Research On Li Hongzhang’s Legal Thought

In 1840,the Opium War opened the gates of ancient China.The Western powers relied on their "strong ships and sharp guns" to fully invade the eastern world under the control of Confucianism.In the late Qing Dynasty at that time,the main social form was a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society.Under the semi-colonial society,the power of the colonists made some Chinese begin to open their eyes to the world and put forward the idea of "learning from the barbarians to control the barbarians";the contradiction between the peasant class and the ruling class further intensified.In the face of this "change unseen in thousands of years",some enlightened Chinese began to take the initiative to learn from the West and devoted themselves to the goal of "Saving the Nation and Surviving".Li Hongzhang is an outstanding representative of them.He strives to change China’s backwardness by learning from the West.During the Westernization Movement,Li Hongzhang and other bureaucrats of the Westernization School started from the reform thinking,combined Chinese tradition with "Western learning",and summed up the guiding ideology of "Chinese style and Western use",which provided a theoretical basis for the reform.On the one hand,Li Hongzhang clings to the traditional Gangchang etiquette and believes that China’s traditional culture and political system are far superior to other countries in the world.On the other hand,he also realizes that China is far behind the Western countries in terms of artifacts.Under such a guiding ideology,he reformed and became self-improving,established a new army,established a military industry,strengthened coastal defense construction,and established a modern navy.In order to achieve the purpose of self-improvement,he began to turn to seeking wealth,put forward the legal thought of emphasizing business and enriching the people,and established a new business model of "official supervision of business management".China needs a relatively peaceful international environment in order to seek prosperity by itself.Under the circumstance of weak national strength,Li Hongzhang had to adopt the diplomatic strategy of "harmony",trying to maintain a good situation between China and foreign countries.Li Hongzhang’s legal thought mainly includes military,economic and diplomatic aspects,which can be roughly summarized as reform and self-improvement,emphasizing business and enriching the people,and diplomacy.Li Hongzhang’s legal thought and practice promoted the modernization of Chinese law and society.Li Hongzhang tried to make China prosperous and strong.Although this goal has not been fully realized,Li Hongzhang’s practice has objectively promoted China’s progress,accelerated the pace of social and legal modernization,and also brought a lot to our economic and social development today.revelation.In terms of military construction,we must adhere to the rule of law and establish a new type of people’s army that obeys the Party’s command,can win battles,and has a good work style;in terms of economic construction,we must develop the non-public economy,optimize the business environment for enterprises,and pay attention to corporate compliance systems.In terms of foreign exchanges,we must adhere to the concept of major-country diplomacy with characteristics of the new era,and adhere to an independent foreign policy of peace.