1. Zeng Guofan and modern culture in China
China's modern culture and China's traditional culture are opposites in the eyes of many people. China's traditional culture is feudal culture, and the core of feudal culture is Confucianism, which is characterized by "emphasizing ethics, ignoring science, emphasizing politics, neglecting production, emphasizing tradition, neglecting innovation, emphasizing conservatism, and neglecting reform, that is, emphasizing morality, equipment, essence, purpose, righteousness and benefit". China's modern culture is actually a capitalist culture. It is not bred from the soil of China, but a modern western culture transplanted from abroad. The core of modern western culture is science and democracy.
Yan Fu once made a comparison between Chinese and western cultures, pointing out: "China attaches the most importance to the three cardinal guides, and westerners understand equality first;" China kisses, while western Shang Xian. China governs the world by filial piety, while the west governs the world by public; China respects the Lord and the west enriches the people; China is expensive, with the same wind, Westerners prefer to live in the state ... "... Others say:" The essence of China culture is the way of saints, and the essence of western culture is the art of utensils. "There is no doubt that Chinese and Western cultures are essentially antagonistic. However, when the modern western culture is transplanted into the soil of China to germinate and grow, it must have the characteristics of China.
China's modern culture was produced and developed in the long-term confrontation, struggle, reconciliation and integration between western modern culture and China's traditional culture. This is a modern western culture with China characteristics. Therefore, although there are opposites, there are similarities between modern culture in China and traditional culture in China. The historical figures in this cultural transition period have the character of accommodating two cultures. Zeng Guofan is a representative figure in this respect.
Critics generally believe that Zeng Guofan is a master of China traditional culture. Some even commented that, in a sense, Zeng Guofan is the embodiment of China's traditional culture. If Confucian culture can be divided into three stages: early stage, middle stage and late stage, and there is corresponding Theory of Three Represents's character theory, then Confucius in the early stage, Zhu in the middle stage and Zeng Guofan in the later stage. Zeng Guofan did inherit the traditional culture of China with Confucianism as the core. Many papers submitted to the conference this time involve this point.
Zeng Guofan completely followed the Confucian road of "self-cultivation, keeping the family in order, governing the country and leveling the world" and finished his life. He abides by the principle of "three cardinal guides and five permanents", and holds that "although a gentleman is unkind, a minister cannot be unfaithful, a father is unkind, a son must be unfilial, a husband is immoral, and a wife must be unhappy." His own self-cultivation, such as "ruling the people with courtesy", "using both hands", "keeping profits and protecting Thailand", "combining rigidity with softness", "managing the family diligently, being sincere and trustworthy", and his family motto "eight books, eight characters, four essays and four defeats" all show that Zeng Guofan is authentic. Commentators have different opinions about the "Three Cardinal Principles and Five Permanent Principles".
Some people regard the "Three Cardinals and Five Permits" as dross, even the most untimely dross, while others disagree, thinking that since China traditional culture should be divided into two, why not? Can we say that the core of China's traditional culture is dross? Only the non-core part has some essence? Obviously, we can't say that. If so, wouldn't it be a total denial of traditional culture? In fact, for a long time in the past, loyalty, filial piety, loyalty, benevolence, righteousness, courtesy, wisdom and faith were all regarded as dross, or were not discussed or advocated, which did not bring any benefits to our society, but suffered greatly. Some critics say that Zeng Guofan suppressed the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in order to maintain China's traditional culture. Others said that Zeng Guofan maintained not the essence of China traditional culture, but the dross.
Since Zeng Guofan is a master of China's traditional culture, can it be said that Zeng Guofan totally rejects western culture? Many critics think he can't. He is neither a feudal die-hard who rejects western culture regardless of its advantages or disadvantages, nor a so-called "total westernization" that copies western culture regardless of China's national conditions. On the contrary, he advocated the combination of Chinese and western cultures.
Zeng Guofan holds a sublation attitude towards Chinese and western cultures and has a clear understanding of each other's advantages and disadvantages. His strong national consciousness made him put China's traditional culture in the main position, supplemented by western culture. Some critics pointed out that Zeng Guofan, while holding high the banner of "defending morality", tapped the spirit of "applying the world to practice" in traditional Confucianism, formed a new pattern of "benefiting the body through justice", endowed traditional culture with new vitality, and restored its role of calling scholars and maintaining people's hearts. It is precisely because he has a thorough understanding of the length of traditional culture that he can absorb and carry forward the essence of traditional culture and introduce modern western culture.
Some critics pointed out that Zeng Guofan was a leader in introducing western science and technology and an advocate in introducing modern western culture. "The first player who proposed' learning to build a ship and build a gun' was him; He was the first person to build a ship; He was the first person to send someone abroad to buy a full set of' production tools'; The first person who proposed' official supervision and commercial office' was him. " It was he who first promoted Rong Hong's plan to send overseas students.
As a master of China's traditional culture, why did Zeng Guofan become a leader in introducing modern western culture? Why can you be the pioneer of modern culture in China? Some commentators said: "This is mainly due to two reasons: one is the inherent nature of China's traditional culture, and the other is Zeng Guofan's own characteristics". They think that the core of China's traditional culture is "Confucianism is both conservative and enterprising, closed and open", but they don't agree that Confucianism is completely closed and conservative, but it is precisely the enterprising and open nature of Confucianism that leads China to put forward his own countermeasures in the face of the western capitalist ideological and cultural system, which has never been encountered for thousands of years: "learning from the middle school as the body, using western learning" and "trying to maintain his own ideological and cultural system"
This is the objective aspect of Zeng Guofan's creation of modern culture. Its subjective aspect is its own reason. The commentator said, "First of all, he is not only a scholar, but also a politician. The purpose of his learning all knowledge is to solve the political problems faced by the ruling class. Therefore, the knowledge he contributed is not mainly Neo-Confucianism, but the study of the world. " He is concerned about the highest interests of the whole ruling class and its rise and fall, not just the prosperity of a school. Therefore, he has no concept of learning, and advocates accepting all useful knowledge and learning, "using it when necessary and choosing its strengths" and "learning from foreigners to control foreigners".
Moreover, in the process of suppressing Taiping rebels, Zeng Guofan borrowed foreigners' tools and strength, and achieved results, which made him taste the sweetness and enhanced his self-confidence in learning from foreigners. Some commentators agree with the above analysis of subjective and objective aspects, but emphasize that China traditional culture and western modern culture are not absolutely opposite, and there are the same aspects besides the opposition. Only by recognition can two opposing cultures blend with each other, resulting in the modern culture of China with the characteristics of China's history and national conditions.
Commentators further raised another question, that is, did Zeng Guofan change his cultural thought because he introduced modern western culture? Some commentators said: "Zeng Guofan was the last representative of Neo-Confucianism and the last spiritual pillar of China feudal society, and all his thoughts belonged to feudalism. In fact, if we look at Zeng Guofan's remarks and writings, besides consciously defending feudalism, he also unconsciously abandoned and changed feudalism. Especially in the cultural spirit, it has taken a stumbling step from traditional culture to modernity; It has had an important and far-reaching impact on the formation and development of China's modern cultural spirit.
I also support this statement. Because, with the entry of modern western culture, China's social existence has changed, and Zeng Guofan's thought is likely to change. Especially as a leader who introduced modern western culture, his thoughts could not remain unchanged. Chinese and western cultures can't be put in people's minds like two kinds of persimmons (native persimmons and exotic persimmons) in a sack without interfering with each other. Earlier, we mentioned that we should see the confrontation, conflict and struggle between Chinese and western cultures. The confrontation, conflict and struggle between Chinese and western cultures exist not only in society, but also in Zeng Guofan's thought. Therefore, the difference between Zeng Guofan and Woren is not only the difference that Zeng Guofan advocated the introduction of western science and technology, but also the difference between a westernization leader who adapted to the times and a feudal die-hards, mainly the difference between the old and new schools. The struggle between them is not a struggle for individual issues, but a struggle for socialism. There are also comments that "Zeng Guofan really started the transformation from ancient cultural spirit to modern cultural spirit".
Therefore, we can use such a couplet to summarize Zeng Guofan's cultural achievements and contributions:
Zong Song Han Hong, Wei Daochong Wen, followed the Confucianism of the previous dynasty;
Save the nation, revitalize industry, inspire education and create modern romance.
Of course, we can't overestimate Zeng Guofan's cultural achievements and contributions, we can only seek truth from facts. After all, he just started the transformation from traditional culture to modern culture in China. He is only the main initiator of modern culture in China, and naturally he has many defects. His conservatism is still great. For example, some critics pointed out that when he rectified the salt policy in Huai 'an and Huai 'an, he "resolutely opposed the use of foreigners to manage the tax collection of salt boats, and he was dissatisfied with his children taking western medicine for their wives." "However, we can't expect too much from Zeng Guofan. For example, he said, "Western political systems and ideological systems, such as republicanism and freedom, equality and fraternity, will never be introduced. "
Actually, it's not his personal problem. No one else has introduced these things. For quite some time after him, no one advocated the introduction of these things. Only after the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 did some people in China learn the political and ideological weapons of evolution, civil rights and equality from the western bourgeois arsenal to criticize feudal culture. Some commentators said, "In the period of great historical and cultural transformation, people's understanding of this new situation, new situation and new things was relatively slow from the beginning, not to mention that in the confrontation and conflict between the old and new cultures, Chinese and Western cultures, the power of middle schools (old learning) was far greater than that of' western learning' (new learning) for a long time. Even among advanced thinkers, the confrontation between the old and new cultures was very obvious."
Zeng Guofan's failure to introduce the western Republican system and freedom, equality and fraternity is not his personal problem, but a social problem, a historical problem and a time problem. We can't talk about culture by culture, but we must talk about cultural changes in connection with changes in social, political and economic systems. "As long as the economic base and political system of feudal society do not undergo major changes, the structure and level of feudal culture cannot be fundamentally changed." During Zeng Guofan's activities, China's feudal economic base did not change greatly, and the capitalist mode of production only germinated and emerged in China because Zeng Guofan introduced western technology.
The economic base has not yet been able to put forward the requirements of introducing western Republican system and freedom, equality and fraternity. If Zeng Guofan really proposed to introduce the western Republican system and freedom, equality and fraternity, then he was not a pragmatic person, but a visionary. However, China at that time didn't even have the conditions to produce such a visionary. In addition, we should also see that cultural changes and the construction of new culture have a long logical process from the object level to the system level and then to the ideological level. Zeng Guofan can only do what he could do during the pioneering period of modern cultural relics in China. Well, he did it. So we call him the founder of modern culture.
2. Zeng Guofan and Taiping Heavenly Kingdom
Zeng Guofan fought against Taiping Army for nearly 20 years, and defeating Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was the peak of his career. The evaluation of him has to be related to the evaluation of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. Some commentators insist on the traditional view that Zeng Guofan's suppression of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom is the sinner and executioner of history. Because the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom movement is a peasant uprising, and the peasant uprising is the driving force of historical development. However, some commentators hold different views and think that "from the Marxist point of view, whether the cultural concept determines everything or the peasant war is the driving force of historical development, it is subjective and one-sided.
We evaluate historical figures and events mainly to see whether they promote or hinder the development of society. Hong Xiu tried to introduce the teachings of western religions to launch a peasant war to overthrow the Manchu Dynasty, but he introduced not the ethical spirit of Protestantism, but the religious theology of the Middle Ages, which blended with the feudal superstition of China and the simple and equal concept of peasant uprising and became the spiritual pillar of theocracy in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. Therefore, if the Taiping Army wins and Hong Xiuquan's theocracy is consolidated, it may pull China back to the dark ages in Europe.
As a defender of traditional culture and feudal regime, Zeng Guofan's position is obviously conservative. ""However, Hong Xiuquan's theocracy is more backward than the feudal regime maintained by Zeng Guofan, which has the least two evils. Zeng Guofan's victory in suppressing the Taiping Army shortened the tinkering time and was more conducive to the development of social history. " This is consistent with Feng Youlan's view on the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. But I don't agree with Feng Youlan that the suppression of Taiping rebels played a role in resisting imperialist cultural aggression.
Some commentators totally disagree with Feng Youlan's point of view, saying that "Hong Xiuquan, Yang and other Taiping Heavenly Kingdom * * *, although painted with a layer of Shinto teachings such as' Heavenly Father and Heavenly Brother', are ignorant, backward and superstitious, which is different from the general church. As far as programmatic documents such as "China Land System" and "Senior Minister New Chapter" are concerned, it is actually. Therefore, the assumption that "theocracy" has regressed to the dark ages is obviously unfounded. Therefore, it is still difficult to deny the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and Zeng Guofan's guilt in suppressing the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom cannot escape. "
Some critics believe that Zeng Guofan's suppression of Taiping Army is certainly a crime, but this crime does not affect Zeng Guofan's becoming a worthy figure, because many outstanding elements of the landlord class hated or suppressed the peasant uprising, from Yue Fei in the Southern Song Dynasty, Wang Chuanshan in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties to Lin Zexu in modern times, and it does not affect them becoming positive figures such as national heroes. By the same principle, every historical figure should be treated equally. It is the nature of the landlord class to suppress the peasant uprising, which is their class limitation. It is important to see what else they have done. What role did they play in the development of social productive forces?
Some commentators believe that Zeng Guofan's merits and demerits in suppressing the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom are just the opposite of those of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom itself, and that the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom has three major merits and demerits: First, it has greatly impacted the entire feudal ruling order; Second, although the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom did not go beyond the framework of the old peasant uprising in form, it showed the trend of capitalist modernization; Third, the Taiping Army dealt a heavy blow to foreign invaders.
These achievements of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom must be affirmed, and Zeng Guofan, who made these achievements, was certainly guilty of suppressing the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. But the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom also has it. First, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom did not liberate the peasants, but bound them under the feudal exploitation system in some name. Second, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom did not represent and establish new relations of production. The egalitarian blueprint it designed is the utopian thought of agricultural socialism, which is essentially reactionary. Thirdly, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom indiscriminately opposed the traditional culture of China with Confucian culture as the mainstream, which had a negative impact on the society at that time and later generations.
If both regimes are feudal, it is the same to destroy either one. Since the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom has been transformed into a feudal regime or even a theocracy, we don't have to give it special treatment just because it originated from farmers. It is hard to say that this regime will be better than the Qing regime. Zeng Guofan's suppression of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom should not be found guilty, but should be regarded as meritorious service. In short, Zeng Guofan's suppression of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom has merits and demerits.
3. Zeng Guofan and Westernization Movement
Now, it is generally believed that Zeng Guofan is the leader of the Westernization Movement. With people's re-understanding of the Westernization Movement, it is necessary to re-understand his leader Zeng Guofan. The Westernization Movement proved to be the first modernization movement in China, so Zeng Guofan became the pioneer of China's modernization. Although foreigners with various purposes participated in China's modernization movement from the beginning, its mainstream was China people's own activities, and its patriotism and progressiveness were recognized by more and more people. Therefore, there is little controversy about the patriotism and progressiveness of Zeng Guofan's westernization thought and its practice.
There was no big debate on this point at this meeting. Some commentators said that Zeng Guofan's westernization thought should be divided into two parts: Zeng Guofan put Wei Yuan's thought of "learning from foreigners" into practice, took the lead in building ships and guns, and set up modern military industry and science and technology, which should be affirmed; It should be denied that it preaches "not to control foreigners" but "to control the people". In this regard, some critics retort that it is unfounded to say that Zeng Guofan's creation is "not used to control foreigners" but "devoted to controlling the people". Zeng Guofan said, "At present, resources are used to help suppress economic movements, so that we can temporarily worry; It will be especially beneficial to learn to build a cooking boat in the future. " The purpose of self-improvement and defense is obvious.
Some commentators specifically discussed the formation, content, origin and orientation of Zeng Guofan's thought of self-improvement and anti-aggression, which deepened people's understanding of Zeng Guofan's thought of self-improvement and anti-aggression, and further affirmed Zeng Guofan's patriotic spirit. Some commentators have put forward new views on Zeng Guofan's "learning to build a ship and build a gun" Before this, people thought that Zeng Guofan's academic branch one only inherited Wei Yuan's "academic branch one", but did not see the difference between "wisdom" and "skill".
The commentator said that the connotation of "wisdom" is far greater than "technology". "Technology" contains nothing but weapons to build strong ships and guns. Wei Yuan clearly said: "Use their technology and forbid them to spread academic knowledge". However, Zeng Guofan's "wisdom" includes not only the skill of "building a strong ship and sharpening guns", but also the skill of "building weapons" and related scientific culture or other advanced cultures, and even part of what Wei Yuan wanted to ban. Zeng Guofan not only had this idea, but also put it into practice. It can be seen that Zeng Guofan has a farther vision, greater courage and a more open mind than Wei Yuan. Zeng Guofan took "learning from others" as a program of action to learn western culture, which made him more brilliant than his peers.
This meeting still has different views on the achievements of the Westernization Movement advocated by Zeng Guofan. Some commentators insisted on the original view that "the Westernization Movement finally failed, which not only failed to fulfill the promise of Qiang Bing's rich countries, but plunged the Chinese nation into an unprecedented crisis". Most theorists disagree with this view and think that "after Zeng Guofan's death, the Westernization Movement led by him received an effect that cannot be ignored or underestimated. As far as anti-aggression is concerned, the activities have played a positive role in the expansion of Japanese invasion of Taiwan in 1874, the recovery of Xinjiang by the left, the victory of the Sino-French war battlefield, the repeated defeat of Japan's plot to annex Korea and then invade China, and the delay of the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War. "
Some commentators also said, "Our conclusion is that Zeng Guofan is a pioneer of the Westernization Movement, which is a national salvation movement to revitalize China. Although the goal of Westernization Movement itself has not been achieved, it has far-reaching significance in the modern history of China. It promoted the industrial revolution in China, promoted the development of national industry and commerce in China, trained a number of revolutionary figures, and finally led to the success of the new-democratic revolution in China. "
4. Zeng Guofan and Modern China Diplomacy.
Zeng Guofan's diplomacy has been simply regarded as the diplomacy of compromise and surrender for many years. 10 For many years, historians began to raise objections. There are also many articles on discussion and diplomacy at this meeting. Some commentators said: "People often scold Zeng Guofan with words such as weakness, compromise, flattery, surrender and treason, which is unfair. Because Zeng Guofan's enslavement diplomatic thought is actually to win over powerful enemies, strive for a peaceful environment, strive for rapid self-improvement, and finally achieve the goal of resisting aggression.
Zeng Guofan can correctly assess the situation and know the disparity between Chinese and foreign strength. It is unwise and unrealistic to confront the column and deal with it forcibly. Under certain historical conditions, poor, backward and bullied countries have no good way to survive, and they have no choice but to imprison diplomacy. Zeng Guofan's foreign policy has four words: "sincerity", "sincerity", "loyalty", observing peace treaties, "contention", arguing according to reason, "harmony without difference, harmony without difference".
Although Zeng Guofan himself felt "guilty" about the handling of the Tianjin religious plan, some commentators pointed out that this was mainly not his personal problem. At that time, the imperial court itself had two schools of thought on how to deal with Tianjin religious plans: "arguer" and "arguer". Theorists believe that the people are the foundation of the country, and the people's hearts cannot be lost. They advocate a decisive battle with foreign countries to win the hearts and minds of the people. Most of the "potential theorists" are "insiders", who are in charge of diplomacy and have the responsibility of defending the country. They think that the great powers are always bellicose in poor years, and they often join forces with many countries to invade China, with strong forces. However, China's soldiers are exhausted and lack of combat readiness. If the war breaks out, the invading Coalition forces may strike Beijing again. Zeng Guofan's question is nothing more than listening to the words of those who are in power. It is nothing more than "striving for fame and gain and taking care of the overall situation."
Some commentators believe that Zeng Guofan was in a dilemma at that time: if he wants to fight, he will inevitably fail, and the loss after failure will be even greater; To maintain peace, we must compromise with the aggressors and make some concessions. This will be hit by die-hards and will not vent the indignation of Tianjin people. Moreover, Zeng Guofan himself did not want to. He resolutely opposed the use of foreign soldiers to help suppress, advocated the dismissal of the poplar fleet, hated "obsequiousness" and wanted to win the trust of Britain and France. He thought it over and over again, but in the end reason prevailed over emotion. According to his sober analysis of the situation, he chose the road of maintaining peace and compromising with the invaders.
Under the international and domestic situation at that time, this choice is understandable, and only in this way can a new war disaster be avoided. Zeng Guofan's responsibility at that time was to see how to lose less and humiliate more on the premise of ensuring a draw. Of course, Zeng Guofan also has shortcomings in dealing with lesson plans. However, his historical merits and demerits should be evaluated truthfully, and his merits and demerits are greater than his faults. Because the loss of a war disaster is far greater than the loss and humiliation caused by the Tianjin religious plan.
Verb (abbreviation of verb) Why does young Mao Zedong "serve Ceng Wenzheng alone"?
Critics believe that Mao Zedong said, "It is just right for a fool to get close to others and take Ceng Wenzheng alone to watch him clean up the battle of Hongyang". Among them, there are two layers of admiration for Zeng Guofan. First, watching him clean up the battle of Hongyang shows that young Mao Zedong, influenced by Yang Changji, Kang Youwei and others, has a conservative tendency of opposing violent revolution and advocating gradual improvement. First, Mao Zedong attaches great importance to the role of psychological energy, and thinks that "those who move the world should move the heart of the world", "those who move their hearts should have a big source" and "those who are rich in sources are the truth of the universe". If they master the great source, they can become missionaries.
Mao Zedong thinks that famous people in history can be divided into "people who handle affairs" and "people who preach", such as Zhuge Liang and Fan Zhongyan before, followed by Zhu, Lu Xiangshan and Wang Yangming. He thinks that Fan Zhongyan and Zeng Guofan are both people who handle affairs and preach, because they have mastered the great source and can handle affairs, so they cleaned up the battle of Hongyang and achieved it.
6. Why didn't Zeng Guofan take the Qing Emperor instead?
Many people have paid attention to this issue, including Hu Linyi, Zuo, Li, etc. At that time, they felt sorry for Zeng Guofan for not listening to the advice of the Qing emperor and replaced him. Later generations also constantly lamented this, saying that Zeng Guofan "favored one over the other and forgot the people. It was a great shame." At this meeting, some commentators believe that Zeng Guofan is willing to be a slave of the Yehnara family if it can be replaced conditionally. This is caused by his outlook on life, ideological knowledge, personality and other factors.
Some commentators believe that after the Taiping Army was suppressed, the auspicious word camp of the Zeng Group has become a spent force, and the entire Xiang Army has also become fragmented. General Xiang Huai could not unite against the Qing Dynasty. Xiang officers and soldiers have more savings, and the people anxious to return. There are not many people who took the throne, but there are many thieves. I'm afraid there is no chance of winning by weighing my strength, so it was wise to cut my wings to solve the doubts of the Qing court and continue to be a loyal minister.
Seven. Overall evaluation of Zeng Guofan
There are many papers about Zeng Guofan's success and limitations in literature, history, military science, academic outlook and family education. And the concept of talent. They are all very original, but there is no argument, so they are omitted here.
On the overall evaluation of Zeng Guofan, the commentator said: "Zeng Guofan's achievements are enormous and he is known as the' famous minister of Zhongxing' in the late Qing Dynasty. He founded the Westernization School, and he deserves to be the leader of the Westernization School. He has a rich collection of books and can be regarded as a scholar. He studied ancient philology, managed the army well and deployed it properly, which was comparable to that of ancient military strategists. He is a soldier with no self-esteem, flexible and modest. Being honest in politics, applying what they have learned, loving their jobs and setting an example, is worthy of being a blue sky, managing their families and caring for their children, and is a model for future generations. "
Some commentators said: "Zeng Guofan angered Emperor Xianfeng from his last performance and began to step onto the historical stage, showing a concern for the country and the people." He suppressed the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom with merits and demerits. Under the guise of his hand, history made a choice between the two feudal regimes in the north and the south. Zeng Guofan initiated the Westernization Movement, which integrated China's historical movement with the world modernization movement. The history of China has thus entered a new stage. No matter how hard the pace of history is, history is not retrogression, but progress. In dealing with foreign affairs, Zeng Guofan showed the ability to assess the situation and cope with great changes. He adhered to the position of national justice, endured humiliation and made great efforts to maintain peace, thus avoiding a new war disaster, giving China a breathing space and carrying out the construction of "striving for wealth" in a relatively stable peaceful environment. Therefore, although Zeng Guofan has certain historical sins, his historical position should be classified as a patriotic figure of modern progress, and its importance was almost unparalleled in the first 60 years of China's modern history. ".