The"Multi-National Brands"Phenomenon in Modern Chinese Arms:A Case Study of the Cannon——a Key Weapon during the Opium Wars
Since the middle Ming Dynasty,especially in modern times,China's military equipment had been in the difficult situation of"unreliable ships and inefficient cannons"during the tough struggle against the aggression of Western powers.The process of achieving"uniformity and standardization"in firearms was slow,leading to the so-called"Multi-National Brands"phenomenon,where equipment sources were diverse and technical standards were not unified.It was not until the dust settled from the First Sino-Japanese War that some forward-thinking military figures began to discard outdated empiricism,and instead examined military establishment and operational lethality index of weapon with a rational perspective,leading China's weaponry to gradually enter a new era of"uniformity and standardization".Taking the cannon—a key weapon during the Opium War period—as an example,this paper will delve into the inherent deficiencies and acquired defects of the Qing army's weaponry from the three dimensions of ideology,institution,and material.This phenomenon reveals a truth:critical weapons cannot replace the critique of weapons.Adhering to the materialist analytical principles of scientificity,class character,and histo-ricity is the key to examine and correctly evaluate the"Multi-National Brands"equipment phenomenon of modern Chinese military.
advanced ships and artilleryMulti-National BrandsOpium Warcannon
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