Research On Economic Liberalism In Late Qing Dynasty

Economic liberalism was an important ideological trend emerging in the late qing dynasty.It broke through a series of indirect learning from western ideas and led by laissez-faire and limited intervention,triggered a series of discussions on the issue of modernization and promoted the process of economic modernization in the late qing dynasty.The rise of economic liberalism is not only influenced by the spread of western learning to the east,but also the origin of Chinese historical tradition.The early economic liberalism is only a by-product of the eastward spread of western learning,which has not attracted people’s attention.However,with the development of the late qing dynasty,people gradually realized the importance of this economic thought.While absorbing the theory of economic liberalism,intellectuals represented by yan fu and liang qichao,on the one hand,realized that this kind of economic thought is the essence of the development of capitalism in the west;on the other hand,they also noticed the similarity between economic liberalism and traditional thoughts.They argue that such economic thinking is the recipe for economic modernization.Chinese economic liberalism emphasizes economic freedom and limited intervention,which is the core connotation of economic liberalism in the late qing dynasty.In the process of spreading and practicing economic liberalism,the constant theme is to oppose interventionism.Interventionism not only has a deep origin in ancient China,but also always accompanies the process of economic modernization.There were strong interventionist tendencies in the westernization,early reform,revolution and qing government.Therefore,the debate between economic liberalism and interventionism runs through the whole late qing dynasty.An important feature of China’s economic liberalism is that it closely links the establishment of a market-oriented liberal economy with a prosperous country and a strong army.This is not only the requirement of the urgent task of saving the nation,but also a process of systematizing and rationalizing the impulse to seek wealth and strength.The urgent task of saving the nation led to the requirement of enlightenment.They criticized the traditional economic ethics of "valuing the source rather than the end","valuing justice rather than profit",and "rejecting extravagance and cherishing thrift",and set up the modern ethics of the bourgeoisie,thus popularizing the modern ideology with the protection of private rights as the core in the society.After the introduction of economic liberalism into China,it did not receive much attention for a long time before the reform movement of 1898.It was not until the great national crisis brought about by the sino-japanese war in 1894-1895 that people realized that they had to learn more thoroughly from the west.Therefore,during the period of the reform movement of 1898,the reformists absorbed the theory of economic liberalism and demanded the establishment of a radical free capitalism.Although the reform movement of 1898 failed,economic liberalism did not retreat with it.When radical claims hit a wall in reality,economic liberals began to tie theory more closely to practice.Especially in the New Deal period of the late qing dynasty,the theory of economic liberalism was used to study government policies and various economic behaviors,and a series of systematic and specific reform proposals were put forward.Although economic liberalism is gradually marginalized due to the further radicalization of social thoughts,economic liberalism is the core economic theory of liberal capitalism.In fact,in the process of the rise of economic liberalism,its disseminators always have a clear vision of the future development model of building free capitalism.From the initial idealized color to more practical later,their ideas gradually mature with their own practice.The spread of economic liberalism in the late qing dynasty had its special value and its own limitations.Economic liberalism provided a more advanced social reform program for the society at that time.However,the practice and dissemination of economic liberalism did not help China realize the modernization of economic thought at that time.After entering the republic of China,the influence of economic liberalism gradually weakened,and it did not complete the historical mission given by its propagators.However,whether the practice is successful or not,the rise of economic liberalism in the late qing dynasty is itself an important stage in the process of economic modernization and an indispensable part of the process of economic thought modernization.