1840年以后中国未能抓住时机进行改革,第二次鸦片战争结束后才振作起来,进行洋务运动,就这样白白浪费掉二十年的光阴。本文从五个方面来探讨这一现象的重要原因:自然经济占统治地位;君主专制制度的内部阻抑;儒家文化的固有阻隔;清政府长期推行闭关自守的政策;英国政治重心的暂时转移。 After 1840, China failed to seize the opportunity to carry out reforms. After the Second Opium War, it was finally rejuvenated and the Westernization Movement was wasted. This wasted two decades of time. This article probes into the important reasons of this phenomenon from five aspects: the dominance of the natural economy; the internal repression of monarchy; the inherent barrier of Confucian culture; the Qing government’s long-term policy of self-protection; the temporary transfer of British political center of gravity.