During the closing decade of the 19th century, elements of old and new existed side by side
in China.
The years after the Sino-Japanese war saw a reform movement that emphasized the need
to use Western learning for practical developments while Chinese learning was to remain the essence.
The Guanxu Emperor was eventually convinced to issue radical reforms - much to the dismay
of arch conservatives.
These conservatives, among whom the Empress Dowager Cixi, immediately started planning
ways to obstruct the emperor… even ways to get rid of him.
-intro-
China: a traditional and modern society
The Western powers, victorious in multiple wars had not just imposed their will on China,
but encroached on Chinese territory as well.
The impact of foreign imperialism was profound and intensified the tense atmosphere already
present in China due to the self-strengthening movement.
Contained mainly to treaty ports with a Western presence, modern influences in China were
barely noticeable in the mainland.
Even European merchants attempting to move inland had to rely on Chinese middle-men.
Foreigners were regarded as exotic the deeper into China one went, marriages were arranged,
girl’s feet were still bound and there was barely any access to formal education.
For bright young men their career path was set in stone, as had been for many centuries:
memorizing Confucian classics, studying hard to pass local exams, provincial exams and
eventually the national exam, in order to enter the Chinese bureaucratic order.
Following the Sino-Japanese war, a new reformist movement sprung up, attempting to reassure
the value of Chinese self-strengthening.
Chang Chih-tung popularized the slogan: Chinese learning for the essential principles; western
learning for practical applications’.
Holding onto the belief that Chinese traditionalist moral and philosophical values gave meaning
to civilization, this position did allow for the adoption of Western practices and the
hiring of Western advisers.
Now, Chang-chih-tung was a distinguished civil servant, perhaps the most successful one after
Li Hung-chang, whom we know from the Sino-Japanese war among other events.
Kang Yu-wei’s reinterpretation of Confucianism
Earlier in the 19th century, a group of scholars, among whom Wei Yuan, began to put the focus
of their work on practical political and economic challenges and problems.
This was the so-called statecraft school, the ching-shih chia.
During the same time, the New Text school of Confucianism emerged.
This New Text school propagated the notion that the New Text-versions of the Han classics
allowed for state reforms to be instigated.
Now, this is extremely important: generations upon generations of scholars had been indoctrinated
by their studies in the all-embracing social theory of Confucianism which emphasized strict
hierarchy and traditional values.
As such, it was crucial for change to be sanctioned by these very same ideas.
Adopting Western weaponry during the Opium wars, and western ideas to reform the administration
had to be justified by Old Texts.
It seemed that now was the time reformers could show traditionalist Confucian texts
and ideas actually authorized modernity.
And as such, basing his works on Confucius, Kang started writing a far-reaching program
of modernization for China.
Its goal was to model China after a constitutional monarchy, based on Japanese and European examples.
He was especially inspired by Peter the Great of Russia and the Meiji restoration in Japan.
It would be in 1898, that Kang could finally put his ideas into practice.
Protests and Western Encroachment
After the Sino-Japanese war, the opportunity Kang had been waiting for presented itself,
or so it seemed.
The disastrous defeat of China against the smaller Japan and the encroachment of Western
powers right after led to an extreme Chinese response.
Already in 1895, there were protests in Beijing during the national exam.
Over 1300 exam candidates, signed a petition, led by no other than Kang Yuwei and another
scholar, Liang Qichao, that requested the Qing not to accept the peace demands of the
peace treaty.
As for the rest of China; in many areas secret societies sprung up, in which its members
debated about how to reform China.
In combination, for the first time journals and newspapers were circulated outside treaty
ports, introducing many Chinese to political commentary.
It didn’t yet lead to anything for Kang, but the seed was planted.
While these developments were suppressed in some areas, in Hunan and Hubei provinces they
were welcomed.
Reforms and modernisation were pushed by its governor-general, none other than Chang- Chih-tung.
Chang pressed for the development of a railway line from Hankou to Beijing and built up coal
and iron mines.
He modernized the capital, streets were paved, streetlights were built, telegraph lines constructed
and modern curricula in school was instated (374).
Yet Chang was on good terms with the arch-conservatives, most prominently the Empress Dowager Cixi,
as he too was convinced of the need of the traditional Confucian ethical system.
Two years later the encroachment by the imperial powers in 1897 re-enflamed tensions within
China, and this time, Kang got his chance.
Writing reform memorial upon reform memorial to the emperor, these never arrived.
At most they were shunted between senior civil servants, unsure what to do with them.
Cixi was on semiretirement in her new-built summer palace and the reform memorial by Kang
finally reached the Emperor.
Kang and Liang were overjoyed when Kang was invited for an imperial audience.
The first imperial audience lasted over 5 hours.
It is the longest official audience in history, at least of which the written record survives.
During it, Kang was not only full of proposals but also remarked that if the emperor were
to rely on the conservatives for ‘reform’, it would be like ‘climbing a tree to seek
for fish’.
In 1898 Kang Yuwei, together with his younger accomplices Liang Chi-Chao and Tan Su-tung
received the support of the twenty-seven-year-old Kuang-Hsu emperor.
Between June and September that year China was flooded with reform edicts, which would
change China drastically in virtually every aspect.
The government institutions, the traditional exam system, the army - everything would be
modernized.
The emperor wanted to reduce the importance of traditional poetry in exams, transform
old academies to modern schools and abolish the eight-legged essay altogether.
To many, this was about time.
He furthermore addressed the need to strengthen China’s armed forces.
Its navy was destroyed after the Sino-Japanese war and the funds allocated to the rebuilding
of the navy went into the construction of the summer palace of Empress Dowager Cixi….
yeah , really.
Kang proposed that the traditional internal administration, with safeguards against enemies
from within, was useless against the current Western enemies from outside.
In his opinion, a cabinet type of domestic administration had to replace the traditional
Six ministries and grand council.
Observing the Japanese example, he noted a parliament was more efficient at raising taxes
and checking corruption.
Kang Youwei was appointed as secretary in the Zongli Yamen, the government body in charge
of foreign policy.
Li Hung-Chang, arguably the most important Chinese civil servant throughout the end of
the 19th century, was removed from that same body.
European diplomats eagerly welcomed these reforms, but it goes without saying that these
modern reforms sparked much resistance from the conservatives and traditionalists, not
to mention those that simply were bound to profit from the old Chinese order.
The 100 days’ reform lasted from June 11 to September 21, 1898.
While forty or more reform edicts, spanning every conceivable subject, were issued during
this time, barely any of these orders were carried out in Chinese provinces, aside from
Hunan.
Empress Dowager Cixi had been in retirement since 1889, but officials still waited for
her response to this radical program before they decided to implement it.
Now, conservative opposition was loud and strong, and one of several reasons was the
fact that all reformers were Chinese, except for the emperor, who, of course, was Manchu.
Now that Chinese reformers were influencing imperial policy, incumbent Manchus feared
for their positions.
Furthermore, military reform threatened the traditional Manchu banners and the Chinese
constabulary of the Green Standard.
Those that held a degree from the traditional examination system, feared educational reforms
would threaten their qualifications.
The war on organized corruption threatened… well, nearly everyone that held office.
In short, the young emperor was waging a war on the entire Chinese establishment, and quickly
found himself cornered from all sides.
The Conservative Coup d’etat
Fairbank and Reischauer state that the issue was not between reform or no reform, but between
Kang Yu-wei’s radicalism and the continuation of the incremental self-strengthening which
had been in place for four decades, attempting to deal with the Western encroachment.
Chang Chih-tung published his book ‘Exhortation to study’, taking the anti-radical position
and outlining the self-strengthening objective.
The Manchu dynasty had to be preserved by reviving the Confucian social order.
It opposed egalitarianism, democracy, constitutional monarchy and the doctrine of the ‘people’s
rights, parliaments, freedom of the individual and civil liberties.
China, Chang said, was to be saved by education.
The Confucian classics had to be combined with Western technology in schools.
Furthermore, industrialization had to become a priority.
China had to become less dependent on foreign steel, railways had to be constructed and
iron mines were established.
Nevertheless, radical reformers had the most influence in court.
But that would change very soon.
Distressed and quietly observing the reforms at first, Empress Dowager Cixi saw her entire
power base threatened by the attack on her two pillars of power: organized corruption
and classical learning (376).
She started to plot the course of action with several arch-conservatives, among whom Manchu
commander Jung-lu.
On the 21st of September 1898, palace guards and eunuchs entered Emperor’s Kuang-Hsu's
palace in the Forbidden City and seized all documents pertaining to reforms.
Cixi returned to the Forbidden City as well and issued an edict two days later stating
the Emperor had fallen ill.
It was only right for her to assume regency and as such, rule over China once again.
How convenient.
This third regency would last until her death in 1908.
The emperor would remain under house arrest, virtually powerless, until he died under mysterious
circumstances in 1908.
Suspiciously just one day before the Empress Dowager herself passed away.
At any rate: Cixi was in power and there was hell to pay for all those that were in favour
of reforms.
Six intellectuals, the so-called Six gentlemen of Wuxu were arrested and executed, including
Kang’s younger brother and the famous philosopher Tan Sitong.
Kang and Liang managed to escape to Japan.
The length of the intensive reforms of the emperor would only just pass one-hundred days.
A revolution from above had failed, in contrast to the Meiji Restoration in Japan decades
earlier.
It suggested that revolutionary change had to come from below… for now the dreams for
a reform program ended in disaster.
Aftermath
As a result of the radical 100 days of reform, a reactionary period (of less than 3 years)
by the conservatives, led by Cixi, now followed.
They even considered ejecting Westerners with brutal force.
It just so happened to be that in Northern China, anti-Christian and anti-Western sentiments
led to a violent climax.
A group that was distantly related to the secret White Lotus society sparked a rebellion
that would, once again, dramatically shift the course of China’s history.
This group was called the Fists of Harmony and Justice, more commonly known as the Boxers.
Next week, we’ll look at the unlikely alliance between this group of rebels and Empress Dowager
Cixi, in a desperate attempt to regain control over China.
Thank you for watching this video and what is a person or event in Chinese history that
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See you next time!