Hundred Days' Reform

Template:Short description Template:Infobox Chinese The Hundred Days' Reform (traditional Chinese: 百日維新; simplified Chinese: 百日维新; pinyin: Bǎirì Wéixīn; lit. '100 Days Reform') or Wuxu Reform (traditional Chinese: 戊戌變法; simplified Chinese: 戊戌变法; pinyin: Wùxū Biànfǎ; lit. 'Reform of the Wuxu year') was the short-lived national, cultural, political and educational reform movement that occurred in the Qing Empire from June 11 to September 21, 1898. The reforms were initiated by the Guangxu Emperor and led by reform-minded scholars, including Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao. The movement sought to modernize China’s institutions following the country’s defeat in the First Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895) and during a time of increasing foreign intervention in China. Over a period of roughly 100 days, the Guangxu Emperor enacted a series of imperial edicts with various goals in mind. These mandates aimed to restructure government organization, reform the civil service examination system, modernize the army, promote industrial and education progress, and adopt elements of constitutional governance.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Some of these measures were implemented, such as the establishment of the Imperial University of Peking (now Peking University) however most faced resistance from conservative factions. While Empress Dowager Cixi<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> supported principles of the reform, she feared that sudden implementation, without bureaucratic support, would be disruptive and that the Japanese and other foreign powers would take advantage of any weakness.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Thus, on September 21, 1898, Empress Dowager Cixi with her allies, staged a coup d’état, forcing the emperor under house arrest and further executing six of the leading reformers (she later backed the late Qing reforms after the invasions of the Eight-Nation Alliance). The Hundred Days' Reform, although brief, introduced new political concepts of nationhood and sovereignty and consequently inspired many of the subsequent “New Policies” reforms launched after 1901.

Beginning

Template:See also China embarked on an effort to modernize, the Self-Strengthening Movement, following its defeat in the First (1839–1842) and Second (1856–1860) Opium Wars.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The effort concentrated on providing the armed forces with modern weapons, rather than reforming governance or society. Following the Taiping Rebellion in 1850, a brief period known as the Tongzhi Restoration, which focused on development, temporarily provided liveliness to the Qing regime. The most distinctive proposal of the early political reformers was for a parliamentary system of government in addition to numerous additions that aimed to change Chinese society through Western technology. Moreover, several wester supporting individuals, such as Li Honzhngg, wanted to create a modernized military that incorporated western innovations with China. He, as well as a majority, believed that through western influence, China could strengthen its economy and protect itself on a global stage. At the same time, the British military had flintlocks, caplocks, breech-loading rifled artillery, while the Qing had matchlock muskets which had far less rounds and lower accuracy. These differences motivated China to purchase and employ western weaponry.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Apart from  their firearm imports, China also desired to improve its weapon manufacturing proficiency by building more domestic factories. The Jiangnan Arsenal, established in 1865 in Shanghai was the largest factory, producing both ships and firearms. The factory acted as a navy shipyard, building wooden and iron-hulled warships, large numbers of breech-loading rifles, as well as artillery shells. However, initiatives such as The Jiangnan Arsenal met significant challenges, still being considered underdeveloped in comparison to Europes innovations, and ventures were deprived of imperial funding, slowing the pace of production. Military modernization was another high priority since the beginning of the movement.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> While dramatic improvements were made to hardware, the military lacked the organization, training and institutions required to sustain forthcoming wars.

The limitations of this approach were exposed by the First Sino-Japanese War (1894–1895) when China was defeated by Meiji Japan, which had undergone comprehensive reforms during the same period. The defeat led to additional unequal treaties as European powers took advantage of China's weakness.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> As Tan Sitong (譚嗣同), Kang Youwei (康有爲), and Liang Qichao (梁啓超) saw the utter destruction and political problems of China at this time, such as political division, insurrection, opium addiction (due to the opium wars) and foreign conflicts. Therefore, they developed influential philosophical systems for creating solutions which enacted political reform and a new Chinese reformist movement.<ref>Template:Cite thesis</ref>Template:Page needed

Elements of the Qing government were sufficiently alarmed to permit Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao to propose reforms to Emperor Guangxu; Guangxu agreed.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Some of Kang's students were also given minor but strategic posts in the capital to assist with the reforms. The goals of these reforms included:

Educational:

• Establishing Peking University as a place where sciences, liberal arts and the Chinese classics would all be available for study<ref name=":0">Template:Cite book</ref>
• Building a modern education system (studying mathematics and science instead of focusing mainly on Confucian texts)
• Encouraging imperial family members to study abroad<ref name=":0" />

Administration and Governance

• Transitioning to a constitutional monarchy<ref name=":0" />
• Abolishing the traditional examination system<ref name=":0" />

Economy, Industry, and Infrastructure:

• Eliminating sinecures (positions that provided little or no work but provided a salary)<ref name=":0" />
• Establishing agricultural schools in all provinces and schools and colleges in all provinces and cities<ref name=":0" />
• Applying principles of capitalism to strengthen the economy
• Rapid industrialization through manufacturing, commerce, and capitalism
• Establishing trade schools for the manufacture of silk, tea, and other traditional crafts<ref name=":0" />
• Establishing a bureau for railways and mines<ref name=":0" />

Agriculture

• Utilizing unused military land for farming<ref name=":0" />

Military:

• Modernizing the military and adopting modern training and drill methods<ref name=":0" />
• Establishing a naval academy<ref name=":0" />

The reformers declared that China needed more than "self-strengthening" and that innovation must be accompanied by institutional and ideological change.

Opposition to the reforms was intense among the conservative ruling elite who condemned it as too radical and proposed a more moderate and gradualist alternatives.<ref name=":0" /> Conservatives like Prince Duan suspected a foreign plot due to the introduction into the Qing government of foreign advisors like Timothy Richards and Ito Hirobumi; Duan wanted to expel foreigners completely from China.<ref name=foreign>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In addition to the reforms, the reformers plotted to forcefully remove Empress Dowager Cixi from power.<ref name=":0" /> Tan Sitong asked Yuan Shikai to kill Ronglu, take control of the garrison at Tientsin, and then march on Beijing and arrest Cixi. However, Yuan had previously promised to support Ronglu; rather than kill him, Yuan informed Ronglu of the plot.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=foreign/>

Failure of the Reform

On September 19, 1898 (lunar calendar August 4) in the evening, Empress Dowager Cixi suddenly left the Summer Palace and returned to the Forbidden City. From this day onwards, the Guangxu Emperor was moved to reside in Yingtai. Kang Youwei sought help from British missionary Timothy Richard and later from Itō Hirobumi to lobby Cixi, but without success. That same evening Huang Shaoji urged Kang to leave Beijing immediately. Late at night, Liang Qichao, Kang Guangren and others pleaded with Kang to escape as soon as possible.

In the early morning of September 20 (August 5), Kang Youwei left Beijing with his servant Li Tang. The Guangxu Emperor held his third audience with Yuan Shikai, who afterwards returned to Tianjin. That day, Cixi and the emperor received former Japanese Prime Minister Itō Hirobumi. Late at night, Grand Councilor Ronglu reported in secret that the emperor planned to place Cixi under house arrest.<ref>Zhang Yilin, Collected Essays from Xin Taiping Studio, vol. 8, records that Yuan Shikai returned to Tianjin on the 5th, and the next day censor Yang Chongyi arrived in Tianjin to report to Ronglu, showing that by the time Yuan informed against the emperor, Yang was already there.</ref>

On September 21 (August 6) at dawn, Empress Dowager Cixi took control of state affairs, declared martial law, halted railway traffic, placed the emperor under house arrest in Hanyuan Hall, abolished the reform decrees, and ordered the arrest of reformers. She then issued an edict in the emperor’s name, declaring that the emperor, unable to cope with burdensome government affairs, had requested Cixi to resume the regency.

That day, the Commander of the Metropolitan Guards surrounded the South Seas Guildhall to arrest Kang Youwei, but did not find him; instead they captured his brother Kang Guangren and disciples Cheng Dazhang and Qian Weiji. Later they searched the residence of Guangdong official Zhang Yinhuan, arrested him but did not find Kang.

On September 24 (August 9), Imperial Commissioner Gangyi began arresting reformers. Yang Rui and Lin Xu were seized that day, while Liu Guangdi surrendered himself. Yang Shenxiu, after questioning Cixi about deposing the emperor, was arrested at the Wenxi Guildhall.

On September 25 (August 10), Tan Sitong was captured at the Liuyang Guildhall. On the same day, Cixi issued another edict in the emperor’s name claiming that Guangxu was ill, laying the groundwork for both the regency and plans to depose him, while summoning doctors to the palace.

This aroused the concern of Britain, Japan, and other powers, who questioned the truth of the emperor’s illness and suspected danger to his life. They demanded access to treat him. Afterwards, a French legation doctor examined Guangxu and publicly concluded that his ailments stemmed from weakness, exposing Cixi’s fabrication.

On September 28 (August 13), the court issued an edict condemning six reform leaders—Tan Sitong, Yang Rui, Lin Xu, Liu Guangdi, Yang Shenxiu, and Kang Guangren—to immediate execution without trial. They were executed by beheading the same day and became known as the "Six Gentlemen" of the Reform. As ordered, Gangyi supervised the execution.

Earlier that day, court official Yi Gu submitted a memorial urging immediate punishment of the reformers, which scholars believe triggered the execution of the Six Gentlemen.

On September 29 (August 14), an edict was issued under the emperor’s name explaining the crackdown, alleging that reformers plotted to seize the Summer Palace and kidnap Cixi and the emperor. It justified executing the six without trial to avoid wider implication.

The coup ended the "Hundred Days’ Reform" after only 103 days. All new policies were repealed except the founding of Peking University. The immediate cause was linked to the so-called "secret edict" affair attributed to Kang Youwei. With her legitimacy questioned, Cixi soon sought to depose the emperor and install a new heir in the "Ji-hai succession" of 1899.

Among the reformers, Kang Youwei had already fled, Liang Qichao escaped into the Japanese legation, while dozens were arrested. In addition to the Six Gentlemen executed in Beijing, Xu Zhijing was sentenced to life imprisonment (released after the Boxer Rebellion), and Zhang Yinhuan was exiled to Xinjiang, where he was executed in 1900.

Historians note that Cixi had intelligence on the reformers’ plans even while at the Summer Palace. The key informant who betrayed the emperor’s faction was most likely Yang Chongyi, whereas Yuan Shikai merely acted to protect himself, not as the decisive betrayer.

Scholar Yun Yuding in his Records of the Chongling analyzed the coup as follows—

Aftermath

The late Qing reforms attempted in the years following the Hundred Days included the abolition of the Imperial examination in 1905, educational and military modernization patterned after the model of Japan, and experiments in constitutional and parliamentary government.Template:Citation needed The ultimate failure of these reforms gave impetus to revolutionary forces within the country. Changes within the establishment were seen to be largely hopeless, and the overthrow of the Qing increasingly appeared to be the only way to save China. Despite the late Qing reforms of the early 1900s, such sentiments directly contributed to the success of the Xinhai Revolution in 1911.

Leo Tolstoy corresponded with Gu Hongming on the Hundred Day's Reform and agreed that the reform movement was ill-advised.<ref name="Lee2005">Template:Cite book</ref> The reformist Kang Party, formed by students of Kang and Liang, was one of the most alarming groups in the eyes of court conservatives at this time.<ref name=":1">Template:Cite journal</ref>

Differing interpretations

Template:Undue weight Views of the Hundred Days' Reform have grown increasingly more complex and nuanced. The traditional view<ref>See, for instance, Template:Cite web</ref> portrayed the reformers as heroes and the conservative elites, particularly the Empress Dowager Cixi, as villains unwilling to reform because of their selfish interests.

Failure as Kang's responsibility

However, some historians in the late 20th century have taken views that are more favorable to the conservatives and less favorable to the reformers. In this view, Kang Youwei and his allies were hopeless dreamers unaware of the political realities in which they operated. This view argues that the conservative elites were not opposed to change and that practically all of the reforms that were proposed were eventually implemented.Template:Citation needed

For example, Sterling Seagrave, in his book "The Dragon Lady", argues that there were several reasons why the reforms failed. Chinese political power at the time was firmly in the hands of the ruling Manchu nobility. The highly xenophobic iron hats faction dominated the Grand Council and were seeking ways to expel all Western influence from China. When implementing reform, the Guangxu Emperor by-passed the Grand Council and appointed four reformers to advise him. These reformers were chosen after a series of interviews, including the interview of Kang Youwei, who was rejected by the Emperor and had far less influence than Kang's later boasting would indicate. At the suggestion of the reform advisors, the Guangxu Emperor also held secret talks with former Japanese Prime Minister Itō Hirobumi with the aim of using his experience in the Meiji Restoration to lead China through similar reforms.

It has also been suggested, controversially, that Kang Youwei actually did a great deal of harm to the cause by his perceived arrogance in the eyes of the conservatives. Numerous rumors regarding potential repercussions, many of them false, had made their way to the Grand Council; this was one of the factors in their decision to stage a coup against the Emperor. Kang, like many of the reformers, grossly underestimated the reactionary nature of the vested interests involved.

The Emperor set about to enact his reforms by largely bypassing the powerful Grand Council; said councilors, irritated at the Emperor's actions and fearful of losing the political power they had, then turned to the Empress Dowager Cixi to remove the emperor from power. Many, though not all, of the reforms came to naught. The council, now confident in their power, pushed for the execution of the reformers, an action that was carried out ruthlessly.

Richard's federation theory

According to Professor Lei Chia-sheng (雷家聖),<ref>Lei Chia-sheng雷家聖, Liwan kuanglan: Wuxu zhengbian xintan 力挽狂瀾：戊戌政變新探 [Containing the furious waves: a new view of the 1898 coup], Taipei: Wanjuan Lou 萬卷樓, 2004.</ref> Japanese former prime minister Itō Hirobumi (伊藤博文) arrived in China on September 11, 1898, about the same time that Kang Youwei invited British missionary Timothy Richard to Beijing. Richard suggested that China appoint Itō as one of many foreign advisors in order to further push China's reform efforts.<ref name="Richard1916">Richard, Timothy, Forty-five Years in China: Reminiscences publ. Frederick A. Stokes (1916)</ref> On September 18, Richard successfully convinced Kang to adopt his plan in which China would join a federation (合邦) of ten nations.

Kang nonetheless asked fellow reformers Yang Shenxiu (楊深秀) and Song Bolu (宋伯魯) to report this plan to the Guangxu Emperor.<ref>Kang Youwei 康有為, Kang Nanhai ziding nianpu 康南海自訂年譜 [Chronicle of Kang Youwei's Life, by Kang Youwei], Taipei: Wenhai chubanshe 文海出版社, p. 67.</ref> On September 20, Yang sent a memorial to the emperor to that effect.<ref>Yang Shenxiu, "Shandong dao jiancha yushi Yang Shenxiu zhe" 山東道監察御史楊深秀摺 [Palace memorial by Yang Shenxiu, Investigating Censor of Shandong Circuit], in Wuxu bianfa dang'an shiliao 戊戌變法檔案史料 [Archival sources on the history of the 1898 reforms], Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1959, p. 15.「臣尤伏願我皇上早定大計，固結英、美、日本三國，勿嫌『合邦』之名之不美。」</ref> In another memorial to the Emperor written the next day, Song advocated the formation of a federation and the sharing of the diplomatic, fiscal, and military powers of the four countries under a hundred-man committee.<ref>Song Bolu, "Zhang Shandong dao jiancha yushi Song Bolu zhe" 掌山東道監察御史宋伯魯摺 [Palace memorial by Song Bolu, Investigating Censor in charge of the Shandong Circuit], in Wuxu bianfa dang'an shiliao, p. 170.「渠(李提摩太)之來也，擬聯合中國、日本、美國及英國為合邦，共選通達時務、曉暢各國掌故者百人，專理四國兵政稅則及一切外交等事。」</ref> Lei Chia-sheng argues that this idea was the reason why Cixi, who had just returned from the Summer Palace on September 19, decided to put an end to the reforms with the September 21 coup.

On October 13, following the coup, British ambassador Claude MacDonald reported to his government that Chinese reforms had been "much injured" by Kang and his friends' actions.<ref>Correspondence Respecting the Affairs of China, Presented to Both Houses of Parliament by Command of Her Majesty (London, 1899.3), No. 401, p. 303.</ref> However, the British and American governments had been largely unaware of the "federation" plot, which appears to have been Richard's own personal idea. The Japanese government might have been aware of Richard's plan, since his accomplice was the former Japanese prime minister, but there is no evidence to this effect yet.

See also

• History of China
• Qing dynasty
• Late Qing reforms
• Economy of China
• Economic history of China before 1912
• Economic history of China (1912–1949)

Further reading

• Template:Cite book
• Hsü, Immanuel C. The Rise of Modern China (6th edn, Oxford University Press 1999) pp 408–418.
• Template:Cite journal
• Karl, Rebecca E. and Peter Gue Zarrow, eds., Rethinking the 1898 Reform Period: Political and Cultural Change in Late Qing China. (Harvard UP, 2002). Template:ISBN.
• Kwong, Luke S. K. A Mosaic of the Hundred Days: Personalities, Politics, and Ideas of 1898. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1984. Template:ISBN.
• Template:Cite journal
• Template:Cite thesis
• Shan, Patrick Fuliang (2018). Yuan Shikai: A Reappraisal, The University of British Columbia Press. Template:ISBN.
• Lei Chia-sheng 雷家聖 (2004). Liwan kuanglan: Wuxu zhengbian xintan 力挽狂瀾：戊戌政變新探 [Containing the furious waves: a new view of the 1898 coup]. Taipei: Wanjuan lou 萬卷樓. Template:ISBN.