100 Historical Stories That Unlock Teenage Wisdom

Chapter 87 4 Wei Yuan's Writing "Pictures of Sea Country"

Chapter 94 Wei Yuan's Writing "Pictures of Sea Country" - Knowing the Enemy at least Half the Chance of Winning

In order to win in the struggle, it is necessary to know the other side's details.

Wei Yuan was born in Shaoyang, Hunan.When he was young, he went to Beijing with his father and was taught by Liu Panglu, Gong Zizhen and others.He used to be the secretary of the cabinet. During his tenure, he devoted himself to historical research by using the rich classics collected by the cabinet of the Qing Dynasty.

Before the Opium War, hired by He Changling, the Chief Minister of Jiangsu Province, Wei Yuan edited "Huangchao Jingshiwen Bian", wrote articles on raising water, raising lyres, raising words, Huguang Water Conservancy Discussion, etc.; He learned a lot about social issues in China.

During the Opium War, Wei Yuan once entered the Yuqian shogunate, governor of Liangjiang, and participated in the defense of Zhejiang. He was deeply touched by the Opium War and his thoughts were strongly stimulated.In the 22nd year of Daoguang (1842), the "Nanjing Treaty" was signed. He was angry with current events and wrote "Sheng Wu Ji" to discuss the political and military gains and losses of the Qing Dynasty.

Wei Yuan studied Confucian classics and believed that the reason why Confucian classics are important is to "seek Tao" and "manage affairs".Its purpose is to "understand the classics and apply them", and to use ancient history as a reference to solve the practical problems at that time.Therefore, inspired by Lin Zexu's "open eyes to see the world", he connected China and the world situation to investigate, and proposed to learn from the West to strengthen the country.

In the 21st year of Daoguang (1841) in Zhenjiang, Jiangsu Province, Wei Yuan accepted Lin Zexu's entrustment to write "Haiguo Tuzhi" based on Lin Zexu's compilation of "Sizhou Zhi" and Chinese and foreign documents.In February of the 22nd year of Daoguang, the book was printed in fifty volumes and published in Yangzhou.In the 27th year of Daoguang (1847), it was expanded into 1852 volumes, and in the second year of Xianfeng ([-]), it was expanded into [-] volumes and published in Yangzhou.

"Illustrations of Sea Countries" is more substantial than "Records of Sizhou", and it is illustrated with diagrams.Its characteristics are "here is Tan Xiyang, a Chinese scholar, and Tan Xiyang, a Westerner".

Wei Yuan believes that one of the important lessons of the failure of the Opium War is that they do not know "barbarian feelings".It is pointed out that "the man who controls the barbarians must first understand the barbarians' feelings."In order to understand the situation in foreign countries and change the state of ignorance of the world, Wei Yuan spent a lot of time describing the geographical distribution and historical political situation of Western capitalist countries in "Pictures of Sea Countries", especially the introduction of Britain in detail.Wei Yuan pointed out that Britain's faraway Atlantic Ocean "is three islands, but a rock in the West Sea", and its rise was later than that of the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, and France.However, Britain "does not do teaching, but specializes in teaching, and assists Jia in order to march soldiers, and soldiers and Jia help each other, so they are successful."It is believed that Britain can develop mainly by developing overseas trade.With the backing of force, develop overseas colonial trade, and thus get rich.

Wei Yuan pointed out that if China wants to defeat the British invaders, it is not enough to rely on textual research.It is necessary to "use the other's long-term skills and master the other's long-term skills", and learn from the West to "transfer foreign long-term skills into Chinese long-term skills".The strong ships and guns of the West are "miraculous skills" rather than "ingenious skills".He also criticized the obscurity and ignorance of the die-hards against the "teachers and barbarians".He pointed out that "those who are good at teaching the four barbarians can control the four barbarians, and those who are not good at teaching the barbarians from other barbarians can be controlled by the barbarians", linking "teaching barbarians" with "resisting barbarians". "Learn from barbarians to control barbarians" is Wei Yuan's guiding ideology and purpose of compiling this book.

"Sea Country Illustrated Records" pointed out that there are three long-term skills that make Western countries prosperous and strong: "First, warships, second, firearms, and third, the method of raising and training troops." These three aspects should be learned, and none of them can be dispensed with.Wei Yuan pointed out that China should introduce advanced Western shipbuilding and gun-building technologies; build and train modern fleets, manage, train, and command them like Western countries, and establish civilian industries, allowing private factories to build ships to enrich the country and strengthen the army.This is the specific measure of "restraining barbarians".

Wei Yuan also discusses the historical geography, politics, and elections of the United States in "Pictures of Sea Countries", and is especially interested in its parliamentary and election systems.

"Haiguo Tuzhi" was the most comprehensive masterpiece introducing world history, geography and some scientific and technological knowledge written by the Chinese at that time, which had a great influence on the ideological circles at that time.

Wisdom Interpretation:

"Sun Tzu's Art of War" said: "Know the enemy and know yourself, and you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles; if you don't know the enemy but know yourself, you will win and lose once; if you don't know the enemy and yourself, you will be imperiled in every battle." It can be seen that knowing the details of the opponent has at least half the chance of winning.To understand the situation of the other party, one must rely on diligent collection and observation. Only in this way can one get the truth and put forward insights.

(End of this chapter)