very emotional. In fact, as early as the late Ming Dynasty, musket technology has been relatively mature, and the Qing Dynasty once inherited the Ming Dynasty's gunpowder technology.
But unfortunately, the emperors of the Qing Dynasty were afraid of the spread of gunpowder technology to the people, so the Qing Dynasty only allowed the official use of muskets and artillery in small quantities, and even abolished them later. However, we should not think that the Qing Dynasty has not had muskets since then, as early as the 2nd Opium War, the Qing Dynasty troops have been equipped with a large number of musket and foreign gun teams, which is also a model for the Qing Dynasty musket troops.
When the Eight-Power Alliance invaded China, it was even more surprising that the Australian army was temporarily participating in the Eight-Power Alliance, and there was no good uniform or weapon on their bodies, so they still opened the Arsenal of the Qing Dynasty and used the Qing Dynasty's muskets for equipment. That is to say, during the period of the Eight-Nation Alliance, the Qing Dynasty was actually very well equipped, but they were all hidden in the arsenal.
Thus came the more famous in history. The scene of the Boxers charging machine guns with sheep's blood and dog blood.
In addition to the scene where the soldiers trained their muskets, the foreigners also took a picture of Empress Longyu. From this photo, it can be seen that Empress Longyu does not seem to look very good, and seems to be very hunchbacked.
There is a certain record in history of this point, first of all, Empress Longyu did not look very good, and it can even be said that she looked ugly, because he was frightened by the emperor when he was in the cave with him, so he did not go to sleep with the empress all night.
But to say that the empress of the Qing Empire was a lump, that is really not necessarily true. Because, although the choice of the Empress of the Qing Dynasty does not look at the appearance, it must also pay attention to the character and manners. For the classical Chinese official selection system, if we know more about the Nine Pins Zhongzheng system, we should know that an empress who can't even stand well will definitely not be selected.
So why did Empress Longyu behave so hunchbacked? This brings us to the problem of photographic techniques in the early days of that year. Modern society has a miracle called ps, to put it bluntly, it is to make various post-repairs to some not-so-good photos, and then make people look more beautiful.
That is to say, until the modern society in the field of photography, we still have a lot of deficiencies. At that time, the Culture of the East and the West was the first exchange, so the Orientals did not know how to take pictures and pose, and those foreigners did not dare to point out the empresses in the face of strict court rules, so they took this kind of unspecific appearance. Although it seems funny, we also have to admit that when the cultures of the East and the West collide, this kind of farce and pain period is inevitable.
Of course, there are photos of Empress Dowager Longyu, and naturally there are also photos of the famous Empress Dowager Cixi. What is more interesting is that compared to taking pictures, Empress Dowager Cixi may be the most enthusiastic person in the palace. According to official historical records, because Empress Dowager Cixi was frightened by the Eight-Nation Alliance, she communicated with the minister's wife every day to promote the so-called constitution of the late Qing Dynasty and gain the recognition of her by foreigners.
So Empress Dowager Cixi took various photos, including photos of the minister's wife, her own cosplay dressed as Guanyin Niangniang, and of course, some group photos. For example, the following is a lively group photo taken by Empress Dowager Cixi on her 70th birthday, when many Gege and niangniang stood in the lotus flower group, which seemed to be particularly delicate, but there was a person who looked a little dazzling, that is, Li Lianying holding a bamboo pole to hold a boat.
In our imagination, Li Lianying often wears a costume of a great eunuch, and then all kinds of fierce and vicious appearances. But in fact, from the photo, Li Lianying looks very ordinary, if he is not standing next to Empress Dowager Cixi, I am afraid that everyone will think that he is an ordinary migrant worker. I have to say that the gap with the imagination is still quite large.
Since there is a picture of Cixi Lafayette, how can there be a lack of a photo of Yuan Gongbao, who overthrew the Qing Dynasty? As a leading figure in the reform of the late Qing Dynasty, Yuan Shikai still did a lot of interesting things, including the high-speed railway industry, the abolition of the imperial examination, and even the training of the new army.
Moreover, later Yuan Shikai became a real power figure in the Qing Dynasty and overthrew the Qing Dynasty together with Mr. Sun, so in a relatively short period of time, Yuan Shikai was recognized by people from all walks of life, and even Mr. Sun was full of hope for him. At that time, I once sighed that I hoped that President Yuan Da could train 1 million stars for China, and my grandson was willing to build 200,000 miles of railways for China.
Looking back on the scenes of the past, Yuan Shikai can actually be a good person, but he and Mr. Sun are not the same person after all. Yuan Shikai represented progressiveness in his early days, but in his bones he was an old bureaucrat who was mercenary. As he said to Mr. Liang, what is democracy and human rights? I only saw people walking around, but I never saw a single person.
In the photo below, Yuan Shikai sits with some emissaries from various countries, and a cup of tea is placed in front of him. Judging from the photos, Yuan Shikai is not very fierce, and he appears to be somewhat fat, appearing more dignified and atmospheric. But it can be imagined that such a decent-looking figure has become the biggest national thief in modern China.
Through these old photos, we will find that in fact, the historical figures of that year were not a group of demons and ghosts, in fact, they looked like ordinary people. The difference is that in that unique era, they played their respective roles, just some good and some bad.
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