A Brief Modern Chinese History

In 1874, Japan invaded Taiwan. High ministers and generals intensively discussed China’s coastal defense. Li Hongzhang suggested that coastal defense be given top priority and the imperial court decided to build the Fleet of the Northern Ocean (hereinafter referred to as the Northern Fleet). Li Hongzhang was appointed to supervise the building of China’s first modern fleet. In the following decade, he built and bought warships to create his dream fleet. The fleet was completed in 1888 and was comprised of two superior ironclads, seven cruisers, six gunboats, six torpedo boats, three training ships, and one carrier. Two bases were also built in Lüshun (in Liaoning) and Weihai (in Shandong). The commanding officers of the fleet were usually trained overseas and were renowned for strict discipline, tough training, and high standards. Around the same time, modern naval troops were created in Guangdong, Fujian, and Shanghai. At this stage, the Chinese navy had, in total, more than 130 battleships. Even the Japanese navy paled in comparison.

At this time, SSM was desperately seeking young and talented people. Thus, in the early 1860s, new, Western-style schools were founded as part of the Self-Strengthening mission in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou. Students in these schools were taught foreign languages, sciences, engineering, and international law; the schools encouraged practical education. The shipbuilding institute attached to the Fuzhou Arsenal is an example. According to their employment contract, the foreign experts working there were required to organize training sessions for the Chinese workers and students apart from building ships. A similar program was put in place in SSM’s mining and telegraph companies. Additionally, military schools devoted to weapons, medicine, and drill were set up after the creation of the new fleets. In 1885, Li Hongzhang founded a military academy in Tianjin (天津武备学堂) and this became China’s first army school. Wanting to rapidly master modern Western science and technology, SSM leaders sent many young students to study abroad. According to statistics, 120 went to the United States and 85 went to European countries such as Britain and Germany. These young people later played a great role in the modernization of China. Zhan Tianyou, for example, built the well-known modern Beijing-Zhangjiakou railway. A number of students specialized in telecommunications and helped free China from its dependence on foreign experts. The majority of the commanding officers in the navy studied in the West. Some of these, like Liu Buchan, Lin Yongsheng, and Lin Tai, for example, died bravely for their country, while others became leading officers in the Chinese navy. Yan Fu 严复, a brilliant officer who had studied in England’s Royal Naval College, became a translator and translated many well-known English books in the social sciences, which played a significant role in promoting the Enlightenment in early modernizing China. In addition, quite a few foreign-educated students later became active Chinese diplomats.

It could be said that China’s move into the modern world was the result of invasion by the colonial powers. Because of Western colonialism, history did not leave China with many opportunities to peacefully undergo the changes that would lead to modernity. It was at gunpoint that the top echelons of the Qing dynasty had to abandon the old order and move toward modern life. However, divisions persisted regarding whether China should modernize or not. Some officials were reform-minded while others remained ultraconservative and loyal to the old regime. The leading SSM motivators, which included Yixin, Wenxiang, Zeng Guofan, Li Hongzhang, Zuo Zongtang, among others, were intellectually open-minded and enlightened. Their crusade for modernity aimed to rebuild a lethargic Chinese nation, as well as lay the foundation for future endeavors. In this sense, they should be recognized as the pioneers of Chinese modernization and for playing a significant role in Chinese history in breaking through the almost indestructible, thousand-year-old conventional ways of thinking.

Class conflicts began to ease after the failure of the Taiping Rebellion and as the colonial powers slowed down their activities in China. As a result, the Qing empire enjoyed two decades of peace and stability. At this time, some of the ruling elites started to rethink the development gap between China and the West and began to create new opportunities for socio-economic growth. It was in this same period that Japan also saw great changes and rapid economic and military development. In Qing's empire, some of the SSM motivators, took much more moderate measures to modernize this 200-year-old dynasty. While promoting their programs, they did not try to bring about fundamental changes to the existing social order and ideological system. Despite this, the (ultra-)conservatives were hostile to these reform-minded officials. A prominent imperial adviser, for example, firmly believed that traditional Confucian virtues such as loyalty, propriety, and righteousness were essential to fighting the invaders. The SSM motivators’ endeavors to modernize the dynasty were in the conservatives’ eyes entirely unorthodox, meaningless, and useless. The conservatives particularly objected to having conventional Chinese education, based on Confucianism, be replaced by a modern education that was centered around Western knowledge. The SSM proponents continued to defend their beliefs.

Cixi, who was by nature conservative, allowed the SSM motivators to implement their programs while allowing the ultraconservative critics of SSM to go unchecked. It is clear that the Empress Dowager instructed these two rivals to work against each other. In this way, not only would the two political factions not challenge Cixi, but she would place them both under her control. However, SSM could not be promoted throughout China, only in the provinces supervised by the SSM motivators. Zeng Guofan and Li Hongzhang did an excellent job in Nanjing, Shanghai, and Tianjin; as did Zuo Zongtang in Fuzhou and Lanzhou, and Zhang Zhidong in Wuhan.

In contrast, Japan’s Meiji Restoration and modernization were the result of state actions. Even Ito Hirobumi, then Japan’s Prime Minister, was aware of this and said that Qing’s rehabilitation of its armed forces was merely empty talk.10 The Northern Fleet’s staggering defeat in the First Sino-Japanese War (1894–1895) demonstrated that SSM was finally a failure.

Reformism in Its Initial Stages

Reformists, thinkers, and intellectuals participating in SSM started to rethink China after the end of the Second Opium War. Among them, Wang Tao 王韬, Zheng Guanying 郑观应 and Ma Jianzhong 马建忠 debated the fate of China and looked for the best way out of its crisis. Wang Tao repeatedly failed the Imperial Civil Service Examination (hereinafter referred to as the Examination). He finally abandoned the attempt and became an editor at a Shanghai-based publisher managed by a British resident. While working there, Wang read some Western books, and these gradually led him to change his ideas.

Wang later went to Britain, where he was employed as an assistant translating Chinese classics. For three years (1867–1870) Wang did an on-the-spot investigation of Western society. By doing so, he became epistemico-intellectually enriched, successfully transforming from a member of the feudal literati into an advocate of bourgeois reformism. In 1873, Wang founded a newspaper called the Universal Circulating Herald (循环日报) in Hong Kong. This newspaper advocated Wang’s ideas, such as the free registration of private companies, and recommended that China create a new political system in which the sovereign and the people would share power.11

Zheng was from the countryside of Xiangshan, Guangdong. He was also unsuccessful in his attempt to pass the Examination at the lowest level. Many compradors were natives of Xiangshan. As Zheng’s uncle and elder brother worked for foreign firms, at the age of 17 Zheng was granted an apprenticeship at a Shanghai-based Hong (a company run by foreigners). Later he became the leading comprador in the Swire Group and made a fortune. In his work, Zheng witnessed not only the hardships that traders had to endure but also the effects of the foreign capitalist invasion of China. While he dreamed of running his own company, Zheng well knew that the fulfillment of his dream depended on a pro-business and wealthy state. Based on his studies, Zheng asserted that having an advanced weapons system was not enough; a well-organized and efficient parliamentary system was equally important to lay a solid foundation for a stable and prosperous state.12 Ma, who originally dedicated himself to completing the Examination, decided to abandon the old Chinese learning system and instead opted for a Western education, reflecting that Qing had been so easily defeated by a small Western force. Ma spent much time learning foreign languages, hoping that, by doing so, he would find the key to the West’s success.13

The above-mentioned educated Chinese who partook in SSM were all aware that China was undergoing a drastic change. Inspired by the new knowledge imported from the West, they unanimously decided that Chinese society needed to change. Feng Guifen 冯 桂 芬, for example, argued that the creation of treaty ports had created a huge change in China.14 Wang Tao said that China had a historic opportunity;15 and Xue Fucheng 薛福成 believed that both China and the world would witness dramatic changes.16 Educated Chinese such as Zheng and Wang attempted to propose programs that would allow China to cope with changes and grasp new opportunities. They suggested that Qing learn from the West and try its utmost to turn disadvantages into advantages. This kind of self-strengthening endeavor, they argued, would help China adapt to the modernizing world. Feng argued that China should adopt the West’s strong points,17 while Ma pointed out that strength depends on wealth and a strong state so that people can live a prosperous life.18 They further argued that the growth of wealth depended on commerce and industry, and that China’s development of commerce and industry should be modeled on that of the capitalist countries. Where education was concerned, they argued that modern education was indispensable to the self-strengthening mission and for abolishing the Examination and reforming the traditional Confucian education system to help build a more modern education system.

The aforementioned reformist proposals posed a great challenge to the traditional Chinese way of thinking and to the established method of governance in particular. By the 1880s, the SSM intellectuals who included Zheng Guanying, Chen Chi 陈炽, He Qi 何启, and others, discussed more intensely China’s road to rehabilitation. Zheng, an old SSM hand and a businessman turned thinker, in his well-known Admonishments to People Living in a Prosperous Age (盛世危言), developed some original ideas about reform. Chen was an imperial officer who had worked for several departments of the central government. He was open-minded and pro-reform and visited in person the coastal areas of Hong Kong and Macao. He Qi was a Hong Kong-based lawyer and doctor. These reformists shared a common intellectual outlook, that China must militarily and economically resist the colonial powers’ invasion after failing twice in the Opium Wars. They all argued that only when China was economically prosperous would the colonial powers be deterred from bullying China. Zhen even created the slogan of Shangzhan (economic war), which he argued would be superior to military war. He suggested the central government do its best to protect private industries and commerce, since Chinese industry, competing in the global market, would finally lead China out of decline and crisis. A series of proposals promoting Chinese industry and commerce were put forward by these reformists. First, they suggested joining government and private business. Second, the industrial and commercial taxes as well as the lijin (a special tax exclusively collected for putting down the Taiping Rebellion) must be abolished or at least substantially reduced. Ma Jianzhong said that it did not make sense that foreign firms were exempt from lijin while the Chinese had to pay.19 Third, the government must formulate laws and institutions to effectively protect Chinese industrialists and businessmen.20 Fourth, the government should encourage people to engage in creative work, just as Western governments had done.

Wang Tao strongly criticized the government’s excessive participation in business and said that many SSM programs merely scratched the surface of modernity.21 Ma had written a memorandum to Li Hongzhang, the SSM leader, pointing out that the foundation of the West’s strength and wealth lay not in weapons and armies but in education and politics (such as the parliamentary system).22 In particular, the Sino-French War (1883–1885), which China lost, reminded the Chinese people that after two decades of SSM leadership, they had yet to carry out successful reforms in the country. Corruption was also a problem among officials, and this resulted in ordinary people rarely benefiting from SSM. In view of all this, the reformists called on Qing to politically reform and establish a Western constitutional monarchy, thus signalling significant intellectual progress among the community of educated Chinese. They realized that China should not only study Western weapons and technology but also do its best to develop industry and commerce as well as formulate laws and regulations that would protect the national economy, create parliamentary politics, and reform both education and culture. These ideas advocated for the growth of Chinese logical thinking as well as for the evolution of Chinese society. To sum up, the early Chinese reformists generally believed that national sovereignty and unity must be safeguarded, that China should take the capitalist route, and that political reforms, such as the founding of a constitutional monarchy, should be put on the agenda.

Border Crises and the Sino-French War

During the period of SSM, Qing tried to solve the crises on its borders. In 1864, some of the elite among the ethnic groups in Xinjiang launched a rebellion. Yakubu Beg (阿古柏), a military leader of the Khanate of Kokand (浩罕国), supported by Britain, invaded and occupied the entire southern region of Xinjiang as well as parts of northern Xinjiang. Tsarist Russia sent troops into Yili in order to ensure social order,23 and occupied Yili for a decade. In 1875, Qing sent Zuo Zongtang to recapture the lost lands. It took Zuo a year and a half to crush Yakubu Beg’s army but in February, 1878, he retook Xinjiang. A senior imperial official then visited Russia to negotiate for the return of Yili. He signed a treaty with Russia without the permission of the central government. As part of this treaty huge pieces of land south and west of Yili were ceded to Russia. This infuriated the Chinese and, in 1880, Qing signed a new treaty, in which the larger pieces of land south of Yili were retaken. Four years later, Xinjiang was formally made a province of China and a new governor was appointed. Qing had managed the border crisis in the northwest.

As far back as the early Ming dynasty (1368–1644), the Ryukyu Kingdom had already developed a very close relationship with China. However, in 1873, Ryukyu was forced to submit to Japan. At the beginning of 1874, Japan sent three thousand soldiers to Taiwan on the pretext of protecting Ryukyu fishermen from being kidnapped by Taiwanese residents. The Japanese troops landed on the shores and looted the coastal areas of Taiwan. Shen Baozhen, a high governor in Qing’s army, led the fight against the invaders. However, after the United States and Britain, both of whom were in favor of Japan, mediated the dispute, Qing and Japan signed a treaty in Beijing. Qing paid Japan 500,000 taels of silver in war reparations and the Japanese troops pulled out of Taiwan. In this treaty, Qing mistakenly called the Ryukyu fishmen subjects of Japan. Japan made use of this and in 1875 sent officials to Ryukyu. Four years later, Japan brazenly deposed the King of Ryukyu and downgraded this kingdom to a prefecture known as Okinawa. Qing immediately protested against this. Negotiations over Ryukyu continued for several years. In 1888, Japan withdrew from the negotiations. Qing did not recognize the Okinawa Prefecture, only the Ryukyu Kingdom.24 Qing grew aware of the strategic importance of the southeast coast. In order to prevent Japan from invading Taiwan, Qing strengthened its defense and, most importantly, established Taiwan as a province in 1885. This greatly increased the importance of Taiwan to the Chinese nation.

In the meantime, Japan began to interfere in Korean affairs. In 1875, Japan invaded Korea’s Ganghwado. The following year, Japan forced Korea to sign the Ganghwado Treaty (a.k.a. the 1876 Japan-Korea Treaty of Amity), where Japan addressed the well-established close relationship between China and Korea. Six years later, an anti-Japanese coup was staged in Korea, which led to Japan intervening militarily. The Korean government begged Qing for help, hoping that Qing would be able to stop a Japanese invasion of Korea. In 1884, Japan instigated a revolt in which the Korean king was abducted and a pro-Japanese regime was installed. Led by Yuan Shikai 袁世凯 (1859–1916), the Qing army stationed in Korea quashed the riot. The following year, Ito Hirobumi visited Beijing, where Li Hongzhang granted an interview to the Japanese Prime Minister. Both sides agreed to withdraw their troops immediately and to let the other know if they were sending an army to Korea. This meant Japan had gained the same right to send troops to Korea that Qing enjoyed. This was the beginning of the fierce conflict between China and Japan in the near future.

At the time that the British Empire was seizing India and Myanmar, it cast its eyes on Yunnan. In 1874, the British attempted to enter Yunnan via Myanmar. The British Embassy in Beijing sent an interpreter to greet them, though they clashed with the Chinese at the border. The Qing government tried its best to prevent the situation from growing worse while the British Ambassador exploited the incident and asked for a more powerful military presence from London.25 Robert Hart, who then supervised Qing’s Customs, wrote in his diary that he would not hesitate to use force to punish the Chinese.26 The British forced Qing to sign the Yantai Treaty in 1876. Not only were the British given indemnity but they were also given permission to enter Tibet, Yunnan, Qinghai, and Gansu. The British Empire continued to extend its tentacles further into China.

Exploiting the Yantai Treaty, the British attempted to invade Tibet. In 1884, British troops illegally entered Tibet (the region of Rikaze 日喀则 [Shigatse]) via Sikkim. The British tried to drive a wedge between the Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lama, the two most significant spiritual leaders of the Tibetan people. Two years later, Britain stationed its troops east of Yadong, Tibet. In 1888, the British started to attack the Longtushan 隆吐山 Garrison. The defending army and local people rose up to resist the invaders. Finally, the Qing government dismissed the imperial agent in Tibet and signed two treaties with Britain. According to the two treaties, Sikkim would be placed under the control of Britain and Yadong would be made commercially open to the British. France and Russia also tried to involve themselves in Tibetan affairs at this time.

The SSM motivators, most of whom were high governors or generals, adopted the policy that China should avoid direct conflict with the colonial powers and should instead promote reforms internally as much as possible. Li Hongzhang, who was then regarded as Qing’s leading diplomat, almost conceded to the foreign power’s demands in exchange for peace. Consequently, not only was China’s sovereignty trampled on, but the invaders also grew increasingly arrogant and avaricious. Put simply, making concessions and compromising could in no way guarantee friendly and beneficial international relationships for China, as confirmed by the Sino-French War (1883–1885).

As early as the seventeenth century, France began its invasion of Vietnam with the intention of turning all of what was then called Indo-China into a French colony. Vietnam thus became the base for French aggression against China. In the last two decades of the nineteenth century, France launched a full-scale invasion of Vietnam. China, Vietnam’s suzerain state, could not overlook this. The Qing army stationed in Vietnam at first remained controlled. The Black Banner Army, which was made up of the rebels who had taken part in the Taiping Rebellion and who had finally retreated to Vietnam, took the offensive and defeated the French troops. Vietnam’s sovereign appointed the leader of the army as high governor to help the government army defend north Vietnam. In 1883, the French army captured Vietnam’s capital and forced the Vietnamese king to sign the Treaty of Hue, making Vietnam a French protectorate. In the last month of 1883, the French started to attack Qing’s army as well as the Black Banner Army. The next year, French troops began to advance toward the Chinese border. Some of Qing’s leading officials, including Zuo Zongtang, Zhang Zhidong, and others, recommended that China fight against the French invaders. Others, such as Li Hongzhang, pushed for peace talks.27 The Empress Dowager Cixi chose to begin negotiations with the French. Li, on behalf of the Qing government, signed a short treaty with France in Tianjin, recognizing France’s right to protect Vietnam.

The French army, however, began to seize land even before the withdrawal of the Chinese troops. The Chinese soldiers were forced to fight back. Enraged, French media outlets began calling for war. France’s Chargé D’affaires in Beijing demanded that the Chinese troops immediately withdraw from northern Vietnam and that the Chinese government should pay compensation of 250,000,000 francs. Should China fail to comply with these demands, France threatened to occupy China’s ports.28 In July 1884, the French fleet closed on Mawei, a strategic naval port in Fuzhou. One month later, some French gunboats attempted to invade northern Taiwan but were driven off by Qing’s defending army. Then the French pointed their guns at Fuzhou.

Although the enemy was already at the gates, Qing did not prepare for war but instead pinned its hopes on negotiations. However, the French navy began attacking and Chinese warships were sent to the dock. A day later, Qing’s fleet was destroyed by French torpedoes. In this battle, the Fujian Navy lost nearly thirty warships and eight hundred men. The French troops began killing, burning, and looting; shockingly, foreign reporters called it not a war but a massacre. The reason for China’s failure was twofold, the first being Qing’s passivity and the other the differences between the French and Chinese navies (see table below).

French Navy Chinese Navy Number of warships/total tonnage 8/14,514 11/6,500 Types of warships 2 iron battleships 5 cruisers 9 small wooden gunboats Number of artillery 77 45 Types of artillery heavy breechloader light muzzleloader

Qing formally declared war on France after the Mawei Battle and severed diplomatic relations.29 Liu Yongfu 刘永福 (1837–1917), the leader of the Black Banner Army, was formally given an imperial title. His army continued to fight against the French invaders. The Chinese people were furious and many enlisted to fight against the French colonialists.30 Even Chinese living overseas participated in the campaign against the French invaders. In Hong Kong, for example, workers refused to repair a damaged French warship on the grounds that it had bombed Taiwan and attempted to enter Fuzhou. The Chinese in San Francisco, Kobe, Yokohama, Singapore, and Cuba donated money to the war effort against imperialistic France.31