A Brief Modern Chinese History

Fighting broke out in Zhennanguan, a strategic garrison on the Sino-Vietnamese border. In March, 1885, the French army attacked Zhennanguan. Zhang Zhidong, then Governor General of Guangdong and Guangxi, appointed Feng Zicai, a veteran general, to supervise the defense. Defending this garrison, Feng, who was in his seventies led his troops against the French and annihilated more than 1,000 of the enemy. Qing’s army pursued the remaining enemy troops and recaptured the key region of Liangshan, or Lang Son, in north Vietnam. This campaign directly led to the downfall of France’s Jules Ferry government. General Feng planned to drive all French troops out of north Vietnam. However, the Qing government decided to start peace negotiations instead of fighting. In April 1885, China and France signed a truce in Paris. Two months later, Li Hongzhang and the French delegates formally signed a treaty in Tianjin. This treaty was Qing’s acknowledgement of France’s colonial rule over Vietnam. The Black Banner Army was brought back into China and then sent to Taiwan. Despite their military victory, Qing’s army did not receive an equal deal in the signing of the treaty.

Endless Incidents Involving Christian Missionaries

Ambitiously aspiring to conquer the entire globe for Christ, Christian missionaries began arriving in China as part of the colonial project. Jiao’an (literally, the Christian cases), which refers to the historic incidents involving Christian missionaries in China, was the result not only of the contradiction between foreign imperialism and the Chinese nation, but also of the conflict between Chinese tradition and Christian culture. To some extent, Christian missionaries were at the center of the West’s colonial aggression. Charles H. Denby, then the leading American diplomat in China, confirmed that the information collected by missionaries was very helpful to the American government. In fact, as early as the 1850s and the 1860s, William

B. Reed, one of Denby’s predecessors, acknowledged that Christian missionaries and their endeavors greatly contributed to America’s interests. Some Christian churches in China were actually operating as agencies of secret services. A top Russian diplomat corroborated this, saying that the Beijing branch of the Orthodox Church gave him accurate advice, which he could use to follow the right path in negotiating the Beijing Treaty. As a reward, the Russian government granted the Church huge pieces of land grabbed from China and paid its clergy.

Western missionaries were allowed to enter China due to the treaties signed in the Second Opium War. Not only were they allowed to do missionary work but they also had the right to rent or purchase land. Under such circumstances, conflict between the Western missionaries and local residents was inevitable. Needless to say, missionary work in early modernizing China was supported by the Western powers’ guns and artilleries. For this reason, some missionaries were reliant on the colonial powers. Some Chinese regarded the missionaries as spokesmen for the colonial powers and, for this reason, felt much resentment toward them. Land disputes involving missionaries and residents were not uncommon at this time. The missionaries forcibly spread their faith at the cost of others’ land and property, which aroused great discontent among local residents. They bullied people who tried to resist the invaders. Missionaries complained to the consulates, which then pressed Qing’s government to comply with their demands. Local governments had no alternative but to suppress the Chinese residents.

Gradually, the foreign churches grew into privileged and powerful interest groups. The Christian churches in China rarely took the local governments seriously. These all-powerful spiritual halls were appealing to local ruffians and hooligans. On the other hand, it should be pointed out that some missionary societies did do their best to help China and its people by founding modern hospitals and schools, as well as offering sympathy and help to people in need. Nevertheless, they could not bring any fundamental changes to the imperialist powers’ invasion of China.

The foreign missionaries continued to swarm into China after the Beijing Treaty was signed and continued to grow increasingly powerful in China. The growth in the number of churches, clergy, and followers was remarkable. In 1860, there were 20 missionary societies; in 1884, there were more than 30. The number of missionaries increased from 180 in 1864 to 1,296 in 1890. In 1860, there were 14 missionary residents scattered across the treaty ports of six coastal provinces in southeast China. In 1884, this number reached 238, spread over all the coastal provinces, the Yangtze River, and some inland provinces such as Shanxi, Gansu, Guizhou, and Yunnan. The number of Christian converts was 400 or so in 1857; by 1893, this number had increased to 55,000. In 1860, there were nine Catholic missionary societies; in 1894, there were 21. The number of Catholic parishes increased from 10 in 1844 to 34 in 1883. A club of foreign-born Catholic priests was also established that had 100 members in 1846; by 1885, it numbered 488 members. These priests wandered around China, leaving their footprints in many remote provinces such as Tibet, Taiwan, Heilongjiang, and Hainan Island. Statistics indicate that, in 1850, China had 320,000 Catholic converts; four decades later there were more than half a million Catholics.32 As for Protestantism, by 1877 there were 473 missionaries, 91 missionary societies, 511 branches, 321 churches, and 13,035 converts.33 The largest missionary society was the China Inland Mission (CIM),34 founded by James Hudson Taylor, a British missionary, in 1865. When it first started, it had only three members; however, three decades later, it comprised 650 priests, 270 outposts, and approximately 5,000 followers.

The Catholics built a cathedral in each parish. Usually, such grand churches were situated in metropolises such as Beijing or regional centers like Ji’nan, while some were built in remote rural areas in Hubei and Hunan. The Orthodox Church’s missionary corps was financially supported by the Russian government and, for this reason, followed the Russian authorities’ instructions. Orthodox churches were established in Tianjin, Harbin, Shanghai, and Xinjiang after the signing of the Beijing Treaty.

Four decades after signing the Beijing Treaty, China witnessed more than four hundred incidents involving Christian missionaries which provoked the resentment of many local residents. The most well-known incident took place in Tianjin. The French had built a cathedral and an affiliated care center that adopted children. On occasion, money was given to those who brought children there and consequently, a few ruffians kidnapped children and gave them to the church in exchange of cash. In the summer of 1870, some adopted children died of infectious diseases and were buried in a mass grave. Because of poor burial, stray dogs feasted on the dead bodies of children. Some believed that these children had been tortured by the church. It was even rumored that the children’s eyes were gouged out and their hearts torn out. At this time, a child trafficker was captured by the local authorities and confessed that one of his accomplices was a Catholic. When informed about this, the magistrate immediately asked for instructions from Chonghou, the highest imperial official in Tianjin. Chonghou delivered a formal note to the French consul in Tianjin, notifying that the suspect be examined by the investigators. Soon residents and staff from the French Consulate clashed. The Consul ordered Chonghou to suppress the residents by force. The clashes were fierce and resulted in the French Consulate, some foreign banks, and Christian churches being destroyed by fire.35 In total, twenty foreigners, including the consul and his secretary, as well as sixteen Chinese Catholic converts lost their lives in this incident.

Seven Western countries—Britain, France, Russia, Germany, Belgium, Spain, and the United States—protested and sent their warships toward Tianjin. A French admiral threatened to burn Tianjin to a cinder. The United States’ Minister to China, Frederick F. Low, in his letter to Hamilton Fish, the Secretary of State, said that many more menacing threats were made such as beheading all Chinese officials, overthrowing

the Chinese government, and turning China into a protectorate.36 The threats frightened Qing and it ordered Zeng Guofan, who was on medical leave, to immediately return and handle the affair. Zeng knew that China had no choice but to compromise.37 Despite knowing who was responsible for the incident, he removed the top government officials in Tianjin and sentenced 20 people to death and sent another 25 people into exile. In addition, 500,000 taels of silver were paid to France as compensation. Chonghou went to France, where he, on behalf of the Qing government, offered a formal apology. Zeng admitted that the case was not handled well.38 Some accused Zeng of being a coward.39 Zeng also felt ashamed because of his poor handling of the Tianjin incident.

The Sino-French War was a stimulant to the jiao’an that took place in Fujian and Zhejiang, where some churches were burnt. More than 40 missionaries were expelled from Guangdong and Guangxi and 50 or so churches were destroyed. There were huge protests against the missionaries in Sichuan and Hebei. In Dazu, a county of Sichuan, a poor miner in September, 1890, launched an armed revolt, rallying the people to resist the established power of the church. The next summer and fall, resistance to the church swept through the middle and lower regions of the Yangtze River. In the Chengde of Zhili (present-day Hebei), tens of thousands of local residents dealt a heavy blow to the Catholic church. Four years later, the Chengdu incident broke out and dozens of Catholic and Protestant churches were burnt to the ground in Sichuan.

Jiao’an was representative of China’s relationships and conflicts with the West. The Beijing Treaty granted foreign Christian churches the right to do missionary work in China. However, conflict between the foreign churches and Chinese residents was inevitable due to the cultural differences and the conflicts of interest regarding land. In many cases, the foreign missionaries gave protection to Christian converts whenever they were involved in disputes. To make matters worse, the foreign governments backing the missionaries used the unequal treaties to pressure the Chinese authorities. They even applied extraterritoriality to Chinese Christian converts. As a consequence, few local governments dared to get involved in disputes involving missionaries and their protégés, and, as a result, Chinese residents often had to endure injustices. Evidence that China was further in decline.

The 1895 Sino-Japanese War

Ancient Japan devoted great attention to learning from China. In the 1860s, Japan started its own self-strengthening movement known as the Meiji Restoration. However, next to Japan’s national endeavor, China’s SSM paled in comparison. Although the two Asian counties stood on the same scratch line, Japan soon left China, its old teacher, far behind. Japan’s Meiji Restoration was based on economic growth, military advancement and cultural reconstruction, whereby Japanese society could be totally overhauled in light of Western modernity. In contrast, after three decades of SSM, China struggled to modernize, particularly where the powerful ultraconservatives were concerned.

Some said that in three decades (1860–1895) China invested, in total, 53,000,000 taels of silver in founding approximately 60 modern corporations. Each year, China set up two factories and invested 1,700,000 in each. Of these, 21 were for the military complex and accounted for almost 70%ercent of the total assets. For the rest, there were 120 capitalist enterprises with total assets of 58,000,000. Every year, four civil corporations were founded and each was worth less than 2,000,000.40 In Japan, it is estimated that more than 5,600 companies were created over more than two decades (1868–1892) and the total investment was 289,000,000 yen. Thus, Japan founded 225 enterprises every year and each was worth 11,000,000 yen or 7,000,000 taels of silver.41

Indeed, Japan developed much more rapidly than China at this time. The Japanese government redeveloped the whole of society on the model of Western capitalism. Japan had transformed itself into a laissez-faire capitalist constitutional state. Japan sold state-owned enterprises cheaply to private owners, revealing that capitalist Japan had already taken shape. Such actions were not possible in nineteenth-century China, which was still steeped in colonialist practices and semi-feudalism.42

As early as the sixteenth century, some Japanese politicians attempted expansion. Japan’s Meiji Emperor attempted to extend his territory to Ryukyu, Korea, and Taiwan. Yoshida Shoin 吉田松阴, who pioneered the Meiji Restoration, recommended that Japan take Manchuria (in northeast China), Taiwan, and Luzon (belonging to the Philippines). Fuzuzawa Yukichi 福泽谕吉, an educator renowned for his radical Datsu-A Ron (an editorial advocating that Japan completely abandon its Asian roots and fully integrate itself into European [Western] civilization), said Japan should treat China in the same manner as the West treated China and Korea.43 These politicians, thinkers, and educators advocated for the preparation for an aggressive war against China. At the same time, Japan did its best to develop a navy and an army, set up a general staff under the direct control of the emperor, as well as send a huge number of spies to China. In 1887, Ogawa Mataji 小川又次, a Japanese general, wrote The General Plan of Conquering China (征讨清国方略), analyzing in detail China’s economy, politics, and defense, recommending that Japan strike preemptively and deploy eight divisions to storm Beijing and capture the Chinese emperor.44

Three years later, Yamagata Aritomo 山县有朋, then Prime Minister of Japan, in the inaugural National Diet (1890) said that Korea was indispensable to Japan’s national interest and that Japan must capture China in order to protect itself. The Japanese Emperor at the fourth Diet (1892–1893) gave voice to Japan’s long-held dream and said, “thereafter the capital may be extended so as to embrace all the six cardinal points, and the eight cords may be covered so as to form a roof” (兼六合以开都掩八纮而为宇).45 Here lay Japan’s wild ambition to create a Pax Nipponica. In other words, the Japanese Emperor had given his approval for war and the invasion of China. In 1893, the Japanese government set up a war materials special committee and formulated the relevant regulations, an important step toward war. Meanwhile, a senior officer led a team of military spies to Korea and China, where they collected as much information as possible and prepared the details of the military operation. Spies concluded that Japan was sure to succeed in the coming war. Japan built a nationwide espionage network within China. By contrast, China was almost completely unaware of what was going on in Japan. When war broke out, Munakata Kotaro (宗方小太郎), a Japanese spy who had direct access to the Gunreibu (the Imperial Japanese Navy General Staff) and the Gaimusho (the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan), was still spying on the Northern Fleet that was anchored in Weihai, a naval port. Revealed, the spy managed to escape using a false identity and returned to Japan safe and sound.46

In February, 1894, the Donghak Peasant Revolution broke out in the south of Korea. The peasant army aspired to annihilate all the Japanese invaders and wipe out the established aristocracy. Three months later, the rebels captured Jeonju. The Korean king begged Qing for help. Qing sent an army of 1,500 men to Korea and informed Japan of this operation. Japan took immediate action and set up the Daihonei (General Headquarters during war) sending 8,000 soldiers to Incheon, Korea. The Japanese troops occupied strategic garrisons and took full control of Seoul, Korea’s capital. It was here that the military confrontation between China and Japan began.47 War was near. However, Qing was looking for a way to achieve peace quickly. Li Hongzhang, the leading official of the imperial court, agreed to work toward seeking peace rather than engaging in war, and even suggested that the Korean government reform itself in exchange for Japan withdrawing its troops. Li decided not to send reinforcements to Korea, and ordered Qing’s army in Korea to stay where it was.

Li suggested China and Japan withdraw their troops simultaneously; however, this did not work. He called upon Russia and Britain to mediate. At that time, Russia was building the Trans-Siberian Railroad and was too busy to interfere. Russia demanded that Japan hold its hand. But Japan ignored it. Britain attempted to turn Japan into a counterweight to Russia. Meanwhile, Japan wanted to win support from Britain. Britain signed a new treaty with Japan and openly recognized Japan’s Korean policy. Qing’s government ordered its troops to march into Pyongyang. In late July, the impatient Japanese army occupied the imperial palace and imprisoned the Korean king. The Japanese then set up a puppet regime and began attacking Qing’s navy. A Chinese warship was sunk and 800 men were killed.

At the same time, the Japanese army was ferociously attacking Qing’s garrison. Terrified, the commanding general of Qing’s army fled shamefully. Japan then declared war on China in August, which resulted in the First Sino-Japanese War breaking out. Japan moved the Daihonei to Hiroshima where the Japanese Emperor visited as the Generalissimo. This revealed that the Japanese command system, wherein the whole nation acted in concert in war, had taken shape. As a consequence, all of Japan was enthusiastic about conquering China.

China was at war. Li Hongzhang had to abandon his pursuit of peace and instead turned to passive defense. He did not follow the Emperor Guangxu’s suggestion that the imperial court should send reinforcements to join Qing’s army in Korea and combine forces to attack Seoul, but instead ordered the Qing troops to defend Pyongyang and fight steadfastly. Li gave priority to protecting the warships rather than attacking the enemy. Li dreamed that his battleships anchored in the Bohai Gulf would prove to be the fiercest fighting ships. However, this involved giving up the command of the Yellow Sea, which would mean Japan could safely transport troops over water.

The land battle was fought in Pyongyang. The Qing army stationed there had 15,000 soldiers, 28 mountain guns, 4 field guns, and 6 machine cannons. The Japanese army had over 17,000 men in possession of 44 mountain artilleries. The Japanese vehemently attacked Pyongyang, resulting in a general from Qing’s army dying in battle and Qing army’s commander fleeing once again. Pyongyang fell into the hands of the enemy.

The Yellow Sea Battle then took place. Japan spent much time planning this battle. For this reason, the Japanese fleet was superior to China’s Northern Fleet (see table below).48

Chinese Fleet Japanese Fleet Number of warships 10 12 Total tonnage 31,366 40,849 Total strength 2,000 3,500 Average speed (nmi) 15.5 16.5 Number of artilleries 173 171 Number of quick-firing guns 0 97

The Northern Fleet’s performance was clumsy in the face of the Japanese navy’s surprise attack49 and it suffered heavy losses. The Northern Fleet lost five battleships and a number of excellent naval officers. Fortunately, most of the capital ships were saved. The Chinese navy inflicted heavy losses on the Japanese, including five battleships being severely damaged and more than 300 soldiers and officers killed or injured. The Northern Fleet lost for a number of reasons. First, Li Hongzhang’s operational plan was too passive. Second, Qing’s navy lagged far behind Japan’s in terms of modernization. The Qing navy desperately lacked money, the leadership was inconsistent, and the navy itself was poorly commanded and poorly trained. The Zhiyuan 致 远, the fastest battleship of the Northern Fleet, vigorously pursued and fiercely mauled the Yoshino吉野, one of the largest Japanese warships. When realizing that it had run out of ammunition, the Zhiyuan decided to ram the Yoshino; however, it was sunk by the enemy.

Frightened by the Yellow Sea Battle, Li Hongzhang prohibited Chinese warships from going to sea, arguing that the Northern Fleet should only be used for defense. Japan had naval supremacy and consequently began landing their army in China, an operation which took place over nine days. The Northern Fleet took no action when the Japanese army attacked bases in Lüshun and captured Jinzhou and Dalian. Li Hongzhang had spent tens of millions of taels of silver building the naval port of Lüshun, which was nicknamed the Iron Garrison. It was stocked with a huge number of powerful, advanced Western weapons and this was the reason why the Japanese troops did not risk a frontal attack. After taking Jinzhou and Dalian, the Japanese decided to launch an assault on Lüshun. Li resolved to defend Lüshun at all costs,50 and sent reinforcements of 20,000 men. At this time, Qing’s army turned and marched toward Jinzhou; however, the Japanese troops were caught in the crossfire between the two Qing armies. In 1894, Lüshun fell. The Japanese army massacred 20,000 civilians,51 which caused outrage throughout the world and condemnation of Japan. Mutsu Munemitsu 陆奥宗光, Japan’s foreign minister, later recalled that after this massacre, Japan was seen as no more than a brutal and cruel monster.52

On the same day the Japanese army landed at Huayuankou, some Japanese troops led by their commander-in-chief crossed the Yalu River and attacked the Chinese garrisons. The Japanese army had slightly more than 10,000 soldiers in contrast to Qing’s defending army of 70 camps and 20,000 soldiers in total. It took the Japanese merely two days to break Qing’s defense. On the first day of December, 1894, the Japanese army occupied the strategic city of Haicheng. Qing’s army of 60,000 men then attacked this city. The battle lasted until February, 1895, when Japan’s reinforcements arrived and helped to secure the city.

Japan’s next target was Weihai, another key naval port belonging to Qing. 20,000 Japanese soldiers arrived in Weihai, which was protected by eight batteries with more than one hundred powerful Western cannons. Weihai was the headquarters of Qing’s navy. After the Yellow Sea Battle, the rest of the Northern Fleet, which included seven battleships, six gunboats, 13 torpedo boats and two training vessels, lay at anchor in Weihai. Li Hongzhang did not allow any ships to leave this naval port, hoping that his fleet would avoid more losses. However, he repeated the same mistake as in Lüshun.

After several days, the Japanese destroyed the batteries and killed more than 1,000 defenders. The Japanese army then blocked all exit points and turned all the Chinese warships into sitting ducks. In spite of resisting fiercely, the entire Northern Army fleet was wiped out. Some foreign employees and Qing’s naval officers orchestrated a mutiny, forcing Ding Ruchang, the highest commander in the Qing navy, to surrender to the Japanese. Ding ordered them to desist; however, they would not listen. Finally, Ding and other senior officers chose to commit suicide rather than surrender. Japan seized the remaining Chinese warships and a large quantity of equipment in the naval base. The Northern Fleet, the symbol of China’s three-decade SSM, was erased from history. Disappointed at Li’s military inability, Qing’s imperial court placed its hopes in the Hunan Army, which played a pivotal role in putting down the Taiping Rebellion. However, the Hunan Army did not have success. The leader, the Governor General of both Jiangnan and Jiangxi, was not able to respond properly. The Japanese troops soon captured western Liaoning and the advancing army posed a great threat to Beijing.