1840年的鸦片战争揭开了中国近代史的帷幕。西方侵略者的大炮将沉睡中的中国人震醒,而中国的惨败被大多数国人视为奇耻大辱。较为敏感的爱国知识分子更为痛心疾首,他们对中国传统的治国方略进行了认真反思,在批判、总结、观察和对比的基础上,提出了一系列社会改革方案。尽管这些方案没有实现他们富国强兵、抵御外侮的目的,但这是近代社会先进的中国人为探索救国道路迈出的第一步。 The Opium War of 1840 opened the curtain of modern history in China. The cannons of Western invaders awakened the sleeping Chinese, while China’s defeat was viewed by most of the nation as a shame. The more sensitive patriotic intellectuals are even more bitter, who reconsidered the traditional Chinese strategy of running the country and proposed a series of social reform proposals on the basis of criticism, conclusion, observation and comparison. Although these programs did not achieve their goal of becoming rich and strong and defending against foreign aggression, this is the first step taken by the advanced Chinese in modern society in exploring the road to salvation.