洋务运动发端于19世纪60年代,前后延续了30多年。不仅创办了军事工业,而且创办了民用工业,轮船招商局是其中一项。招商局是洋务运动由单纯经营军事工业转办民用企业,由官办转向官督商办的第一家企业,是兴办中国近代民用企业的先河,它的创办对于发展近代中国的民族资本主义的确起到了重要的历史作用。 第一,轮船招商局的创办和经营活动打破了外国轮船公司对中国航运业的垄断地位。 1874年,轮船招商局刚刚开办不久,它倾其全力也只能开动4艘轮船(总计2435吨),到1876年的时候,它就已拥有了17艘轮船(总计11706吨)(刘广 The Westernization Movement started in the 1860s and lasted more than 30 years. Not only founded the military industry, but also founded the civilian industry, steamship Merchants is one of them. China Merchants is the first enterprise to turn the Westernization Movement into a civil enterprise run by the purely military industry and a private enterprise run by the government to the government of the Governor. It is the first of its kind to set up a civil enterprise in modern China. Its establishment is indeed the key to the development of modern Chinese national capitalism To an important historical role. First, the establishment and operation of the China Merchants Steamship Company broke the monopoly of foreign shipping companies on China’s shipping industry. In 1874, just shortly after the China Merchants Steamship was opened, it was unable to operate only four vessels (a total of 2,435 tons). By 1876, it had already owned 17 vessels (11,706 tons in total)