HI 168: Lecture 4 Dr. Howard Chiang Late Qing Crisis HI 168: Lecture 4 Dr. Howard Chiang
Empress Dowager Cixi
Zongli Yamen
The Changing Context 1861: Zongli Yamen 1864: international law 1873: foreign audience no kowtow 1876: diplomatic missions Universal empire (天下) to nation-state (國家) Western perception – Mutiny of 1857 in India -> British policy in China changed to moderation (gradual decline)
Sino-French War (1884-85)
Tributary Retraction Losing Vietnam: Sino-French War (1884-1885) realists (Li Hongzhang) vs. pro-war faction afterward: final phase of the “self-strengthening movement” (1885-1895) Losing Korea (Origins): Li-Ito Convention (1884) after Japan annexed Okinawa in 1879 Each country promised to notify the other if it was planning to send forces in the future Losing Taiwan: First Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895) July 23, 1894, Japanese captured Seoul
Ito Hirobumi Li Hongzhang
Sino-Japanese War (1894-95)
Treaty of Shimonoseki April 17, 1895: China recognizes independence of Korea China cedes to Japan Taiwan and the Liaodong Peninsula - Triple Intervention (Russia, Germany, and France) 200-300 million taels indemnity China is to grant Japan (replacing Britain) the most-favored-nation treatment
“Carving up the Chinese Mellon” Russian Interest: Russia monopolized special status in Beijing until the Treaty of Tianjin in 1860 – insisted that the Qing ceded a million square km of lands east and north of the Amur River to Russia (Maritime Province) Chinese Eastern Railway: cuts through Manchuria
“Carving up the Chinese Mellon” Germany: 99 yrs Qingdao & Jiaozhou Port (Mar 1898) Russia: 25 yrs Port Arthur & Dalian (Mar 1898) Russia: South Manchuria Railway Britain: 25 yrs Port of Weihai (Mar 1898) Britain: 99 yrs New Territories of Hong Kong (June 1898) France: 99 yrs Guangzhou Bay (Apr 1898)
Partitioning of China - Queen Victoria - William II (Germany) - Nicholas II (Russia) - French Marianne - Meiji Emperor
1890s Growing acceptance of Western knowledge and values Socio-economic transformations came with treaty settlements – increasing social mobilization eroding traditional attitudes Reformist writings - the Western ideal of political participation - the need for change in the central political institutions of China & prize the West as the source not only of instrumental/secondary but also of essential and central values
Kang Youwei The Book of Great Unity - philosophical canon was a forgery - culturalism to nationalism
Liang Qichao - ‘grouping’ - democracy - newspapers - modern intelligentsia
Guangxu Emperor Hundred Days Reform: June 11-Sept 21, 1898
Yuan Shikai
The Boxer Catastrophe Context: late 19th-c. resentment at foreign presence gentry & local officials concerned with the rivalry of Christian missionaries China’s economic downtown - the availability of foreign goods, the establishment of Western businesses and railways, and the circulation of foreign currency heavy taxes levied Context: domestic natural disasters Yellow River flooded 400 villages in Shandong severe draught in north China popular superstitions blamed foreign presence
The Boxer Catastrophe The Boxer movement: a social explosion that emerged from a culture of poverty in north China name taken from the martial arts “Boxing” constituents: young farmers, laborers, unemployed drifters, and other socially marginalized individuals 3 main targets: foreigners, Chinese Christian converts, & others involved in foreign economic enterprises 1899-1900 spread to Zhili, Henan, Shanxi, and Inner Mongolia and Manchuria lacked central leadership (unlike Taiping rebellion) The Empress Dowager Cixi supported the Boxers!!
Eight-Nation Force
Eight-Nation Force
The Boxer Protocol (Sept. 1901) Execution and punishment of officials who had participated in the war Suspended the civil service examinations for 5 years in 45 cities Demanded over 2 dozen forts to be demolished Expanded legation headquarters 2-year prohibition on China’s importation of arms Most disastrous: 450 million taels indemnity (the Qing government’s annual revenue is 88-89 million taels)