Wei Yuan believed that the purpose of learning should be "learning from the past", put forward the idea of "changing the past into the essence and making it convenient for the people", advocated learning from advanced western science and technology, and summed up a new idea of "learning from foreigners and mastering their skills to control foreigners".
1794, Wei Yuan, a native of Jintan, Shaoyang County, Hunan Province. At the age of seven, he studied classical history from his teachers, Liu Zhigang and Wei Fubang, and often worked hard until late at night. Seeing that he studies too hard, his mother turns off the lights regularly every night and lets him sleep. After his parents fell asleep, he covered the lamp and read quietly.
When Wei Yuan was 9 years old, he went to the county seat to test boys. The examiner pointed to the teacup with "Tai Chi Map" printed on it and proposed that "Tai Chi is contained in the cup". Wei Yuan touched two wheat cakes in his arms and replied, "I'm pregnant." The examiner was surprised.
10 years old, the Wei family's garden suffered a serious famine and was in ruins. Since then, there has been a shortage of rice and firewood. Wei Yuan liked reading history books since he was a child, and paid attention to studying the experience and lessons of the rise and fall of dynasties.
18 10 years, 15 years old Wei Yuan was admitted to a scholar,1810 years old tried to make up the meal, 18 13 years old Guiyouke chose tribute.
18 14 years, Wei Yuan came to Beijing with his father, made a living by teaching, and studied under the literary master Liu. At this time, he met Gong Zizhen, a progressive thinker, and soon became close friends because of similar interests.
They abandoned the style of study of tedious textual research, bravely faced the reality, learned from the theory of "applying what they have learned", talked generously about the disadvantages of the times, explored ways to save the decadent feudal rule, and realized the good law of Qiang Bing, a rich country, in order to break through the dreary situation of "all horses return to the same place". Two years later, Wei Yuan returned to the south and taught in Changsha and other places.
1822, Wei Yuan got the second place. The following year, Yang Fang, the magistrate of Zhili in Gubeikou, started to study ancient and modern frontier defense and northwest geography, and was concerned about the safety of the frontier.
In 1825, Wei Yuan was hired by He Changling, the minister in charge of Jiangsu Province, and compiled the Imperial Classics of 120. He also helped Tao Shu, governor of Jiangsu Province, to do water transport and water conservancy. Write Cao Cao Pian, Cao Cao Tea Pian and Huguang Water Conservancy Theory.
The Imperial Classics Collection is a collection of political, social and ideological papers since the founding of the Qing Dynasty. This book carries out the idea of practical use and has a great influence on later generations. In Dai and Changling's Compilation of the Imperial Classics, he expressed his thoughts and historical evolution views of opposing retro, advocating emphasizing reality and changing the old.
1829, Wei Yuan was admitted to the Ministry of rites, and both he and Gong Zizhen took the second place. Liu wrote "Two Journey of Life" in the examination room, and Gong Wei became famous from then on.
Later, Wei Yuan donated the reserve of the cabinet secretary. The cabinet has a rich collection of books, including official books of the secret museum of the World Expo History Museum and private writings of scholars.
1830, he went to Jiayuguan with Yang Fang to inspect the geography and frontier defense of the northwest, and he was more concerned about the defense of the northwest. 183 1 year, he moved to Nanjing shortly after his father lost to the south, and successively assisted Tao Shu, the governor of Liangjiang, and Lin Zexu, the governor of Jiangsu, in planning reforms such as grain transportation, salt policy and water conservancy. It is emphasized that there are countless laws in the world that have been harmful for hundreds of years, and the old system must be reformed in order to promote the advantages and eliminate the disadvantages.
At that time, opium smuggling became more and more serious. Like Lin Zexu, Wei Yuan insisted on banning opium. In the poem "Poison in the South of the Yangtze River" written by 183 1, the serious harm of opium is deeply exposed, and it is pointed out that if it is not strictly prohibited, the coast will sink and the wealth will be exhausted.
1832, Wei Yuan came to Nanjing, which is located at the foot of Wulongtan Mountain in the west of the city. On the east side of Longpanli, known as "Poetry Lane", he bought land to build Sanjin Caotang. Initially, Wei Yuan named Ai Wu "Tiger Cottage" and later renamed it "Xiao Juan A". In the shallow water near the pool, there is a "Wanzai Pavilion".
Wei Yuan lived here for many years in the second half of his life, and his masterpiece Atlas of the Sea was written here. In the meantime, he had close contacts with Lin Zexu, then governor of Jiangsu.
From 65438 to 0840, Britain launched the Opium War against China. Wei Yuan resolutely took it as its duty to revitalize the national prestige and stabilize the frontier, and devoted itself to the national self-defense war. In June+10 of the same year, when he heard that British artillery captain Antude was captured by local people while surveying and mapping a map near Dinghai, Zhejiang, he immediately rushed to the magistrate's office in Ningbo to interrogate prisoners of war.
Based on Antoinette's confession and referring to other books, Wei Yuan wrote The Story of England at 184 1, which introduced Britain's history, geography, politics, economy, military and its intention to invade China, exposed Britain's greedy and cunning nature, and reminded people to pay attention to studying Britain's national conditions and military situation and treat the invaders seriously. Later, seeing that the Qing government and the war were unclear, the capitulators were confused for a moment, misunderstood the country, resigned angrily and decided to write.
1842, Wei Yuan completed Wu Shengji, which described the military history and system from the early Qing Dynasty to Daoguang years. The article puts forward that "the country is not poor if its husband lacks money, and it is not competitive, which is called poverty;" If you don't do it abroad, you won't win, and if you don't do it at home, you will win. Therefore, the former king did not suffer from wealth, but only needed talent; Rest assured, do not yearn for the four kingdoms, but rest assured, do not yearn for the four realms. Without talent, the country is rich and the people are strong; Without the abolition of the decree, the country is strong.
1844 on the first day, Wei Yuan took the examination of the Ministry of rites again, and was admitted as a scholar. He was assigned to Jiangsu as the magistrate of Dongtai and Xinghua. During this period, the salt policy was reformed and dikes were built to control water.
/kloc-in the summer of 0/846, Wei Yuan's mother died of illness. According to the custom of the Qing dynasty, her parents died and she wanted to go to the official system. At this time, he was so embarrassed that he didn't even have the money to transport his mother's coffin back to his hometown for burial. He could only live in a friend's house and borrow money from relatives and friends.
Thanks to the help of relatives and friends, my mother's coffin was finally brought back. When leaving Dongtai, Taicheng people were deeply disappointed with the departure of this wise county magistrate. Thousands of people are empty, tears are sent to each other, and the road is blocked. They eagerly expect him to know Dongtai again.
During this period, Wei Yuan supplemented a lot of materials on the basis of the Western historical and geographical data "Shikoku" compiled by Lin Zexu, and participated in the historical records of past dynasties, the island records since the Ming Dynasty and the Yi language at that time, completing 50 volumes of "Hai Guo Zhi".
The book not only introduces the history, geography, politics, economy, military, culture, science and technology of dozens of countries on five continents, but also seriously summarizes the experience and lessons of the Opium War and expounds his military thoughts in a deeper and more systematic way.
In his book, Wei Yuan discusses the ways to defend the powerful country from aggression, correct the current disadvantages and revitalize the national pulse. Put forward the viewpoints of "attacking foreigners with foreigners", "paying foreigners with foreigners" and "controlling foreigners with Shi Yang people", and advocate learning advanced technologies such as warships and firepower equipment made in the West and methods of selecting, training and raising soldiers to transform our army.
In order to defend China's independence, Wei Yuan called for "stopping armour with armour" and believed that the people of China could defeat foreign invaders. He warned people not to forget Russia's "ambition to annex the northwest" when "England invaded the southeast". He advocated the establishment of civilian industry, allowing private enterprises to set up factories and bureaus, and manufacturing and selling ships and firearms on their own, so as to make the country rich and strong.
Wei Yuan advocated innovation, demanding "to discard the false and retain the true, to modify, not afraid of difficulties, to raise carbuncle, to camp holes"; "Do practical work with practical work, and do practical work with practical work." In Mo Mo, he put forward the ideas of "the more you change the past, the more convenient it is for people" and "the more difficult it is to know later", which is actually the pioneer of China's reform thought in modern times.
Wei Yuan thought that the British invaders fought badly in foreign countries, and once they entered the inland river, they lost their advantage. Therefore, he proposed that "it is better to keep the sea than the estuary, and it is better to keep the inland river" to lure the enemy fleet into inland river operations and give full play to the advantages of our amphibious cooperative operations.
In his book, Wei Yuan vividly describes the specific tactics of luring the enemy into the depth: first engage with weak soldiers, pretend to be defeated, and lure the enemy into the depth. Once the enemy ships enter the inland river, they can only follow each other and cannot disperse the ship.
At this time, our army first sank a boat in the shallow and narrow part of the river to stop it from moving forward, then planted a raft in the lower reaches of the river to contain its back road, and then sailed the boat to attack its head and tail. At the same time, the artillery on both sides of the Taiwan Strait bombarded the enemy ship violently, making it unable to dodge.
185 1 year, awarded to Gaoyou by Wei Yuan. During this period, he continued to make contributions in planning shipping, building water conservancy and reforming salt administration. Gong Yu compiled his works and completed the New Compilation of Yuan History in 1853.
Especially in 1852, he completed a magnum opus of 100. In the supplementary part, he described the development and improvement of warships, artillery, shotguns, gunpowder, mines and so on by officials and weapons experts of various countries in almost 1/5, which reflected his ardent expectation for improving military weapons and equipment.
After Wei Yuan resigned in his later years, he devoted himself to studying Buddhism, which is well known to all. He compiled the Four Classics of Pure Land.