Many people may not be able to believe the fact that the heavy industry in the late Qing Dynasty of the Republic of China was stronger than that of the Republic of China, and Zongheng originally looked at this matter with the eyes of development, insisted that the heavy industry of the Republic of China period completely caught up with the Qing Dynasty, and came up with the data from high school history textbooks to support their views.
With the industrial level of the golden decade of the Republic of China, how can it not even be built a warship, it turns out that Zongheng was still young at that time, and the result was that his face was beaten by the reader!
In the late Qing Dynasty, warships could be built, but not during the Republic of China period?
In fact, another important reason is that the warships of the late Qing Dynasty were relatively easy to build, and in the Republic of China period, the warships that needed to be built had higher technical requirements.
There was a problem in the past that the United States was able to build hundreds of aircraft carriers during World War II, and now it is difficult to build an aircraft carrier, which is the truth, the aircraft carrier of that period is like a toy compared with the current aircraft carrier.
The second half of the 19th century was a period of rapid development of warships, as long as you have money, you can immediately build one of the world's top two displacement warships, but as long as you do not invest for three or five years, you will be eliminated immediately.
After the defeat of the Sino-French War, the Fujian Marine Division was all sunk in the Battle of Mawei, the Qing government was painfully determined, and in just three years it built the first fleet in Asia and the sixth displacement in the world, and the Pingyuan made by the Fuzhou Shipping Bureau at that time represented the highest level of China's shipbuilding industry at that time.
However, this ship was still quite advanced when it was first launched, and by the time of the Battle of Jiawu, only six years had been unable to keep up with the times, when the Yoshino purchased by Japan was not one or two levels more advanced than the warships of the Beiyang Marine Division, the ship was larger than ours, running faster (Yoshino was twice that of Pingyuan), the firepower was still fierce, and at the time of the Battle of Jiawu in 1894, Yoshino could be said to be the most advanced warship on the Asian battlefield.
However, only a decade after the Sino-Japanese War, Yoshino had already been reduced from a most advanced warship to a third-line warship during the Russo-Japanese War.
In this respect, the warships built in 1888 and the warships built in 1928 are completely different things, and it is reasonable that the National Government cannot vigorously build warships.
Why didn't heavy industry develop vigorously during the Republic of China?
The late Qing Dynasty Western Affairs Movement and the industrial development of the Republic of China period were exactly the opposite, and the Western Affairs Movement attached importance to heavy industry rather than light industry, resulting in the state taking out a large amount of money without direct returns, and ultimately neither "self-improvement" nor "seeking prosperity".
During the Republic of China period, light industry was developed instead of heavy industry, which led to insufficient development in the military industry, so it was impossible to build warships.
In the late Qing Dynasty, at least there was a moment of self-production and self-improvement, and in the Republic of China period, it can be said that it was self-defeating and self-abandonment, why is this?
The most fundamental reason is that the warlords in the Republic of China period were fighting each other, and there was a lack of a stable political environment, so that the China Steamship Merchants General Bureau at that time was built by Li Hongzhang itself, and later his grandson Li Guojie served as the chairman, and as a result, when the Northern Expedition reached Shanghai, the Nationalist government intended to take it into domestic production.
Of course, the Republic of China government was also unable to operate, in 1928 the national steel production was 30,000 tons, but during the reign of the National Government, it did not reach 50,000 tons until 1935, which shows the neglect of heavy industry.
For most warlords, heavy industry is a big investment, a slow return, not as real as the purchase, it is possible that today is your territory, tomorrow it will be occupied by others, to make wedding clothes for others.
At that time, the only place where heavy industry was developed was in the northeast, and the Fengzhi under Zhang Zuolin not only built China's largest arsenal, but also purchased a larger warship and transformed it into an "aircraft carrier".
Compared with the local warlords, he at least regarded this place as a territory, and in order to maintain this territory, he could make a little appropriate investment.
And the Jiangsu and Zhejiang chaebols under the National Government are themselves the comprador class, and they can make a lot of money through import and export trade, who will engage in industry, let alone heavy industry, which is so slow to make money, that is, light industry, they will not engage in ah!
Therefore, it is not that heavy industry is difficult to deal with, but that the National Government does not have the enthusiasm to do so.