“顺应历史发展趋势的佼佼者”,是由四川人民出版社出版的夏东元先生所著《盛宣怀传》前言中对盛宣怀所作的概括性的肯定的评语。人们常说“青史凭谁论是非”,要评论象盛宣怀这样的政治上的保守与经济实践的进步间的矛盾人格頗为复杂的历史人物,的确是一件难事。何况长期以来,盛宣怀几乎成了“大买办”、“大官僚垄断资产阶级”的同义语,要恢复盛宣怀应有的历史地位就更不容易。夏东元先生根据自己“评论中国近代史上的人物、事件有一个标准,即不仅要看对帝国主义、封建主义和中华民族、人民大众的认识、态度与作用,而且还要看对中国资本主义的认识、态度与作用”的标 The leader in conforming to the historical development trend is a commentary on Sheng Xuanhuai’s general affirmation in the preface of Sheng Xuan Huai Biography by Xia Dongyuan published by Sichuan People’s Publishing House. It is often difficult to comment on the contradiction between the political conservativeness and the progress of economic practice such as Sheng Xuanhuai, a historical figure whose personality is rather complicated. Moreover, for a long time, Sheng Xuanhuai has almost become synonymous with “big comprador” and “big bureaucrats monopolizing the bourgeoisie.” It is even harder to restore the due historical status of Sheng Hsuan Huai. According to himself, Xia Dongyuan “commented on the characters in modern Chinese history. The incident has a standard that not only depends on the understanding, attitude and role of imperialism, feudalism, the Chinese nation and the general public, but also on the understanding of Chinese capitalism , Attitude and role of ”standard