textbooks have never seen mention of the industrial revolution in China. Basically all books talk about industrial revolutions that took place in Britain from the 1860s to the 1830s and 1840s, and from the late 18th century to the mid-19th century to the mid-19th century, in France and the United States, and later Germany, Russia and Japan.
The symbol of the beginning of the industrial revolution
As for China, it only mentions the Westernization Movement in the 1860s. So, is the Westernization Movement the beginning of China's industrial revolution?
From the perspective of the influence of the Westernization Movement, it kicked off the prelude to China's industrialization and took the first step in modernization.
Civil enterprises founded during the Westernization Movement
China's modernization includes the democratization of the political system, the industrialization of the economy and the rationalization of ideas. It can be seen that the Westernization Movement seems to be related to the Industrial Revolution!
It can also be said that the Westernization Movement kicked off the beginning of China's industrial revolution. But this statement is untenable from the perspective of the ending of the Westernization Movement! Therefore, it is difficult to see the statement that the Westernization Movement is regarded as a symbol of the beginning of China's modern industrial revolution in various materials.
Of course, the reason why the Westernization Movement was insufficient to rise to the height of the industrial revolution was not because it ultimately failed the conclusion that this factor was determined by a variety of factors.
First, although the Westernization Movement spreads advanced Western production methods and management experience, it is essentially a reform movement to maintain the dominance of the Qing government. It is not a movement to change the feudal backward monarchy system to develop the capitalist path.
Second, under the slogans of "prosperity and strength" and "seeking wealth", the Westernization Movement has promoted the emergence and development of national capitalism to a certain extent, but at best it can only be regarded as an unexpected move of "unintentionally planting willows and willows to form shade". The traditional backward "small peasant economy" idea still dominates society, and the power of capitalism and bourgeoisie is relatively weak.
Third, the idea of " Chinese style and Western use " still binds the reform concept of the Westernization School led by Li Hongzhang , Zuo Zongtang , Zeng Guofan , Zhang Zhidong and others. The thinking of the Supreme Kingdom of the Celestial Kingdom did not make a great breakthrough in the reformers, which would inevitably lead to final failure. Because the fundamental reason why China was backward at that time was the "China-Style", Western democratic scientific thought seemed vulnerable in front of China-Style!
The symbol of the failure of the Westernization Movement
To sum up, the Westernization Movement did not establish a capitalist system in politics, did not promote the development of capitalism to a large extent in economic terms, and did not actively spread democratic scientific ideas in thought. So it can only be said that it is the beginning of China's modernization and cannot rise to the height of the industrial revolution.
