After the Taiping: Qing Reform

Qing in the Wake of Taiping

 * Rise of two generals
 * 1) Zeng Guofan
 * 2) Li Hongzhang
 * Manage to crush the Taiping
 * By mid 1860's no Taipings remain

European Involvement in Qing China

 * Europeans begin using war as a moment in which to gain new power/prvilige
 * 1859 Chinese-British War


 * Conventions of Beijing
 * British man in charge of Chinese customs
 * Foreign navies on Chinese Rivers
 * Embassies established in Beijing
 * British allowed in land
 * 11 new cities opened
 * Missionaries allowed into many new spaces


 * Tenjin Massacre
 * Nuns of French Catholic origin
 * Build an orphanage for girls
 * Offering rewards for bringing small children to the mission
 * Chinese suspicion becomes a murderous riot of the Mission

Tongzhi Emperor

 * Reform official
 * (r. 1862- 1874)
 * Tongzhi restoration
 * Hope for return to rule of "virtuous men"
 * "Chinese learning for the substance" "Western learning for function (practical applications)"
 * Students encouraged to study abroad
 * Guandu shangban -> "government supervised merchant undertakings"
 * Designed to instill European production processes in China


 * Ultimately this fails
 * Chinese skeptical of the co-education, thinking that Chinese thinking would be reconceptualized THROUGH European thinking
 * Also financial unsuccessful

Sino-Japanese War

 * 1894 -> Japanese attacks the Chinese
 * Very soundly defeats China
 * Japan gains Taiwan & Indemnity
 * Greatly embarrassing for the Chinese who always saw Japan as little brothers
 * Not a real threat
 * This stimulates new reform movement

100 Days of Reform (1898)

 * Treaty of Shimonoseki, 1985 concluded Sino-Japanese war
 * "Study groups" -> new secret political groups

Kang Youwei (1858 - 1927)

 * Justified reform by arguing from Confucius tradition
 * Recasts Confucius as Reformer rather than reflection on the past
 * Therefore advocates of reform are following in the leadership of the master
 * Believes that in a future age of "great peace" nations will disappear
 * Writes 1902 "The Book of Great Peace"


 * Recommends Constitutional Monarchy
 * Collapse of Qing Bureaucracy in 12 Departments of Specialists in the field
 * All would report to a central agency -> who would report to throne
 * Public school system


 * Supported by friend "Liang Qichao"

Reforms & Retribution

 * Eventually they gain the ear of the Guangxu Emperor (r. 1875 - 1908)
 * Begin quick/wide-reaching reforms
 * Reforms antagonize many, many groups in China
 * Many refused to act on his orders

Empress Dowager Cixi

 * She is appealed to by the antagonists
 * She takes over from her nephew
 * Government becomes very conservative

The Boxer Movement

 * Series of spontaneous, grassroots uprisings against Foreigners
 * Eventually sanctioned by Imperial Court


 * 1898 -> Beginning of local protest against foreign populations
 * People made desperate by a series of national disasters
 * Jealous of foreign wealth and foreign power to take land away from Chinese peasantry
 * Protest spread to other areas of the province


 * Labelled "Boxer" movement because believed in Martial Arts spirit possession that would make them invulnerable to western people
 * If you could learn to manipulate your Qi, you could become invincible
 * Looked like Boxing to Westerners
 * In Chinese called "Yi He Tuan"
 * "Team United in Rightegeousness"


 * Boxer movement becomes popular movement


 * Boxer's believe that they are in support of the Qing


 * Officials at Qing Court had reservations
 * But by June 1900, Boxers enter Beijing
 * Empress Dowager supports the movement, declares war on the Foreign Powers invested in Beijing
 * Foreign forces respond by sending an expedition, spearheaded by British
 * By August, Boxers dispelled in Beijing

Boxer Protocols

 * Indemnity -> 30 year 982 million ounces of silver
 * Forts protecting Beijing torn down

Reforms

 * Empress Dowager and Qing Court realize they need to reform or be overthrown
 * Education radically overhauled
 * New units of local government, elections take place


 * Imposed changes in ideas and institutions based on new conceptions of government were alien to Chinese people
 * Therefore hard to accept