Chinese Empire reform movement

Starting with the First Opium War (1840-1842) considered by many scholars as the beginning of Chinese modern history, the Qing Dynasty faced a series of both external and internal crises, including loss of sovereignty, domestic economic collapse, peasant uprisings and colonization. In an attempt to save the stumbling regime and the whole country, the Qing Dynasty launched a series of reform movements from top to bottom among different social classes in the second half of the nineteenth century. Collectively the period of reforms has been referred to as the Qing Restoration or Tongzhi Restoration.
The Self-Strengthening Movement (1861-1895)
The self-strengthening movement began in 1861 in order to restore the power and consolidate the Manchus feudal rule, especially after the Second Opium War in 1860. The nature of the reforms was through military modernization and economic self-strength to keep traditional Chinese values and autocratic institutions. The movement can be divided into three parts.
The First Phase (1861-1872)
In order to negotiate and coordinate foreign affairs with other countries equally and effectively, suggesting by Prince Gong, Zongli Yamen (Foreign Affairs Ministry) was founded in 1861 which was the first institution created in the Self-Strengthening Movement, promoting the modernization of Chinese foreign affairs.
Renovation of military equipment and training a new army were the most significant missions in the Self-Strengthening Movement. During the first decade of reforma, several major leaders established a great number of military factories including Shanghai Arsenal founded by Zengguo Fan, Nanjing and Tianjin Arsenals founded by Lihong Zhang, Fuzhou Dockyard founded by Zuozong Tang et al. Thus was the Chinese modern military industry gradually constructed.
As a result of losing two opium wars, the Qing dynasty was forced to sign a train of unequal treaties such as the Treaty of Nanjing and the First Convention of Peking, opening coastal trading ports, which, to some extent, damaged trade autonomy. At this time, two officials were distributed to Shanghai Port and Tianjin Port, administering trade disputes and supervising western personnel. In actuality they shared a portion of the power with the British and became the coordinators of programmes.
The Second Phase (1872-1885)
In the second phase, Lihong Zhang became the prime leader of reform who paid high attention to civilian industry, accumulating wealth for the society and showing great interest in oversea education, especially military. A series of civilian industries were established including Hanyang Iron Works, the Kaiping Mines, the Shanghai Cotton Mill, and the Steam Navigation Company, extremely stimulating the development of national capital.. Apart from that, local authority encouraged and organized a number of teenagers to study modern science abroad, training a large part of outstanding military talents later
The Third Phase (1885-1995)
In the last decade of reform, more and more intellectuals called for reform of political institutions, which formed a sharp contrast with the conservatives in the imperial court who were only concerned with military reform. With the escalation of social contradictions and the failure of the First Sino-Japanese War, more aggressive reform became inevitable: the Hundred Days' Reform.
The Hundred Days' Reform (1898)
The Hundred Days' Reform, also known as the Wuxu Coup, was launched by the young Guangxu Emperor and constitutional government supporters, covering different areas including politics, economy, education, military and the bureaucracy from 11 June 1898 to 22 September 1898. The initial purpose was to embark China on the path of constitutional monarchy, to relieve sharp social contradictions and to save the nation from crisis.

Reform Background
The origin of the reform was a protest of the ceding of Liaodong Peninsula in the Treaty of Shimonoseki organized by Kang Youwei, Liang Qichao and a crowd of provincial graduates in April 1985. Then, different kinds of political associations were organised and were seriously valued by the Guangxu Emperor as well as the constitutional reformers. Later at the beginning of 1898, with the help of reform-minded senior officials, Kang Youwei received opportunities to speak with the emperor and his suggestions were ultimately approved. In June 11, 1898, the emperor issued imperial edict of “MingDingGuoShi”(Confirmation of National Policy), which was considered as the start of The Hundred Days' Reform.
The Content of Proposed Reform
*Education: Establishing Peking University as the first modern university in China and abolishing the previous exam system.
*Military: Switching to Western military training and founding a naval academy.
*Politics: Formulating a constitution, establishing congress, and enacting the policy of national equality.
*Economy: Setting up the railway and minerals administration, encouraging starting factories in the whole country and promoting port business.

Evaluation
Although the Hundred Days’ Reform put forward the blueprint of constitutional monarchy, the majority of the reform measures such as formulating a constitution and establishing a congress were not achieved. Reform had only become an impractical slogan due to the constitutional reformers lacking real power. To the benefit of conservatives, Empress Dowager Cixi allied with them to stage a coup d'état, putting an end to the reform. However, as the social contradictions hadn't been relieved, the crisis of the Qing dynasty's rule remained. Triggered by both the Siege of the International Legations and Boxer Rebellion in 1900, another reform attempt of the Late Qing Dynasty was launched three years later by Cixi, who had previously opposed of reform.
New Policies of the Late Qing Dynasty (1901-1911)
The New Policies or "Late Qing Reform" was the last large-scale and radical reform launched by the Qing dynasty in 1901 and lasted until the end of the dynasty in 1911, involving all aspects of social areas. Compared with preceding reforms, Late Qing Reform intended to focus more on constitutional levels, such as civil and criminal law, constitutional movement, the judiciary system, and early local council to prevent the collapse of the Qing Dynasty. However, because of the Qing Dynasty's ambiguous attitude towards organising a cabinet and the prevailing ideas of liberty and democracy, more aggressive revolutionaries launched the Xinhai Revolution in 1911, ending the governance of the Qing Dynasty.

Politics
In 1906, the Qing government declared a new central bureaucratic system, substituting the old Six Ministers with Eleven Ministers. In May 18, 1911, the first cabinet in Chinese history was established by the Qing Prince consisting of eleven cabinet ministers.

Economy
In taxation, the Qing Dynasty compiled the first national budget in the end of 1910. In currency reform, the dynasty unified the weight and quality of silver coins.
Judiciary
In 1906, the dynasty replaced “Da Li Si (literally, The Temple of Grand Justice)” with “Da Li Yuan (Literally, The Court of Grand Justice)”.
Education
There were three main changes in policy from the old education system: abolishing the old imperial examination system, establishing new western model schools and sending young children to study abroad subsidized by the government.

Military
In 1901, the Qing Dynasty abolished the test of traditional Chinese Kung Fu and founded a training system for officers. Then in 1903, the Central Training Centre was established to coordinate the training of a national army.

Evaluation
Although the reform strengthened the comprehensive national power of the Qing Dynasty to some extent, the lack of democratic and constitutional government reforms widened the contradictions between the Manchu and Han Chinese.
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