Empress Dowager Cixi saw the electric lamp for the first time and said 7 words, Li Lianying: The Qing Dynasty is going to die!
In China's five-thousand-year-long history, there have been countless empresses, and Empress Dowager Cixi, as the actual ruler of the late Qing Dynasty, has controlled the fate of hundreds of millions of people for a long time.
In fact, the various evaluations of Empress Dowager Cixi by later generations are also inexhaustible.
Some of those who hold a positive opinion put it this way: Empress Dowager Cixi was very politically skilled and good at manipulating the balance of power between pro-noble courtiers, and many dynasties in history died out in the late period due to the fall of the ruler's power, but the Qing Dynasty was able to survive for decades because Empress Dowager Cixi firmly controlled absolute authority.
Of course, most people who hold negative reviews give their own reasons. For example, in the 1885 war against France, when the Qing army had won a great victory in Zhennanguan and successfully crushed the French attempt to land on Taiwan, but in this excellent situation, Empress Dowager Cixi chose to take the initiative to seek peace and ended the war by signing the Sino-French Treaty of Tianjin, which lost the suzerainty of Vietnam, which really made the people at that time resentful and helpless, and then the subsequent treaties of loss of power and humiliation were also signed one by one.
In fact, Empress Dowager Cixi ended the war by taking the initiative to seek peace and sign various treaties, in essence, in order to maintain the Manchu Qing rule over China, and an important reason for the long-term strategy of closing the country to the country was also to prevent the Han and other ethnic people from learning more advanced culture and various science and technology from the West.
Therefore, when the Western countries began the vigorous industrial revolution, the Rulers of the Qing Dynasty, headed by Empress Dowager Cixi, were still intoxicated by their dreams of heaven and heaven. Finally, due to her own ignorance, Empress Dowager Cixi often showed a very funny side when facing the products of the Industrial Revolution, of course, the main history of the Qing Dynasty would not and did not dare to record, but we can dig some from some other fragmentary historical materials.
It is said that on the day of Empress Dowager Cixi's 67th birthday, Yuan Shikai gave a car bought from a Westerner to Empress Dowager Cixi as a birthday gift, and Empress Dowager Cixi was very surprised when she saw it, and asked: "This thing runs so fast, how much grass do you have to eat in a day?" This is really laughable to hear, but I don't know that at that time, the Western countries had already begun the second industrial revolution.
The problem is that when the First Industrial Revolution was carried out in Western countries, some enlightened people in the Qing Dynasty had already introduced trains, and when they were presented to Empress Dowager Cixi, she asked someone to remove the front of the locomotive, and finally let the horse run forward with the train carriage in front. Pathetic!
Therefore, it is not surprising that when Empress Dowager Cixi first saw the electric lamp, there was also a big farce.
In fact, after the Western countries invented the electric light, they have been thinking about how to open up the huge market in China, but they have been opposed by Cixi. Therefore, some businessmen in the West could not find Li Lianying, a red person around Empress Dowager Cixi, and hoped that Li Lianying would persuade Cixi, and Li Lianying was happy to be this lobbyist because she often contacted those foreign-related princes and ministers and was more open-minded.
Of course, Li Lianying really wanted to surprise Empress Dowager Cixi, so she quickly asked someone to place some electric lights in the imperial garden, but she didn't expect that after Empress Dowager Cixi saw it, she actually shouted: "How can eggplant be placed here?" "He looked very angry. At that time, there were still many eunuchs and palace women standing next to them, and they wanted to laugh after listening to it, but they did not dare to laugh, but they succumbed to the majesty of Empress Dowager Cixi, and had to pounce on a "Lafayette spare his life."
Li Lianying also wanted to laugh very much at this time, but finally controlled it, and quickly explained to Empress Dowager Cixi, "This is the electric lamp of the Westerners, the electric lamp does not need to burn oil, and it is very convenient to use, clean and bright, very safe, Lafayette You can also add blessings and longevity after you use it", Empress Dowager Cixi listened, which was discouraged.
