There can be little doubt that the powers, engrossed in the diplomatic
conflicts of which Peking was the centre, had entirely underrated the
reactionary forces gradually mustering for a struggle against the
aggressive spirit of Western civilization. The lamentable consequences
of administrative corruption and incompetence, and the superiority of
foreign methods which had been amply illustrated by the Japanese War,
had at first produced a considerable impression, not only upon the more
enlightened commercial classes, but even upon many of the younger
members of the official classes in China. The dowager-empress, who, in
spite of the emperor Kwang-su having nominally attained his majority,
had retained practical control of the supreme power until the conflict
with Japan, had been held, not unjustly, to blame for the disasters of
the war, and even before its conclusion the young emperor was adjured by
some of the most responsible among his own subjects to shake himself
free from the baneful restraint of "petticoat government," and himself
take the helm. In the following years a reform movement, undoubtedly
genuine, though opinions differ as to the value of the popular support
which it claimed, spread throughout the central and southern provinces
of the empire. One of the most significant symptoms was the relatively
large demand which suddenly arose for the translations of foreign works
and similar publications in the Chinese language which philanthropic
societies, such as that "for the Diffusion of Christian and General
Knowledge amongst the Chinese," had been trying for some time past to
popularize, though hitherto with scant success. Chinese newspapers
published in the treaty ports spread the ferment of new ideas far into
the interior. Fifteen hundred young men of good family applied to enter
the foreign university at Peking, and in some of the provincial towns
the Chinese themselves subscribed towards the opening of foreign
schools. Reform societies, which not infrequently enjoyed official
countenance, sprang up in many of the large towns, and found numerous
adherents amongst the younger _literati_. Early in 1898 the emperor, who
had gradually emancipated himself from the dowager-empress's control,
summoned several of the reform leaders to Peking, and requested their
advice with regard to the progressive measures which should be
introduced into the government of the empire. Chief amongst these
reformers was Kang Yu-wei, a Cantonese, whose scholarly attainments,
combined with novel teachings, earned for him from his followers the
title of the "Modern Sage." Of his more or less active sympathizers who
had subsequently to suffer with him in the cause of reform, the most
prominent were Chang Yin-huan, a member of the grand council and of the
Tsung-Li-Yamen, who had represented his sovereign at Queen Victoria's
jubilee in 1897; Chin Pao-chen, governor of Hu-nan; Liang Chichao, the
editor of the reformers' organ, _Chinese Progress_; Su Chiching, a
reader of the Hanlin College, the educational stronghold of Chinese
conservatism; and his son Su In-chi, also a Hanlin man, and provincial
chancellor of public instruction in Hu-nan.
It soon became evident, that there was no more enthusiastic advocate of
the new ideas than the emperor himself. Within a few months the
vermilion pencil gave the imperial sanction to a succession of edicts
which, had they been carried into effect, would have amounted to a
revolution as far-reaching as that which had transformed Japan thirty
years previously. The fossilized system of examinations for the public
service was to be altogether superseded by a new schedule based on
foreign learning, for the better promotion of which a number of temples
were to be converted into schools for Western education; a state
department was to be created for the translation and dissemination of
the standard works of Western literature and science; even the scions of
the ruling Manchu race were to be compelled to study foreign languages
and travel abroad; and last, but not least, all useless offices both in
Peking and in the provinces were to be abolished. A further edict was
even reported to be in contemplation, doing away with the _queue_ or
pigtail, which, originally imposed upon the Chinese by their Manchu
conquerors as a badge of subjection, had gradually become the most
characteristic and most cherished feature of the national dress. But the
bureaucracy of China, which had battened for centuries on corruption and
ignorance, had no taste for self-sacrifice. Other vested interests felt
themselves equally threatened, and behind them stood the whole latent
force of popular superstition and unreasoning conservatism.
The Empress's coup d'etat.
The dowager-empress saw her opportunity. The Summer Palace, to which she
had retired, had been for some time the centre of resistance to the new
movement, and in the middle of September 1898 a report became current
that, in order to put an end to the obstruction which hampered his
reform policy, the emperor intended to seize the person of the
dowager-empress and have her deported into the interior. Some colour was
given to this report by an official announcement that the emperor would
hold a review of the foreign-drilled troops at Tientsin, and had
summoned Yuan Shihkai, their general, to Peking in order to confer with
him on the necessary arrangements. But the reformers had neglected to
secure the goodwill of the army, which was still entirely in the hands
of the reactionaries. During the night of the 20th of September the
palace of the emperor was occupied by the soldiers, and on the following
day Kwang-su, who was henceforth virtually a prisoner in the hands of
the empress, was made to issue an edict restoring her regency. Kang
Yu-wei, warned at the last moment by an urgent message from the emperor,
succeeded in escaping, but many of the most prominent reformers were
arrested, and six of them were promptly executed. The _Peking Gazette_
announced a few days later that the emperor himself was dangerously ill,
and his life might well have been despaired of had not the British
minister represented in very emphatic terms the serious consequences
which might ensue if anything happened to him. Drastic measures were,
however, adopted to stamp out the reform movement in the provinces as
well as in the capital. The reform edicts were cancelled, the reformers'
associations were dissolved, their newspapers suppressed, and those who
did not care to save themselves by a hasty recantation of their errors
were imprisoned, proscribed or exiled. In October the reaction had
already been accompanied by such a recrudescence of anti-foreign feeling
that the foreign ministers at Peking had to bring up guards from the
fleet for the protection of the legations, and to demand the removal
from the capital of the disorderly Kan-suh soldiery which subsequently
played so sinister a part in the troubles of June 1900. But the
unpleasant impression produced by these incidents was in a great measure
removed by the demonstrative reception which the empress Tsz'e Hsi gave
on the 15th of October to the wives of the foreign representatives--an
act of courtesy unprecedented in the annals of the Chinese court.
The Boxer movement, 1900.
The reactionary tide continued to rise throughout the year 1899, but it
did not appear materially to affect the foreign relations of China.
Towards the end of the year the brutal murder of Mr Brooks, an English
missionary, in Shan-tung, had compelled attention to a popular movement
which had been spreading rapidly throughout that province and the
adjoining one of Chih-li with the connivance of certain high officials,
if not under their direct patronage. The origin of the "Boxer" movement
is obscure. Its name is derived from a literal translation of the
Chinese designation, "the fist of righteous harmony." Like the kindred
"Big Sword" Society, it appears to have been in the first instance
merely a secret association of malcontents chiefly drawn from the lower
classes. Whether the empress Tsz'e Hsi and her Manchu advisers had
deliberately set themselves from the beginning to avert the danger by
deflecting what might have been a revolutionary movement into
anti-foreign channels, or whether with Oriental heedlessness they had
allowed it to grow until they were powerless to control it, they had
unquestionably resolved to take it under their protection before the
foreign representatives at Peking had realized its gravity. The outrages
upon native Christians and the threats against foreigners generally went
on increasing. The Boxers openly displayed on their banners the device:
"Exterminate the foreigners and save the dynasty," yet the
representatives of the powers were unable to obtain any effective
measures against the so-called "rebels," or even a definite condemnation
of their methods.[51]
Four months (January-April 1900) were spent in futile interviews with
the Tsung-Li-Yamen. In May a number of Christian villages were destroyed
and native converts massacred near the capital. On the 2nd of June two
English missionaries, Mr Robinson and Mr Norman, were murdered at Yung
Ching, 40 m. from Peking. The whole country was overrun with bands of
Boxers, who tore up the railway and set fire to the stations at
different points on the Peking-Tientsin line. Fortunately a mixed body
of marines and bluejackets of various nationalities, numbering 18
officers and 389 men, had reached Peking on the 1st of June for the
protection of the legations. The whole city was in a state of turmoil.
Murder and pillage were of daily occurrence. The reactionary Prince Tuan
(grandson of the emperor Tao-kwang) and the Manchus generally, together
with the Kan-suh soldiery under the notorious Tung-fu-hsiang, openly
sided with the Boxers. The European residents and a large number of
native converts took refuge in the British legation, where preparations
were hastily made in view of a threatened attack. On the 11th the
chancellor of the Japanese legation, Mr Sugiyama, was murdered by
Chinese soldiers. On the night of the 13th most of the foreign
buildings, churches and mission houses in the eastern part of the Tatar
city were pillaged and burnt, and hundreds of native Christians
massacred. On the 20th of June the German minister, Baron von Ketteler,
was murdered whilst on his way to the Tsung-Li-Yamen. At 4 P.M. on the
afternoon of the 20th the Chinese troops opened fire upon the legations.
The general direction of the defence was undertaken by Sir Claude
Macdonald, the British minister.
International expedition.
Meanwhile Peking had been completely cut off since the 14th from all
communication with the outside world, and in view of the gravity of the
situation, naval and military forces were being hurried up by all the
powers to the Gulf of Chih-li. On the 10th of June Admiral Sir E.
Seymour had already left Tientsin with a mixed force of 2000 British,
Russian, French, Germans, Austrians, Italians, Americans and Japanese,
to repair the railway and restore communications with Peking. But his
expedition met with unexpectedly severe resistance, and it had great
difficulty in making good its retreat after suffering heavy losses. When
it reached Tientsin again on the 26th of June, the British contingent of
915 men had alone lost 124 killed and wounded out of a total casualty
list of 62 killed and 218 wounded. The Chinese had in the meantime made
a determined attack upon the foreign settlements at Tientsin, and
communication between the city and the sea being also threatened, the
Taku forts at the mouth of the Pei-ho were captured by the allied
admirals on the 17th. The situation at Tientsin nevertheless continued
precarious, and it was not till the arrival of considerable
reinforcements that the troops of the allied powers were able to assume
the offensive, taking the native city by storm on July 14th, at a cost,
however, of over 700 killed and wounded. Even in this emergency
international jealousy had grievously delayed the necessary
concentration of forces. No power was so favourably situated to take
immediate action as Japan, and the British government, who had strongly
urged her to act speedily and energetically, undertook at her request to
sound the other powers with regard to her intervention. No definite
objection was raised, but the replies of Germany and Russia barely
disguised their ill-humour. Great Britain herself went so far as to
offer Japan the assistance of the British treasury, in case financial
difficulties stood in the way, but on the same day on which this
proposal was telegraphed to Tokyo (6th of July), the Japanese government
had decided to embark forthwith the two divisions which it had already
mobilized. By the beginning of August one of the Indian brigades had
also reached Tientsin together with smaller reinforcements sent by the
other powers, and thanks chiefly to the energetic counsels of the
British commander, General Sir Alfred Gaselee, a relief column,
numbering 20,000 men, at last set out for Peking on the 4th of August, a
British naval brigade having started up river the previous afternoon.
After a series of small engagements and very trying marches it arrived
within striking distance of Peking on the evening of the 13th. The
Russians tried to steal a march upon the allies during the night, but
were checked at the walls and suffered heavy losses. The Japanese
attacked another point of the walls the next morning, but met with
fierce opposition, whilst the Americans were delayed by getting
entangled in the Russian line of advance. The British contingent was
more fortunate, and skilfully guided to an unguarded water-gate, General
Gaselee and a party of Sikhs were the first to force their way through
to the British legation. About 2 p.m. on the afternoon of the 14th of
August, the long siege was raised.
Siege of the Peking legations.
For nearly six weeks after the first interruption of communications, no
news reached the outside world from Peking except a few belated
messages, smuggled through the Chinese lines by native runners, urging
the imperative necessity of prompt relief. During the greater part of
that period the foreign quarter was subjected to heavy rifle and
artillery fire, and the continuous fighting at close quarters with the
hordes of Chinese regulars, as well as Boxers, decimated the scanty
ranks of the defenders. The supply of both ammunition and food was
slender. But the heroism displayed by civilians and professional
combatants alike was inexhaustible. In their anxiety to burn out the
British legation, the Chinese did not hesitate to set fire to the
adjoining buildings of the Hanlin, the ancient seat of Chinese classical
learning, and the storehouse of priceless literary treasures and state
archives. The _Fu_, or palace, of Prince Su, separated only by a canal
from the British legation, formed the centre of the international
position, and was held with indomitable valour by a small Japanese force
under Colonel Sheba, assisted by a few Italian marines and volunteers of
other nationalities and a number of Christian Chinese. The French
legation on the extreme right, and the section of the city wall held
chiefly by Germans and Americans, were also points of vital importance
which had to bear the brunt of the Chinese attack.
Little is known as to what passed in the councils of the Chinese court
during the siege.[52] But there is reason to believe that throughout
that period grave divergences of opinion existed amongst the highest
officials. The attack upon the legations appears to have received the
sanction of the dowager-empress, acting upon the advice of Prince Tuan
and the extreme Manchu party, at a grand council held during the night
of the 18th/19th June, upon receipt of the news of the capture of the
Taku forts by the international forces. The emperor himself, as well
as Prince Ching and a few other influential mandarins, strongly
protested against the empress's decision, but it was acclaimed by the
vast majority of those present. Three members of the Tsung-Li-Yamen
were publicly executed for attempting to modify the terms of an
imperial edict ordering the massacre of all foreigners throughout the
provinces, and most of the Manchu nobles and high officials, and the
eunuchs of the palace, who played an important part in Chinese
politics throughout the dowager-empress's tenure of power, were heart
and soul with the Boxers. But it was noted by the defenders of the
legations that Prince Ching's troops seldom took part, or only in a
half-hearted way, in the fighting, which was chiefly conducted by
Tung-fu-hsiang's soldiery and the Boxer levies. The modern artillery
which the Chinese possessed was only spasmodically brought into play.
Nor did any of the attacking parties ever show the fearlessness and
determination which the Chinese had somewhat unexpectedly displayed on
several occasions during the fighting at and around Tientsin.
Nevertheless, the position of the defenders at the end of the first
four weeks of the siege had grown well-nigh desperate. Mining and
incendiarism proved far greater dangers than shot and shell. Suddenly,
just when things were looking blackest, on the 17th of July the
Chinese ceased firing, and a sort of informal armistice secured a
period of respite for the beleaguered Europeans. The capture of the
native city of Tientsin by the allied forces had shaken the
self-confidence of the Chinese authorities, who had hitherto not only
countenanced, but themselves directed the hostilities.[53] Desultory
fighting, nevertheless, continued, and grave fears were entertained
that the approach of the relief column would prove the signal for a
desperate attempt to rush the legations. The attempt was made, but
failed. The relief, however, came not a day too soon. Of the small
band of defenders which, including civilian volunteers, had never
mustered 500, 65 had been killed and 131 wounded. Ammunition and
provisions were almost at an end. Even more desperate was the
situation at the Pei-tang, the Roman Catholic northern cathedral and
mission house, where, with the help of a small body of French and
Italian marines, Mgr Favier had organized an independent centre of
resistance for his community of over 3000 souls. Their rations were
absolutely exhausted when, on the 15th of August, a relief party was
despatched to their assistance from the legations.
Looting of Peking.
The ruin wrought in Peking during the two months' fighting was
appalling. Apart from the wholesale destruction of foreign property in
the Tatar city, and of Chinese as well as European buildings in the
vicinity of the legations, the wealthiest part of the Chinese city had
been laid in ashes. The flames from a foreign drug store fired by the
Boxers had spread to the adjoining buildings, and finally consumed the
whole of the business quarter with all its invaluable stores of silks,
curiosities, furs, &c. The retribution which overtook Peking after its
capture by the international forces was scarcely less terrible. Looting
was for some days almost universal. Order was, however, gradually
restored, first in the Japanese and then in the British and American
quarters, though several months elapsed before there was any real
revival of native confidence.
Flight of the Chinese court.
So unexpected had been the rapid and victorious advance of the allies,
that the dowager-empress with the emperor and the rest of the court did
not actually leave Peking until the day after the legations had been
relieved. But the northern and western portions of the Tatar city had
not yet been occupied, and the fugitives made good their escape on the
15th. When the allies some days later marched through the Forbidden
City, they only found a few eunuchs and subordinate officials in charge
of the imperial apartments. At the end of September, Field Marshal Count
von Waldersee, with a German expeditionary force of over 20,000 men,
arrived to assume the supreme command conferred upon him with the more
or less willing assent of the other powers.
Restoration of order.
The political task which confronted the powers after the occupation of
Peking was far more arduous than the military one. The action of the
Russians in Manchuria, even in a treaty port like Niu-chwang, the
seizure of the railway line not only to the north of the Great Wall, but
also from Shan-hai-kwan to Peking, by the Russian military authorities,
and the appropriation of an extensive line of river frontage at Tientsin
as a Russian "settlement," were difficult to reconcile with the pacific
assurances of disinterestedness which Russia, like the rest of the
powers, had officially given. Great anxiety prevailed as to the effect
of the flight of the Chinese court in other parts of the empire. The
anti-foreign movement had not spread much beyond the northern provinces,
in which it had had the open support of the throne and of the highest
provincial officials. But among British and Americans alone, over 200
defenceless foreigners, men, women and children, chiefly missionaries,
had fallen victims to the treachery of high-placed mandarins like Yue
Hsien, and hundreds of others had had to fly for their lives, many of
them owing their escape to the courageous protection of petty officials
and of the local gentry and peasantry. In the Yangtsze valley order had
been maintained by the energy of the viceroys of Nanking and Wu-chang,
who had acted throughout the critical period in loyal co-operation with
the British consuls and naval commanders, and had courageously
disregarded the imperial edicts issued during the ascendancy of the
Boxers. After some hesitation, an Indian brigade, followed by French,
German and Japanese contingents, had been landed at Shanghai for the
protection of the settlements, and though the viceroy, Liu Kun-yi, had
welcomed British support, and even invited the joint occupation of the
Yangtsze forts by British and Chinese troops, the appearance of other
European forces in the Yangtsze valley was viewed with great suspicion.
In the south there were serious symptoms of unrest, especially after Li
Hung-Chang had left Canton for the north, in obedience, as he alleged at
the time, to an imperial edict which, there is reason to believe, he
invented for the occasion. The Chinese court, after one or two
intermediate halts, had retired to Si-gan-fu, one of the ancient
capitals of the empire, situated in the inaccessible province of
Shen-si, over 600 m. S.W. of Peking. The influence of the
ultra-reactionaries, headed by Prince Tuan and General Tung-fu-hsiang,
still dominated its councils, although credentials were sent to Prince
Ching and to Li Hung-Chang, who, after waiting upon events at Shanghai,
had proceeded to Peking, authorizing them to treat with the powers for
the re-establishment of friendly relations.
Measures of reparation.
The harmony of the powers, which had been maintained with some
difficulty up to the relief of the legations, was subjected to a severe
strain as soon as the basis of negotiations with the Chinese government
came to be discussed. While for various reasons Russia, Japan and the
United States were inclined to treat China with great indulgence,
Germany insisted upon the signal punishment of the guilty officials as a
_conditio sine qua non_, and in this she had the support not only of the
other members of the Triple Alliance, but also of Great Britain, and to
some extent even of France, who, as protector of the Roman Catholic
Church in Eastern countries, could not allow the authors of the
atrocities committed upon its followers to escape effectual punishment.
It was not until after months of laborious negotiations that the demands
to be formally made upon the Chinese government were embodied in a joint
note signed by all the foreign ministers on the 20th and 21st of
December 1900. The demands were substantially as follows:
Honourable reparation for the murder of von Ketteler and of Mr
Sugiyama, to be made in a specified form, and expiatory monuments to
be erected in cemeteries where foreign tombs had been desecrated. "The
most severe punishment befitting their crimes" was to be inflicted on
the personages designated by the decree of the 21st of September, and
also upon others to be designated later by the foreign ministers, and
the official examinations were to be suspended in the cities where
foreigners had been murdered or ill-treated. An equitable indemnity,
guaranteed by financial measures acceptable to the powers, was to be
paid to states, societies and individuals, including Chinese who had
suffered because of their employment by foreigners, but not including
Chinese Christians who had suffered only on account of their faith.
The importation or manufacture of arms or _materiel_ was to be
forbidden; permanent legation guards were to be maintained at Peking,
and the diplomatic quarter was to be fortified, while communication
with the sea was to be secured by a foreign military occupation of the
strategic points and by the demolition of the Chinese forts, including
the Taku forts, between the capital and the coast. Proclamations were
to be posted throughout China for two years, threatening death to the
members of anti-foreign societies, and recording the punishment of the
ringleaders in the late outrages: and the viceroys, governors and
provincial officials were to be declared by imperial edict
responsible, on pain of immediate dismissal and perpetual disability
to hold office, for anti-foreign outbreaks or violations of treaty
within their jurisdictions. China was to facilitate commercial
relations by negotiating a revision of the commercial treaties. The
Tsung-Li-Yamen was to be reformed and the ceremonial for the reception
of foreign ministers modified as the powers should demand. Compliance
with these terms was declared to be a condition precedent to the
arrangement of a time limit to the occupation of Peking and of the
provinces by foreign troops.
Under instructions from the court, the Chinese plenipotentiaries affixed
their signatures on the 14th of January 1901 to a protocol, by which
China pledged herself to accept these terms in principle, and the
conference of ministers then proceeded to discuss the definite form in
which compliance with them was to be exacted. This further stage of the
negotiations proved even more laborious and protracted than the
preliminary proceedings. No attempt was made to raise the question of
the dowager-empress's responsibility for the anti-foreign movement, as
Russia had from the first set her face against the introduction of what
she euphemistically termed "the dynastic question." But even with regard
to the punishment of officials whose guilt was beyond dispute, grave
divergences arose between the powers. The death penalty was ultimately
waived in the case even of such conspicuous offenders as Prince Tuan and
Tung-fu-hsiang, but the notorious Yue Hsien and two others were
decapitated by the Chinese, and three other metropolitan officials were
ordered to commit suicide, whilst upon others sentences of banishment,
imprisonment and degradation were passed, in accordance with a list
drawn up by the foreign representatives. The question of the punishment
of provincial officials responsible for the massacre of scores of
defenceless men, women and children was unfortunately reserved for
separate treatment, and when it came up for discussion it became
impossible to preserve even the semblance of unanimity, the Russian
minister at once taking issue with his colleagues, although he had
originally pledged himself as formally as the others to the principle.
Count Lamsdorff frankly told the British ambassador at St Petersburg
that Russia took no interest in missionaries, and as the foreigners
massacred in the provinces belonged mostly to that class, she declined
to join in the action of the other powers.
Russia and Manchuria.
The real explanation of Russia's cynical secession from the concert of
powers on this important issue must be sought in her anxiety to
conciliate the Chinese in view of the separate negotiations in which she
was at the same time engaged with China in respect of Manchuria. When
the Boxer movement was at its height at the end of June 1900, the
Chinese authorities in Manchuria had wantonly "declared war" against
Russia, and for a moment a great wave of panic seems to have swept over
the Russian administration, civil and military, in the adjoining
provinces. The reprisals exercised by the Russians were proportionately
fierce. The massacre at Blagovyeshchensk, where 5000 Chinese--men, women
and children--were flung into the Amur by the Cossacks, was only one
incident in the reign of terror by which the Russians sought to restore
their power and their prestige. The resistance of the Chinese troops was
soon overcome, and Russian forces overran the whole province, occupying
even the treaty port of Niu-chwang. The Russian government officially
repudiated all responsibility for the proclamations issued by General
Gribsky and others, foreshadowing, if not actually proclaiming, the
annexation of Chinese territory to the Russian empire. But Russia was
clearly bent on seizing the opportunity for securing a permanent hold
upon Manchuria. In December 1900 a preliminary agreement was made
between M. Korostovetz, the Russian administrator-general, and Tseng,
the Tatar general at Mukden, by which the civil and military
administration of the whole province was virtually placed under Russian
control. In February 1901 negotiations were opened between the Russian
government and the Chinese minister at St Petersburg for the conclusion
of a formal convention of a still more comprehensive character. In
return for the restoration to China of a certain measure of civil
authority in Manchuria, Russia was to be confirmed in the possession of
exclusive military, civil and commercial rights, constituting in all but
name a protectorate, and she was also to acquire preferential rights
over all the outlying provinces of the Chinese empire bordering on the
Russian dominions in Asia. The clauses relating to Chinese Turkestan,
Kashgar, Yarkand, Khotan and Mongolia were subsequently stated to have
been dropped, but the convention nevertheless provoked considerable
opposition both in foreign countries and amongst the Chinese themselves.
Most of the powers, including Germany, who, however, denied that the
Anglo-German agreement of the 16th of October 1900 applied to
Manchuria,[54] advised the Chinese government not to pursue separate
negotiations with one power whilst collective negotiations were in
progress at Peking, and both Japan and Great Britain pressed for
definite information at St Petersburg with regard to the precise tenor
of the proposed convention. At the same time the two viceroys of the
lower Yangtsze memorialized the throne in the strongest terms against
the convention, and these protests were endorsed not only by the great
majority of Chinese officials of high rank throughout the provinces, but
by popular meetings and influential guilds and associations. Ultimately
the two viceroys, Chang Chih-tung and Liu Kun-yi,[55] took the extreme
step of warning the throne that they would be unable to recognize the
convention, even if it were ratified, and notwithstanding the pressure
exercised in favour of Russia by Li Hung-Chang, the court finally
instructed the Chinese minister at St Petersburg to decline his
signature. The attitude of Japan, where public feeling ran high, was
equally significant, and on the 3rd of April the Russian government
issued a circular note to the powers, stating that, as the generous
intentions of Russia had been misconstrued, she withdrew the proposed
convention.
The peace protocol, 1901.
The work of the conference at Peking, which had been temporarily
disturbed by these complications, was then resumed. Friction between
European troops of different nationalities and an Anglo-Russian dispute
over the construction of certain roads and railway sidings at Tientsin
showed that an international occupation was fraught with manifold
dangers. The question of indemnities, however, gave rise to renewed
friction. Each power drew up its own claim, and whilst Great Britain,
the United States and Japan displayed great moderation, other powers,
especially Germany and Italy, put in claims which were strangely out of
proportion to the services rendered by their military and naval forces.
It was at last settled that China should pay altogether an indemnity of
450 million taels, to be secured (1) on the unhypothecated balance of
the customs revenue administered by the imperial maritime customs, the
import duties being raised forthwith to an effective 5% basis; (2) on
the revenues of the "native" customs in the treaty ports; (3) on the
total revenues of the salt gabelle. Finally the peace protocol was drawn
up in a form which satisfied all the powers as well as the Chinese
court. The formal signature was, however, delayed at the last moment by
a fresh difficulty concerning Prince Chun's penitential mission to
Berlin. This prince, an amiable and enlightened youth,[56] son of the
Prince Chun who was the emperor Hien-feng's brother, and thus himself
half-brother to the emperor Kwang-su, had reached Basel towards the end
of August on his way to Germany, when he was suddenly informed that he
and his suite would be expected to perform _kowtow_ before the German
emperor. The prince resented this unexpected demand, and referred home
for instructions. The Chinese court appear to have remained obdurate,
and the German government perceived the mistake that had been made in
exacting from the Chinese prince a form of homage which Western
diplomacy had for more than a century refused to yield to the Son of
Heaven, on the ground that it was barbarous and degrading. The point was
waived, and Prince Chun was received in solemn audience by the emperor
William at Potsdam on the 4th of September. Three days later, on the 7th
of September, the peace protocol was signed at Peking.
The articles recorded the steps to be taken to satisfy the demands of
the powers as to commerce. Article 11 provided for the amendment of
existing treaties of commerce and navigation, and for river conservancy
measures at Tientsin and Shanghai. The British government appointed a
special commission, with Sir J. Mackay, member of the council of India,
as chief commissioner, to proceed to Shanghai to carry on the
negotiations, and a commercial treaty was signed at Shanghai on the 6th
of September 1902, by which existing obstacles to foreign trade, such as
_likin_, &c., were removed, regulations were made for facilitating
steamer navigation on inland waters, and several new ports were opened
to foreign commerce.
In accordance with the terms of the protocol, all the foreign troops,
except the legation guards, were withdrawn from Peking on the 17th of
September, and from the rest of Chih-li, except the garrisons at the
different points specified along the line of communications, by the 22nd
of September. On the 7th of October it was announced that the Chinese
court had left Si-gan-fu on its way back to the northern capital. A
month later (7th of November) the death of Li Hung-Chang at Peking
removed, if not the greatest of Chinese statesmen, at any rate the one
who had enjoyed the largest share of the empress-dowager's confidence.
(V. C.)
(E)--_From 1901 to 1910._
"Awakening of China."
The events connected with the Boxer rising and its suppression
demonstrated even more forcibly than had the war with Japan in 1894-1895
the necessity for the adoption of Western methods in many departments
of life and administration if China was to maintain the position of a
great power. The necessity for a thorough reform of the administration
was widely recognized in 1901, and among the progressive classes of the
community much disappointment was manifested because the powers had
failed to insist, in the conditions of peace, on a reorganization of the
machinery of government. The Yangtsze viceroys, the viceroy at Canton,
Yuan Shih-kai and other high mandarins repeatedly memorialized the
throne to grant effective reforms. While at Si-gan-fu the court did in
fact issue several reform decrees, but at the same time all authority
remained in the hands of reactionaries. There had been an awakening in
China, but another lesson--afforded a few years later by the
Russo-Japanese War--was needed before the reform party was able to gain
real power.
For three or four years following the signing of the peace protocol of
1901 it seemed indeed that there would be little change in the system of
government, though in some directions a return to the old state of
affairs was neither possible nor desired. On the 7th of January 1902 the
court returned to Peking--a step which marked the restoration, more or
less, of normal conditions. The failure of the Boxer movement, in which,
as has been shown, she was deeply implicated, had impressed upon the
dowager empress the need for living on better terms with foreign powers,
but the reform edicts issued from Si-gan-fu remained largely
inoperative, though some steps were taken to promote education on
Western lines, to readjust the land tax, and especially to reorganize
the military forces (though on provincial rather than on a national
basis). The building of railways was also pushed on, but the dowager
empress was probably at heart as reactionary as she had proved in 1898.
The emperor himself from his return to Peking until the day of his death
appeared to have little influence on public affairs. The most
disquieting feature of the situation in the years immediately following
the return of the court to Peking was the continued efforts of Russia to
obtain full control of Manchuria and a predominant influence in north
China. The Chinese government was powerless to stem the advance of
Russia, and the dowager empress herself was credited with indifference
to the fate of Manchuria. It was the menace to other powers, notably
Japan, involved in Russia's action which precipitated an issue in which
the destinies of China were involved. Before considering the results of
that struggle (the Russo-Japanese War) the chief events of the years
1902-1905 may be outlined.
Relations with Europeans.
The dowager empress from the day of her return from Si-gan-fu set
herself to conciliate the foreign residents in Peking. Many foreign
onlookers were gathered on the wall of the Tatar city to witness the
return of the court, and to these the dowager empress made a deep bow
twice, an apparently trivial incident which made a lasting impression.
On the 1st of February following the dowager empress received the ladies
of the various embassies, when she bewailed the attack on the legations,
entertained her guests to tea and presented each with articles of
jewelry, and from that time onward, as occasion offered, Tsz'e Hsi
exchanged compliments and civilities with the foreign ladies in Peking.
Moreover, Sir Robert Hart--after having been nearly forty years in
China--was now presented at court, as well as Bishop Favier and others.
Henceforth attacks on foreigners received no direct encouragement at
court. Tung Fu-hsiang,[57] who had been banished to the remote province
of Kan-suh, had at his command there his old Boxer troops, and his
attitude caused anxiety at the end of 1902. He was said to have received
support from Prince Tuan--who had been obliged to retire to
Mongolia--but events proved that the power or the intention of these
reactionaries to create trouble had been miscalculated. There were
indeed serious Boxer disturbances in Sze-ch'uen in 1902, but they were
put down by a new viceroy sent from Peking. Notwithstanding the murder
of fifteen missionaries during 1902-1905, there was in general a marked
improvement in the relations between the missionaries, the official
classes and the bulk of the people, and an eagerness was shown in
several provinces to take advantage of their educational work. This was
specially marked in Hu-nan, a province which had been for long hostile
to missionary endeavours. Illustrative of the attitude of numbers of
high officials was the attendance of the viceroy of Sze-ch'uen, with the
whole of his staff, at the opening in 1905 at Cheng-tu of new buildings
of the Canadian Methodist Mission. This friendly attitude towards the
missions was due in part to the influence of Chinese educated abroad and
also, to a large extent, to the desire to take advantage of Western
culture. The spread of this new spirit was coincident with an agitation
for independence of foreign control and the determination of the Chinese
to use modern methods to attain their ends. Thus in 1905 there was an
extensive boycott of American goods throughout China, as a retaliatory
measure for the exclusion of Chinese from the United States. Regarding
China as a whole the attitude of the people towards Europeans was held
to indicate that the general view was, not that the Boxer teaching was
false, but that the spirits behind Western religion were more powerful
than those behind Boxer-dom. The spiritual prestige of Christianity and
respect for the power of the foreigner were direct outcomes of the
failure of the Boxers.[58] The British expedition to Tibet in 1904, the
occupation of Lhassa in August of that year, the flight of the Dalai
Lama to Mongolia, gave grave concern to the Chinese government--which
showed much persistence in enforcing its suzerain rights in Tibet--but
did not, apparently, cause any ill-feeling towards Great Britain among
the Chinese people--who viewed with seeming equanimity the flight of the
head of the Buddhist religion from the headquarters of that faith. The
country generally was peaceful, a rebellion in Kwang-si--where a
terrible famine occurred in 1903--being suppressed in 1904 by the forces
of the viceroy at Canton.
Commercial and railway progress.
The expiatory measures required of China in connexion with the Boxer
rising were carried through. China during 1902 recovered possession of
the Peking-Tientsin railway and of the city of Tientsin, which was
evacuated by the foreign troops in August of that year. The foreign
troops were also all withdrawn from Shanghai by January 1903. The
conclusion of a new commercial treaty between Great Britain and China in
September 1902 has already been recorded. The payment of the indemnity
instalments occasioned some dispute owing to the fall in silver in 1902,
but the rise in the value of the tael in subsequent years led China to
agree to the payment of the indemnity on a gold basis. The increase in
revenue was a notable feature of the maritime customs in 1903-1905. This
result was in part due to the new arrangements under the commercial
treaty of 1902, and in part to the opening up of the country by
railways. In especial the great trunk line from Peking to Hankow was
pushed on. The line, including a bridge nearly 2 m. long over the Yellow
river was completed and opened for traffic in 1905. The first section of
the Shanghai-Nanking railway was opened in the same year. At this time
the Chinese showed a strong desire to obtain the control of the various
lines. During 1905, for instance, the Canton-Hankow railway concession
was repurchased by the Chinese government from an American company,
while the Pekin Syndicate, a British concern, also sold their railway in
Ho-nan to the Chinese government.
Manchuria.
Russia's action regarding Manchuria overshadowed, however, all other
concerns during this period. The withdrawal of the proposed
Russo-Chinese agreement of 1901 has been chronicled. The Russian
government had, however, no intention of abandoning its hold on
Manchuria. It aimed not only at effective military control but the
reservation to Russian subjects of mining, railway and commercial
rights. Both the sovereignty of China and the commercial interests of
other nations were menaced. This led to action by various powers. The
preamble of the Anglo-Japanese treaty of the 30th of January 1902
declared the main motives of the contracting parties to be the
maintenance of the independence and territorial integrity of China and
Korea, and the securing of equal opportunities in those countries for
the commerce and industry of all nations, i.e. the policy of the "open
door." Protests were lodged by Great Britain, Japan and the United
States against the grant of exclusive rights to Russian subjects in
Manchuria. Russia asserted her intention to respect the commercial
rights of other nations, and on the 8th of April 1902 an agreement was
signed at Peking which appeared to show the good faith of the Russian
government, as it provided for the withdrawal of the Russian troops in
Manchuria within eighteen months from that date. In accordance with this
agreement the Shan-hai-kwan-Niu-chwang railway was transferred to China
in October 1902 and the district between Shan-hai-kwan and the Liao
river evacuated by Russia. But it soon appeared that Russia's hold on
the country had not relaxed. Advantage was taken of the terms of
concession granted in August 1896 to the Russo-Chinese Bank[59] to erect
towns for Russian colonists and to plant garrisons along the line of
railway, and to exclude Chinese jurisdiction altogether from the railway
zone. The so-called evacuation became in fact the concentration of the
Russian forces along the line of railway. Moreover, the maritime customs
at Niu-chwang were retained by the Russo-Chinese Bank despite protests
from the Chinese imperial authorities, and a Russian civil
administration was established at that port. The evacuation of southern
Manchuria should have taken place in April 1903, but in that month,
instead of fulfilling the conditions of the 1902 agreement, the Russian
charge d'affaires in Peking made a series of further demands upon China,
including the virtual reservation of the commerce of Manchuria for
Russian subjects. Though Russia officially denied to the British and
American governments that she had made these demands, it was
demonstrated that they had been made. The United States and Japan
thereupon insisted that China should conclude with them commercial
treaties throwing open Mukden and two ports on the Yalu river to foreign
trade. The American treaty was signed on the 8th of October 1903--the
day fixed for the complete evacuation of Manchuria by Russia--and the
Japanese treaty on the day following. Both treaties provided that the
ports should be opened after ratifications had been exchanged. From fear
of Russia China, however, delayed the ratification of the treaties.
Meantime, in August 1903, a regular through railway service between
Moscow and Port Arthur was established. In the same month a Russian
Viceroyalty of the Far East was created which in effect claimed
Manchuria as a Russian province. In September Russia withdrew some of
the demands she had made in April, but her concessions proved illusory.
When the 8th of October passed and it was seen that the Russians had not
withdrawn their troops[60] there issued for a time threats of war from
Peking. Yuan Shih-kai, the viceroy of Chih-li, who had at his command
some 65,000 troops trained by Japanese officers, pressed on the
government the necessity of action. At this point Japan intervened. Her
interests were vitally affected by Russia's action not only in
Manchuria, but in Korea, and seeing that China was powerless the
Japanese government negotiated directly with St Petersburg. In these
negotiations Russia showed that she would not yield her position in
either country except to force. Japan chose the issue of war and proved
successful.
Lessons of the Russo-Japanese War.
The Russo-Japanese War did not very greatly alter China's position in
Manchuria. In the southern part of that country Japan succeeded to the
special privileges Russia had wrung from China (including the lease of
Port Arthur); in the north Russia remained in possession of the railway
zone. For Japan's position as at once the legatee of special privileges
and the champion of China's territorial integrity and "the open door"
see JAPAN, Sec. _History_. However, the attitude of Japan was more
conciliatory than that of Russia had been; Mukden and other places were
thrown open to foreign trade and Chinese civil administration was
re-established. The important results of the war, so far as China was
concerned, were not to be looked for in Manchuria, but in the new spirit
generated in the Chinese. They had been deeply humiliated by the fact
that in the struggle between Russia and Japan China had been treated as
a negligible quantity, and that the war had been fought on Chinese
territory. The lesson which the loot of Peking and the fall of the
Boxers in 1900 had half taught was now thoroughly mastered; the
awakening of China was complete. The war had shown that when an Eastern
race adopted Western methods it was capable of defeating a European
nation.
Army reform.
It was fortunate that among the influential advisers of the throne at
this time (1905-1908) were Prince Chun (the prince who had visited
Germany in 1901), Yuan Shih-kai, the viceroy of Chih-li, and Chang
Chih-tung, the viceroy of Hu-kwang (i.e. the provinces of Hu-peh and
Hu-nan), all men of enlightened and strong character. In 1907 both the
viceroys named were summoned to Peking and made members of the grand
council, of which Prince Ching, a man of moderate views, was president.
Yuan Shih-kai was an open advocate of a reform of the civil service, of
the abolition of Manchu privileges, of education and other matters. He
had specially advocated the reconstitution of the military forces of the
empire, and in Chih-li in 1905 he demonstrated before a number of
foreign military attaches the high efficiency attained by the forces of
the metropolitan province. The success achieved by Yuan Shih-kai in this
direction incited Chang Chih-tung to follow his example, while a decree
from the throne called upon the princes and nobles of China to give
their sons a military education. The formerly despised military
profession was thus made honourable, and with salutary effects. The
imperial princes sought high commands, officers were awarded ranks and
dignities comparable with those of civil servants, and the pay of the
troops was increased. The new foreign drilled northern army was called
upon to furnish a large proportion of a force sent under Prince Su into
Mongolia--a country which had been on the point of falling into the
hands of Russia, but over which, as one result of the Russo-Japanese
War, China recovered control. In 1906 a step was taken towards the
formation of a national army by withdrawing portions of the troops from
provincial control and placing them under officers responsible to the
central government, which also took over the charge of the provincial
arsenals. In the years which followed further evidence was given of the
earnestness and success with which the military forces were being
reorganized. Less attention was given to naval affairs, but in the
autumn of 1909 a naval commission under Tsai Hsuen, a brother of the
emperor Kwang-su, was sent to Europe to report on the steps necessary
for the re-establishment of a fleet. Previously (in 1907) societies had
been started in several provinces to collect funds for naval purposes.
A parliamentary constitution promised.
The most striking evidence of the change which had occurred was,
however, the appointment (in 1905) of an Imperial Commission, headed by
Prince Tsai Tse, to study the administrative systems of foreign
countries with a view to the possible establishment of a representative
government in China. The revolutionary nature of this proposal excited
indignation among the adherents to the old order, and a bomb was thrown
among the commissioners as they were preparing to leave Peking.[61]
After visiting Japan, America and Europe the commission returned to
Peking in July 1906.[62] A committee over which Prince Ching presided
was appointed to study the commission's report, and on the 1st of
September following an edict was issued in which the establishment of a
parliamentary form of government was announced, at a date not fixed. To
fit the country for this new form of government (the edict went on to
declare) the administration must be reformed, the laws revised,
education promoted and the finances regulated. This edict, moreover, was
but one of many edicts issued in 1906 and following years which showed
how great a break with the past was contemplated. In November 1906 two
edicts were issued with the object of reorganizing the central
administrative offices. Their effect was to simplify the conduct of
business, many useless posts being abolished, while an audit board was
created to examine the national accounts. In November 1907 another edict
was promulgated stating that for the present the formation of Houses of
Lords and of Commons to determine all public questions was not
practicable, but that it was proposed, as a preliminary measure, to
create an Imperial Assembly. At the same time a scheme of provincial
councils was ordered to be prepared. A more definite step followed in
1908 when a decree (dated the 27th of August) announced the convocation
of a parliament in the ninth year from that date.
The control of the Maritime Customs.
One of the changes made in the public offices brought China into
conflict with Great Britain. On the 9th of May 1906 a decree appointed
Chinese commissioners to control the Imperial Maritime Customs.[63] This
was the only department of the government under European (British)
control, and the only department also against which no charge of
inefficiency or corruption could be brought. The change decreed by China
was in accord with the new national sentiment, but by all the foreign
powers interested it was felt that it would be a retrograde step if the
customs were taken out of the control of Sir Robert Hart (q.v.), who had
been since 1863 inspector-general of the customs. The British secretary
of state for foreign affairs (Sir Edward Grey) at once protested against
the decree of the 6th of May, pointing out that the continuation of the
established system had been stipulated for in the loan agreements of
1896 and 1898. As a result of this and other representations the Board
of Control of the Customs was late in 1906 made a department of the
Board of Finance. The Chinese controllers-general continued in office,
and despite the assurances given to Great Britain by China (in a note of
the 6th of June 1906) that the appointment of the controllers-general
was not intended to interfere with the established system of
administration, the absolute authority of Sir Robert Hart was
weakened.[64] Sir Robert Hart returned to England in 1908 "on leave of
absence," Sir Robert Bredon, the deputy inspector-general, being placed
in charge of the service under the authority of the Board of Control, of
which on the 5th of April 1910 it was announced that he had been
appointed a member. This step was viewed with disfavour by the British
government, for, unless Sir Robert Bredon's post was to be merely a
sinecure, it imposed two masters on the maritime customs. On the 20th of
April Sir Robert Bredon severed his connexion with the Board of Control.
At the same time Mr F.A. Aglen (the Commissioner of Customs at Hankow)
became acting Inspector General (Sir Robert Hart being still nominally
head of the service). The attempt on the part of the Chinese to control
the customs was evidence of the strength of the "young China" or
Recovery of Rights party--the party which aspired to break all the
chains, such as extra-territoriality, which stamped the country as not
the equal of the other great nations.[65]
The anti-opium agitation.
In the steps taken to suppress opium smoking evidence was forthcoming of
the earnestness with which the governing body in China sought to better
the condition of the people. Opium smoking followed, in China, the
introduction of tobacco smoking, and is stated to have been introduced
from Java and Formosa in the early part of the 17th century. The first
edict against the habit was issued in 1729. At that time the only
foreign opium introduced was by the Portuguese from Goa, who exported
about 200 chests[66] a year. In 1773 English merchants in India entered
into the trade, which in 1781 was taken over by the East India
Company--the import in 1790 being over 4000 chests. In 1796 the
importation of foreign opium was declared contraband, and between 1839
and 1860 the central government attempted, without success, to suppress
the trade. It was legalized in 1858 after the second "opium war" with
Great Britain. At that time the poppy was extensively grown in China,
and the bulk of the opium smoked was, and continued to be, of home
manufacture. But after 1860 the importation of opium from India greatly
increased. Opium was also imported from Persia (chiefly to Formosa,
which in 1895 passed into the possession of Japan). The total foreign
import in 1863 was some 70,000 piculs,[67] in 1879 it was 102,000
piculs, but in 1905 had fallen to 56,000 piculs. The number of opium
smokers in China in the early years of the 20th century was estimated at
from 25 to 30 millions. The evil effects of opium smoking were fully
recognized, and Chang Chih-tung, one of the most powerful of the
opponents of the habit, was high in the councils of the dowager-empress.
On the 20th of September 1906 an edict was issued directing that the
growth, sale and consumption of opium should cease in China within ten
years, and ordering the officials to take measures to execute the
imperial will. The measures promulgated, in November following, made the
following provisions:--
(1) The cultivation of the poppy to be restricted annually by
one-tenth of its existing area; (2) all persons using opium to be
registered; (3) all shops selling opium to be gradually closed, and
all places where opium is smoked to discontinue the practice within
six months; (4) anti-opium societies to be officially encouraged, and
medicines distributed to cure the opium-smoking habit; (5) all
officials were requested to set an example to the people, and all
officials under sixty were required to abandon opium smoking within
six months or to withdraw from the service of the state.
It was estimated that the suppression of opium smoking would entail a
yearly loss of revenue of over L1,600,000, a loss about equally divided
between the central and provincial governments. The first step taken to
enforce the edict was the closing of the opium dens in Peking on the
last day of 1906.
During 1907 the opium dens in Shanghai, Canton, Fu-chow and many other
large cities were closed, and restrictions on the issue of licences
were introduced in the foreign settlements; even the eunuchs of the
palace were prohibited from smoking opium under severe penalties. The
central government continued during 1908 and 1909 to display
considerable energy in the suppression of the use of opium, but the
provincial authorities were not all equally energetic. It was noted in
1908 that while in some provinces--even in Yun-nan, where its
importance tc trade and commerce and its use as currency seemed to
render it very difficult to do anything effective--the governor and
officials were whole-hearted in carrying out the imperial regulations,
in other provinces--notably in Kwei-chow and in the provinces of the
lower Yangtsze valley--great supineness was exhibited in dealing with
the subject. Lord William Cecil, however, stated that travelling in
1909 between Peking and Hankow, through country which in 1907 he had
seen covered with the poppy, he could not then see a single poppy
flower, and that going up the Yangtsze he found only one small patch
of poppy cultivation.[68] The Peking correspondent of _The Times_, in
a journey to Turkestan in the early part of 1910, found that in
Shen-si province the people's desire to suppress the opium trade was
in advance of the views of the government. Every day trains of opium
carts were passed travelling under official protection. But in the
adjoining province of Shan-si there had been complete suppression of
poppy cultivation and in Kan-suh the officials were conducting a very
vigorous campaign against the growth of the poppy.[69]
In their endeavours to suppress opium smoking the Chinese government
appealed to the Indian government for help, and in 1907 received a
promise that India would decrease the production of opium annually by
one-tenth for four years and subsequently if China did likewise. The
Indian government also assented to Indian opium being taxed equally
with Chinese opium, but China did not raise the duty on foreign opium.
In 1908 the Indian government undertook to reduce the amount of opium
exported by 5100 chests yearly. In the same year the opium dens in
Hong-Kong were closed. In February 1909, on the initiative of the
United States, an international conference was held at Shanghai to
consider the opium trade and habit. At this conference the Chinese
representative claimed that the consumption of opium had already been
reduced by one-half--a claim not borne out by the ascertained facts.
The conference was unable to suggest any heroic measures, but a number
of proposals were agreed to (including the closing of opium dens in
the foreign settlements), tending to the restriction of the opium
trade. The conference also dealt with another and growing habit in
China--the use of morphia.[70] Japan agreed to prohibit the export of
morphia to China, a prohibition to which the other powers had
previously agreed.
Education.
The attempts to reform the educational system of China on a
comprehensive scale date from the year of the return of the court to
Peking after the Boxer troubles. In 1902 regulations were sanctioned by
the emperor which aimed at remodelling the methods of public
instruction. These regulations provided among other things for the
establishment at Peking of a university giving instruction in Western
learning, a technical college, and a special department for training
officials and teachers. A much more revolutionary step was taken in
September 1905 when a decree appeared announcing as from the beginning
of 1906 the abolition of the existing method of examinations. The new
system was to include the study of modern sciences, history, geography
and foreign languages, and in the higher grades political economy and
civil and international law. Thousands of temples were converted to
educational purposes. In Canton, in 1907, the old examination hall was
demolished to make way for a college with every appliance on Western
lines. Equal zeal was noticeable in such conservative cities as
Si-gan-fu, and in remote provinces like Kan-suh. By May 1906 fifteen
so-called universities had been founded. Moreover, many young Chinese
went abroad to acquire education--in Japan alone in 1906 there were
13,000 students. In the same year primary schools for girls were
established.[71] Perhaps the most striking evidence of the new spirit
regarding education was the tenour of a communication to the throne from
the head of the Confucian family. On the 31st of December 1906 an
imperial edict had appeared raising Confucius to the same rank as Heaven
and Earth--an action taken to indicate the desire of the government to
emphasize the value of ethical training. In thanking the throne for the
honour conferred on his ancestor the head of the family urged that at
the new college founded at the birth-place of Confucius the teaching
should include foreign languages, physical culture, political science
and military drill.[72]
While China, with the consent of the emperor and the empress-dowager,
and under the guidance of Prince Ching, Yuan Shih-kai and Chang
Chih-tung, was endeavouring to bring about internal reforms, her
attitude to foreign powers was one of reserve and distrust. This was
especially marked in the negotiations with Japan and with Russia
concerning Manchuria, and was seen also in the negotiations with Great
Britain concerning Tibet. It was not until April 1908, after four
years' negotiations, that a convention with Great Britain respecting
Tibet was signed, Chinese suzerain rights being respected. In September
the Dalai Lama arrived in Peking from Mongolia and was received by the
emperor, who also gave audience to a Nepalese mission.[73]
Death of the emperor and of the dowager empress.
The emperor Kwang-su had witnessed, without being able to guide, the new
reform movement. In August 1908 an edict was issued in his name
announcing the convocation of a parliament in nine years' time. In
November he died. His death occasioned no surprise, as disquieting
reports about his health had been current since July, but the
announcement that the dowager empress died on the 15th of November (the
day after that on which the emperor was officially stated to have died)
was totally unexpected. She had celebrated her birthday on the 3rd of
November and appeared then to be in good health. The empress dowager had
taken part in the choice of a successor to the throne, Kwang-su's
valedictory edict had been drawn up under her supervision, and it is
believed that the emperor died some days previous to the date officially
given for his death. Kwang-su died childless and was succeeded by his
infant nephew Pu-Yi (born on the 8th of February 1906), a son of Prince
Chun, who was appointed regent. Prince Chun--himself then only
twenty-six years old--had exercised considerable influence at court
since his mission to Germany in 1901, and was one of the most
enlightened of the Manchu princes. The death of the dowager empress
removed a powerful obstacle to a reformed regime, and with her passed
away the last prominent representative of the old era in China.
Accession of Hsuan Tung.
The accession to the throne of Pu-Yi, who was given as reigning title
Hsuan Tung ("promulgating universally"), was unaccompanied by
disturbances, save for an outbreak at Ngan-king, easily suppressed.
Prince Chun had the support of Yuan Shih-kai and Chang Chih-tung,[74]
the two most prominent Chinese members of the government at Peking--and
thus a division between the Manchus and Chinese was avoided. On the 2nd
of December 1908 the young emperor was enthroned with the usual rites.
On the day following another edict, which, it was stated, had had the
approval of the late dowager empress, was issued, reaffirming that of
the 27th of August regarding the grant of a parliamentary constitution
in nine years' time, and urging the people to prepare themselves for the
change. Other edicts sought to strengthen the position of the regent as
_de facto_ emperor. Yuan Shih-kai and Chang Chih-tung received the title
of Grand Guardians of the Heir, and the year 1908 closed with the chief
Chinese members of the government working, apparently, in complete
harmony with the regent.
Dismissal of Yuan Shih-kai.
Agreement with Japan.
On the 1st of January 1909, however, the political situation was rudely
disturbed by the dismissal from office of Yuan Shih-kai. This step led
to representations by the British and American ministers to Prince
Ching, the head of the foreign office, by whom assurances were given
that no change of policy was contemplated by China, while the regent in
a letter to President Taft reiterated the determination of his
government to carry through its reform policy. The dismissal of Yuan
Shih-kai was believed by the Chinese to be due to his "betrayal" of the
emperor Kwang-su in the 1898 reform movement. He had nevertheless
refused to go to extremes on the reactionary side, and in 1900, as
governor of Shan-tung, he preserved a neutrality which greatly
facilitated the relief of the Peking legations. During the last years
of the life of the dowager empress it was his influence which largely
reconciled her to the new reform movement. Yet Kwang-su had not
forgotten the _coup d'etat_ of 1898, and it is alleged that he left a
testament calling upon his brother the prince regent to avenge the
wrongs he had suffered.[75] During the greater part of the year there
was serious estrangement between China and Japan, but on the 4th of
September a convention was signed which settled most of the points in
dispute respecting Manchuria and Korea. In Korea the boundary was
adjusted so that Chientao, a mountainous district in eastern Manchuria
regarded as the ancestral home of the reigning families of China and
Korea, was definitely assigned to China; while in Manchuria, both as to
railways and mines, a policy of co-operation was substituted for one of
opposition.[76] Although Japan had made substantial concessions, those
made by China in return provoked loud complaints from the southern
provinces--the self-government society calling for the dismissal of
Prince Ching. In northern Manchuria the Russian authorities had assumed
territorial jurisdiction at Harbin, but on the 4th of May an agreement
was signed recognizing Chinese jurisdiction.[77]
The control of railways.
The spirit typified by the cry of "China for the Chinese" was seen
actively at work in the determined efforts made to exclude foreign
capital from railway affairs. The completion in October 1909 of the
Peking-Kalgan railway was the cause of much patriotic rejoicing. The
railway, a purely Chinese undertaking, is 122 m. long and took four
years to build. It traversed difficult country, piercing the Nan K'ow
Pass by four tunnels, one under the Great Wall being 3580 ft. long.
There was much controversy between foreign financiers, generally backed
by their respective governments, as to the construction of other lines.
In March 1909 the Deutschasiatische Bank secured a loan of L3,000,000
for the construction of the Canton-Hankow railway. This concession was
contrary to an undertaking given in 1905 to British firms and was
withdrawn, but only in return for the admittance of German capital in
the Sze-ch'uen railway. After prolonged negotiations an agreement was
signed in Paris on the 24th of May 1910 for a loan of L6,000,000 for the
construction of the railway from Hankow to Sze-ch'uen, in which British,
French, German and American interests were equally represented. In
January 1910 the French line from Hanoi to Yunnan-fu was opened;[78] the
railway from Shanghai to Nanking was opened for through traffic in 1909.
Provincial Assemblies constituted. A senate formed.
The progress of the anti-opium movement and the dispute over the control
of the Imperial Maritime Customs have already been chronicled. A notable
step was taken in 1909 by the institution of elected assemblies in each
of the provinces. The franchise on which the members were elected was
very limited, and the assemblies were given consultative powers only.
They were opened on the 14th of October (the 1st day of the 9th moon).
The businesslike manner in which these assemblies conducted their work
was a matter of general comment among foreign observers in China.[79] In
February 1910 decrees appeared approving schemes drawn up by the
Commission for Constitutional Reforms, providing for local government in
prefectures and departments and for the reform of the judiciary. This
was followed on the 9th of May by another decree summoning the senate to
meet for the first time on the 1st day of the 9th moon (the 3rd of
October 1910). All the members of the senate were nominated, and the
majority were Manchus. Neither to the provincial assemblies nor to the
senate was any power of the purse given, and the drawing up of a budget
was postponed until 1915.[80]
Anti-dynastic movements. Riots in Hu-nan.
The efforts of the central government to increase the efficiency of the
army and to re-create a navy were continued in 1910. China was credited
with the intention of spending L40,000,000 on the rehabilitation of its
naval and military forces. It was estimated in March 1910 that there
were about 200,000 foreign-trained men, but their independent spirit and
disaffection constituted a danger to internal peace. The danger was
accentuated by the mutual jealousy of the central and provincial
governments. The anti-dynastic agitation, moreover, again seemed to be
growing in strength. In April 1910 there was serious rioting at
Changsha, Hu-nan, a town whence a few years previously had issued a
quantity of anti-foreign literature of a vile kind. The immediate causes
of the riots seem to have been many: rumours of the intention of the
foreign powers to dismember China, the establishment of foreign firms at
Changsha competing with native firms and exporting rice and salt at a
time when the province was suffering from famine, and the approach of
Halley's comet. Probably famine precipitated the outbreak, which was
easily crushed, as was also a rising in May at Yung chow, a town in the
south of Hu-nan. Much mission and mercantile property was wrecked at
Changsha, but the only loss of life was the accidental drowning of three
Roman Catholic priests.
The regent's policy.
An edict of the 17th of August 1910 effected considerable and unexpected
changes in the personnel of the central government. Tang Shao-yi, a
former lieutenant of Yuan Shih-kai, was appointed president of the Board
of Communications, and to him fell the difficult task of reconciling
Chinese and foreign interests in the development of the railway system.
Sheng Kung-pao regarded as the chief Chinese authority on currency
questions, and an advocate of the adoption of a gold standard, was
attached to the Board of Finance to help in the reforms decreed by an
edict of May of the same year (see ante, _Currency_). The issue of the
edict was attributed to the influence with the regent of Prince
Tsai-tao, who had recently returned from a tour in Europe, where he had
specially studied questions of national defence. The changes made among
the high officials tended greatly to strengthen the central
administration. The government had viewed with some disquiet the
Russo-Japanese agreement of the 4th of July concerning Manchuria (which
was generally interpreted as in fact lessening the authority of China in
that country); it had become involved in another dispute with Great
Britain, which regarded some of the measures taken to suppress opium
smoking as a violation of the terms of the Chifu convention, and its
action in Tibet had caused alarm in India. Thus the appointment to high
office of men of enlightenment, pledged to a reform policy, was
calculated to restore confidence in the policy of the Peking
authorities. This confidence would have been greater had not the changes
indicated a struggle for supreme power between the regent and the
dowager empress Lung Yu, widow of Kwang-su.
The strength of the various movements at work throughout China was at
this time extremely difficult to gauge; the intensity of the desire for
the acquisition of Western knowledge was equalled by the desire to
secure the independence of the country from foreign control. The second
of these desires gave the force it possessed to the anti-dynastic
movement. At the same time some of the firmest supporters of reform were
found among the Manchus, nor did there seem to be any reason to doubt
the intention of the regent--if he retained power--to guide the nation
through the troubled period of transition into an era of constitutional
government and the full development of the resources of the empire.
(X.)