The historical significance of the Reform Movement of 1898 in 2000 words

The historical significance of the Reform Movement of 1898:

As a reform movement of bourgeois nature in modern China, the Reform Movement of 1898 had progressive significance. Although it was strangled by the Empress Dowager Cixi, it also laid the ideological foundation for the Revolution of 1911 that broke out 13 years later.

1. Promoted the self-reform of the Qing government. In 1900, when the Eight-Power Allied Forces invaded, Empress Dowager Cixi fled to Xi'an with Guangxu, which taught Cixi a painful lesson. After signing the "Xinchou Peace Treaty", Empress Dowager Cixi ordered the implementation of the New Deal, which included training the new army; abolishing the imperial examination and building schools; rewarding private factories; reforming the legal system; sending five ministers overseas to inspect and prepare for the establishment of a constitution; establishing the Advisory Council and the Advisory Council. Council, etc. Some of these reforms have gone beyond the contents of the reform laws of that year.

Second, it aroused people’s resentment against the Manchu government and promoted the transformation of intellectuals from reform to revolution. After the failure of the 1898 Coup, the number of people supporting Sun Yat-sen's revolution increased, and many intellectuals who had illusions about the Qing government became revolutionaries.

3. Promoted China’s ideological emancipation movement.

(1) The theory of reform is more deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. People generally believe that there is no way out if there is no change, and that change is the principle of ancient and modern times. China should also undergo major changes and complete changes.

(2) Democratic ideas spread further. The reformers only dared to talk about "civil rights" and recognized the people's right to participate in political management, but they did not dare to talk about "democracy" and refused to recognize that the people were the masters of the country and society. After the Reform Movement of 1898, the democratic trend of thought fully developed.

(3) Aroused a new wave of enthusiasm to seek the truth of national salvation from the West. After the failure of the Reform Movement of 1898, more young people went abroad to study, more Western doctrines were translated and introduced to China, and China's ideological circles became more active.

4. It became the prelude to the May Fourth New Culture Movement. After the Reform Movement of 1898, new cultural undertakings flourished, and there was a craze in running schools, founding new newspapers and periodicals, and publishing new books in the country. During the Reform Movement of 1898, in order to "enlighten" the people, the reformers advocated vernacular literature and "revolution in the novel world." After the failure of the reform movement, more vernacular newspapers and periodicals appeared, and vernacular literature was more promoted. In addition to the "revolution in the novel world", the reformers continued to advocate the "revolution in the world of poetry", "revolution in the world of music", "revolution in thought", "moral revolution", "religious revolution" and even "revolution in history".