Kitabı oku: «A Brief Modern Chinese History», sayfa 6
Reformism in Its Initial Stages
Reformists, thinkers, and intellectuals participating in SSM started to rethink China after the end of the Second Opium War. Among them, Wang Tao 王韬, Zheng Guanying 郑观应 and Ma Jianzhong 马建忠 debated the fate of China and looked for the best way out of its crisis. Wang Tao repeatedly failed the Imperial Civil Service Examination (hereinafter referred to as the Examination). He finally abandoned the attempt and became an editor at a Shanghai-based publisher managed by a British resident. While working there, Wang read some Western books, and these gradually led him to change his ideas.
Wang later went to Britain, where he was employed as an assistant translating Chinese classics. For three years (1867–1870) Wang did an on-the-spot investigation of Western society. By doing so, he became epistemico-intellectually enriched, successfully transforming from a member of the feudal literati into an advocate of bourgeois reformism. In 1873, Wang founded a newspaper called the Universal Circulating Herald (循环日报) in Hong Kong. This newspaper advocated Wang’s ideas, such as the free registration of private companies, and recommended that China create a new political system in which the sovereign and the people would share power.11
Zheng was from the countryside of Xiangshan, Guangdong. He was also unsuccessful in his attempt to pass the Examination at the lowest level. Many compradors were natives of Xiangshan. As Zheng’s uncle and elder brother worked for foreign firms, at the age of 17 Zheng was granted an apprenticeship at a Shanghai-based Hong (a company run by foreigners). Later he became the leading comprador in the Swire Group and made a fortune. In his work, Zheng witnessed not only the hardships that traders had to endure but also the effects of the foreign capitalist invasion of China. While he dreamed of running his own company, Zheng well knew that the fulfillment of his dream depended on a pro-business and wealthy state. Based on his studies, Zheng asserted that having an advanced weapons system was not enough; a well-organized and efficient parliamentary system was equally important to lay a solid foundation for a stable and prosperous state.12 Ma, who originally dedicated himself to completing the Examination, decided to abandon the old Chinese learning system and instead opted for a Western education, reflecting that Qing had been so easily defeated by a small Western force. Ma spent much time learning foreign languages, hoping that, by doing so, he would find the key to the West’s success.13
The above-mentioned educated Chinese who partook in SSM were all aware that China was undergoing a drastic change. Inspired by the new knowledge imported from the West, they unanimously decided that Chinese society needed to change. Feng Guifen 冯 桂 芬, for example, argued that the creation of treaty ports had created a huge change in China.14 Wang Tao said that China had a historic opportunity;15 and Xue Fucheng 薛福成 believed that both China and the world would witness dramatic changes.16 Educated Chinese such as Zheng and Wang attempted to propose programs that would allow China to cope with changes and grasp new opportunities. They suggested that Qing learn from the West and try its utmost to turn disadvantages into advantages. This kind of self-strengthening endeavor, they argued, would help China adapt to the modernizing world. Feng argued that China should adopt the West’s strong points,17 while Ma pointed out that strength depends on wealth and a strong state so that people can live a prosperous life.18 They further argued that the growth of wealth depended on commerce and industry, and that China’s development of commerce and industry should be modeled on that of the capitalist countries. Where education was concerned, they argued that modern education was indispensable to the self-strengthening mission and for abolishing the Examination and reforming the traditional Confucian education system to help build a more modern education system.
The aforementioned reformist proposals posed a great challenge to the traditional Chinese way of thinking and to the established method of governance in particular. By the 1880s, the SSM intellectuals who included Zheng Guanying, Chen Chi 陈炽, He Qi 何启, and others, discussed more intensely China’s road to rehabilitation. Zheng, an old SSM hand and a businessman turned thinker, in his well-known Admonishments to People Living in a Prosperous Age (盛世危言), developed some original ideas about reform. Chen was an imperial officer who had worked for several departments of the central government. He was open-minded and pro-reform and visited in person the coastal areas of Hong Kong and Macao. He Qi was a Hong Kong-based lawyer and doctor. These reformists shared a common intellectual outlook, that China must militarily and economically resist the colonial powers’ invasion after failing twice in the Opium Wars. They all argued that only when China was economically prosperous would the colonial powers be deterred from bullying China. Zhen even created the slogan of Shangzhan (economic war), which he argued would be superior to military war. He suggested the central government do its best to protect private industries and commerce, since Chinese industry, competing in the global market, would finally lead China out of decline and crisis. A series of proposals promoting Chinese industry and commerce were put forward by these reformists. First, they suggested joining government and private business. Second, the industrial and commercial taxes as well as the lijin (a special tax exclusively collected for putting down the Taiping Rebellion) must be abolished or at least substantially reduced. Ma Jianzhong said that it did not make sense that foreign firms were exempt from lijin while the Chinese had to pay.19 Third, the government must formulate laws and institutions to effectively protect Chinese industrialists and businessmen.20 Fourth, the government should encourage people to engage in creative work, just as Western governments had done.
Wang Tao strongly criticized the government’s excessive participation in business and said that many SSM programs merely scratched the surface of modernity.21 Ma had written a memorandum to Li Hongzhang, the SSM leader, pointing out that the foundation of the West’s strength and wealth lay not in weapons and armies but in education and politics (such as the parliamentary system).22 In particular, the Sino-French War (1883–1885), which China lost, reminded the Chinese people that after two decades of SSM leadership, they had yet to carry out successful reforms in the country. Corruption was also a problem among officials, and this resulted in ordinary people rarely benefiting from SSM. In view of all this, the reformists called on Qing to politically reform and establish a Western constitutional monarchy, thus signalling significant intellectual progress among the community of educated Chinese. They realized that China should not only study Western weapons and technology but also do its best to develop industry and commerce as well as formulate laws and regulations that would protect the national economy, create parliamentary politics, and reform both education and culture. These ideas advocated for the growth of Chinese logical thinking as well as for the evolution of Chinese society. To sum up, the early Chinese reformists generally believed that national sovereignty and unity must be safeguarded, that China should take the capitalist route, and that political reforms, such as the founding of a constitutional monarchy, should be put on the agenda.
Border Crises and the Sino-French War
During the period of SSM, Qing tried to solve the crises on its borders. In 1864, some of the elite among the ethnic groups in Xinjiang launched a rebellion. Yakubu Beg (阿古柏), a military leader of the Khanate of Kokand (浩罕国), supported by Britain, invaded and occupied the entire southern region of Xinjiang as well as parts of northern Xinjiang. Tsarist Russia sent troops into Yili in order to ensure social order,23 and occupied Yili for a decade. In 1875, Qing sent Zuo Zongtang to recapture the lost lands. It took Zuo a year and a half to crush Yakubu Beg’s army but in February, 1878, he retook Xinjiang. A senior imperial official then visited Russia to negotiate for the return of Yili. He signed a treaty with Russia without the permission of the central government. As part of this treaty huge pieces of land south and west of Yili were ceded to Russia. This infuriated the Chinese and, in 1880, Qing signed a new treaty, in which the larger pieces of land south of Yili were retaken. Four years later, Xinjiang was formally made a province of China and a new governor was appointed. Qing had managed the border crisis in the northwest.
As far back as the early Ming dynasty (1368–1644), the Ryukyu Kingdom had already developed a very close relationship with China. However, in 1873, Ryukyu was forced to submit to Japan. At the beginning of 1874, Japan sent three thousand soldiers to Taiwan on the pretext of protecting Ryukyu fishermen from being kidnapped by Taiwanese residents. The Japanese troops landed on the shores and looted the coastal areas of Taiwan. Shen Baozhen, a high governor in Qing’s army, led the fight against the invaders. However, after the United States and Britain, both of whom were in favor of Japan, mediated the dispute, Qing and Japan signed a treaty in Beijing. Qing paid Japan 500,000 taels of silver in war reparations and the Japanese troops pulled out of Taiwan. In this treaty, Qing mistakenly called the Ryukyu fishmen subjects of Japan. Japan made use of this and in 1875 sent officials to Ryukyu. Four years later, Japan brazenly deposed the King of Ryukyu and downgraded this kingdom to a prefecture known as Okinawa. Qing immediately protested against this. Negotiations over Ryukyu continued for several years. In 1888, Japan withdrew from the negotiations. Qing did not recognize the Okinawa Prefecture, only the Ryukyu Kingdom.24 Qing grew aware of the strategic importance of the southeast coast. In order to prevent Japan from invading Taiwan, Qing strengthened its defense and, most importantly, established Taiwan as a province in 1885. This greatly increased the importance of Taiwan to the Chinese nation.
In the meantime, Japan began to interfere in Korean affairs. In 1875, Japan invaded Korea’s Ganghwado. The following year, Japan forced Korea to sign the Ganghwado Treaty (a.k.a. the 1876 Japan-Korea Treaty of Amity), where Japan addressed the well-established close relationship between China and Korea. Six years later, an anti-Japanese coup was staged in Korea, which led to Japan intervening militarily. The Korean government begged Qing for help, hoping that Qing would be able to stop a Japanese invasion of Korea. In 1884, Japan instigated a revolt in which the Korean king was abducted and a pro-Japanese regime was installed. Led by Yuan Shikai 袁世凯 (1859–1916), the Qing army stationed in Korea quashed the riot. The following year, Ito Hirobumi visited Beijing, where Li Hongzhang granted an interview to the Japanese Prime Minister. Both sides agreed to withdraw their troops immediately and to let the other know if they were sending an army to Korea. This meant Japan had gained the same right to send troops to Korea that Qing enjoyed. This was the beginning of the fierce conflict between China and Japan in the near future.
At the time that the British Empire was seizing India and Myanmar, it cast its eyes on Yunnan. In 1874, the British attempted to enter Yunnan via Myanmar. The British Embassy in Beijing sent an interpreter to greet them, though they clashed with the Chinese at the border. The Qing government tried its best to prevent the situation from growing worse while the British Ambassador exploited the incident and asked for a more powerful military presence from London.25 Robert Hart, who then supervised Qing’s Customs, wrote in his diary that he would not hesitate to use force to punish the Chinese.26 The British forced Qing to sign the Yantai Treaty in 1876. Not only were the British given indemnity but they were also given permission to enter Tibet, Yunnan, Qinghai, and Gansu. The British Empire continued to extend its tentacles further into China.
Exploiting the Yantai Treaty, the British attempted to invade Tibet. In 1884, British troops illegally entered Tibet (the region of Rikaze 日喀则 [Shigatse]) via Sikkim. The British tried to drive a wedge between the Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lama, the two most significant spiritual leaders of the Tibetan people. Two years later, Britain stationed its troops east of Yadong, Tibet. In 1888, the British started to attack the Longtushan 隆吐山 Garrison. The defending army and local people rose up to resist the invaders. Finally, the Qing government dismissed the imperial agent in Tibet and signed two treaties with Britain. According to the two treaties, Sikkim would be placed under the control of Britain and Yadong would be made commercially open to the British. France and Russia also tried to involve themselves in Tibetan affairs at this time.
The SSM motivators, most of whom were high governors or generals, adopted the policy that China should avoid direct conflict with the colonial powers and should instead promote reforms internally as much as possible. Li Hongzhang, who was then regarded as Qing’s leading diplomat, almost conceded to the foreign power’s demands in exchange for peace. Consequently, not only was China’s sovereignty trampled on, but the invaders also grew increasingly arrogant and avaricious. Put simply, making concessions and compromising could in no way guarantee friendly and beneficial international relationships for China, as confirmed by the Sino-French War (1883–1885).
As early as the seventeenth century, France began its invasion of Vietnam with the intention of turning all of what was then called Indo-China into a French colony. Vietnam thus became the base for French aggression against China. In the last two decades of the nineteenth century, France launched a full-scale invasion of Vietnam. China, Vietnam’s suzerain state, could not overlook this. The Qing army stationed in Vietnam at first remained controlled. The Black Banner Army, which was made up of the rebels who had taken part in the Taiping Rebellion and who had finally retreated to Vietnam, took the offensive and defeated the French troops. Vietnam’s sovereign appointed the leader of the army as high governor to help the government army defend north Vietnam. In 1883, the French army captured Vietnam’s capital and forced the Vietnamese king to sign the Treaty of Hue, making Vietnam a French protectorate. In the last month of 1883, the French started to attack Qing’s army as well as the Black Banner Army. The next year, French troops began to advance toward the Chinese border. Some of Qing’s leading officials, including Zuo Zongtang, Zhang Zhidong, and others, recommended that China fight against the French invaders. Others, such as Li Hongzhang, pushed for peace talks.27 The Empress Dowager Cixi chose to begin negotiations with the French. Li, on behalf of the Qing government, signed a short treaty with France in Tianjin, recognizing France’s right to protect Vietnam.
The French army, however, began to seize land even before the withdrawal of the Chinese troops. The Chinese soldiers were forced to fight back. Enraged, French media outlets began calling for war. France’s Chargé D’affaires in Beijing demanded that the Chinese troops immediately withdraw from northern Vietnam and that the Chinese government should pay compensation of 250,000,000 francs. Should China fail to comply with these demands, France threatened to occupy China’s ports.28 In July 1884, the French fleet closed on Mawei, a strategic naval port in Fuzhou. One month later, some French gunboats attempted to invade northern Taiwan but were driven off by Qing’s defending army. Then the French pointed their guns at Fuzhou.
Although the enemy was already at the gates, Qing did not prepare for war but instead pinned its hopes on negotiations. However, the French navy began attacking and Chinese warships were sent to the dock. A day later, Qing’s fleet was destroyed by French torpedoes. In this battle, the Fujian Navy lost nearly thirty warships and eight hundred men. The French troops began killing, burning, and looting; shockingly, foreign reporters called it not a war but a massacre. The reason for China’s failure was twofold, the first being Qing’s passivity and the other the differences between the French and Chinese navies (see table below).
| French Navy | Chinese Navy | |
| Number of warships/total tonnage | 8/14,514 | 11/6,500 |
| Types of warships | 2 iron battleships 5 cruisers | 9 small wooden gunboats |
| Number of artillery | 77 | 45 |
| Types of artillery | heavy breechloader | light muzzleloader |
Qing formally declared war on France after the Mawei Battle and severed diplomatic relations.29 Liu Yongfu 刘永福 (1837–1917), the leader of the Black Banner Army, was formally given an imperial title. His army continued to fight against the French invaders. The Chinese people were furious and many enlisted to fight against the French colonialists.30 Even Chinese living overseas participated in the campaign against the French invaders. In Hong Kong, for example, workers refused to repair a damaged French warship on the grounds that it had bombed Taiwan and attempted to enter Fuzhou. The Chinese in San Francisco, Kobe, Yokohama, Singapore, and Cuba donated money to the war effort against imperialistic France.31
Fighting broke out in Zhennanguan, a strategic garrison on the Sino-Vietnamese border. In March, 1885, the French army attacked Zhennanguan. Zhang Zhidong, then Governor General of Guangdong and Guangxi, appointed Feng Zicai, a veteran general, to supervise the defense. Defending this garrison, Feng, who was in his seventies led his troops against the French and annihilated more than 1,000 of the enemy. Qing’s army pursued the remaining enemy troops and recaptured the key region of Liangshan, or Lang Son, in north Vietnam. This campaign directly led to the downfall of France’s Jules Ferry government. General Feng planned to drive all French troops out of north Vietnam. However, the Qing government decided to start peace negotiations instead of fighting. In April 1885, China and France signed a truce in Paris. Two months later, Li Hongzhang and the French delegates formally signed a treaty in Tianjin. This treaty was Qing’s acknowledgement of France’s colonial rule over Vietnam. The Black Banner Army was brought back into China and then sent to Taiwan. Despite their military victory, Qing’s army did not receive an equal deal in the signing of the treaty.
Endless Incidents Involving Christian Missionaries
Ambitiously aspiring to conquer the entire globe for Christ, Christian missionaries began arriving in China as part of the colonial project. Jiao’an (literally, the Christian cases), which refers to the historic incidents involving Christian missionaries in China, was the result not only of the contradiction between foreign imperialism and the Chinese nation, but also of the conflict between Chinese tradition and Christian culture. To some extent, Christian missionaries were at the center of the West’s colonial aggression. Charles H. Denby, then the leading American diplomat in China, confirmed that the information collected by missionaries was very helpful to the American government. In fact, as early as the 1850s and the 1860s, William
B. Reed, one of Denby’s predecessors, acknowledged that Christian missionaries and their endeavors greatly contributed to America’s interests. Some Christian churches in China were actually operating as agencies of secret services. A top Russian diplomat corroborated this, saying that the Beijing branch of the Orthodox Church gave him accurate advice, which he could use to follow the right path in negotiating the Beijing Treaty. As a reward, the Russian government granted the Church huge pieces of land grabbed from China and paid its clergy.
Western missionaries were allowed to enter China due to the treaties signed in the Second Opium War. Not only were they allowed to do missionary work but they also had the right to rent or purchase land. Under such circumstances, conflict between the Western missionaries and local residents was inevitable. Needless to say, missionary work in early modernizing China was supported by the Western powers’ guns and artilleries. For this reason, some missionaries were reliant on the colonial powers. Some Chinese regarded the missionaries as spokesmen for the colonial powers and, for this reason, felt much resentment toward them. Land disputes involving missionaries and residents were not uncommon at this time. The missionaries forcibly spread their faith at the cost of others’ land and property, which aroused great discontent among local residents. They bullied people who tried to resist the invaders. Missionaries complained to the consulates, which then pressed Qing’s government to comply with their demands. Local governments had no alternative but to suppress the Chinese residents.
Gradually, the foreign churches grew into privileged and powerful interest groups. The Christian churches in China rarely took the local governments seriously. These all-powerful spiritual halls were appealing to local ruffians and hooligans. On the other hand, it should be pointed out that some missionary societies did do their best to help China and its people by founding modern hospitals and schools, as well as offering sympathy and help to people in need. Nevertheless, they could not bring any fundamental changes to the imperialist powers’ invasion of China.
The foreign missionaries continued to swarm into China after the Beijing Treaty was signed and continued to grow increasingly powerful in China. The growth in the number of churches, clergy, and followers was remarkable. In 1860, there were 20 missionary societies; in 1884, there were more than 30. The number of missionaries increased from 180 in 1864 to 1,296 in 1890. In 1860, there were 14 missionary residents scattered across the treaty ports of six coastal provinces in southeast China. In 1884, this number reached 238, spread over all the coastal provinces, the Yangtze River, and some inland provinces such as Shanxi, Gansu, Guizhou, and Yunnan. The number of Christian converts was 400 or so in 1857; by 1893, this number had increased to 55,000. In 1860, there were nine Catholic missionary societies; in 1894, there were 21. The number of Catholic parishes increased from 10 in 1844 to 34 in 1883. A club of foreign-born Catholic priests was also established that had 100 members in 1846; by 1885, it numbered 488 members. These priests wandered around China, leaving their footprints in many remote provinces such as Tibet, Taiwan, Heilongjiang, and Hainan Island. Statistics indicate that, in 1850, China had 320,000 Catholic converts; four decades later there were more than half a million Catholics.32 As for Protestantism, by 1877 there were 473 missionaries, 91 missionary societies, 511 branches, 321 churches, and 13,035 converts.33 The largest missionary society was the China Inland Mission (CIM),34 founded by James Hudson Taylor, a British missionary, in 1865. When it first started, it had only three members; however, three decades later, it comprised 650 priests, 270 outposts, and approximately 5,000 followers.
The Catholics built a cathedral in each parish. Usually, such grand churches were situated in metropolises such as Beijing or regional centers like Ji’nan, while some were built in remote rural areas in Hubei and Hunan. The Orthodox Church’s missionary corps was financially supported by the Russian government and, for this reason, followed the Russian authorities’ instructions. Orthodox churches were established in Tianjin, Harbin, Shanghai, and Xinjiang after the signing of the Beijing Treaty.
Four decades after signing the Beijing Treaty, China witnessed more than four hundred incidents involving Christian missionaries which provoked the resentment of many local residents. The most well-known incident took place in Tianjin. The French had built a cathedral and an affiliated care center that adopted children. On occasion, money was given to those who brought children there and consequently, a few ruffians kidnapped children and gave them to the church in exchange of cash. In the summer of 1870, some adopted children died of infectious diseases and were buried in a mass grave. Because of poor burial, stray dogs feasted on the dead bodies of children. Some believed that these children had been tortured by the church. It was even rumored that the children’s eyes were gouged out and their hearts torn out. At this time, a child trafficker was captured by the local authorities and confessed that one of his accomplices was a Catholic. When informed about this, the magistrate immediately asked for instructions from Chonghou, the highest imperial official in Tianjin. Chonghou delivered a formal note to the French consul in Tianjin, notifying that the suspect be examined by the investigators. Soon residents and staff from the French Consulate clashed. The Consul ordered Chonghou to suppress the residents by force. The clashes were fierce and resulted in the French Consulate, some foreign banks, and Christian churches being destroyed by fire.35 In total, twenty foreigners, including the consul and his secretary, as well as sixteen Chinese Catholic converts lost their lives in this incident.
Seven Western countries—Britain, France, Russia, Germany, Belgium, Spain, and the United States—protested and sent their warships toward Tianjin. A French admiral threatened to burn Tianjin to a cinder. The United States’ Minister to China, Frederick F. Low, in his letter to Hamilton Fish, the Secretary of State, said that many more menacing threats were made such as beheading all Chinese officials, overthrowing
the Chinese government, and turning China into a protectorate.36 The threats frightened Qing and it ordered Zeng Guofan, who was on medical leave, to immediately return and handle the affair. Zeng knew that China had no choice but to compromise.37 Despite knowing who was responsible for the incident, he removed the top government officials in Tianjin and sentenced 20 people to death and sent another 25 people into exile. In addition, 500,000 taels of silver were paid to France as compensation. Chonghou went to France, where he, on behalf of the Qing government, offered a formal apology. Zeng admitted that the case was not handled well.38 Some accused Zeng of being a coward.39 Zeng also felt ashamed because of his poor handling of the Tianjin incident.
The Sino-French War was a stimulant to the jiao’an that took place in Fujian and Zhejiang, where some churches were burnt. More than 40 missionaries were expelled from Guangdong and Guangxi and 50 or so churches were destroyed. There were huge protests against the missionaries in Sichuan and Hebei. In Dazu, a county of Sichuan, a poor miner in September, 1890, launched an armed revolt, rallying the people to resist the established power of the church. The next summer and fall, resistance to the church swept through the middle and lower regions of the Yangtze River. In the Chengde of Zhili (present-day Hebei), tens of thousands of local residents dealt a heavy blow to the Catholic church. Four years later, the Chengdu incident broke out and dozens of Catholic and Protestant churches were burnt to the ground in Sichuan.
Jiao’an was representative of China’s relationships and conflicts with the West. The Beijing Treaty granted foreign Christian churches the right to do missionary work in China. However, conflict between the foreign churches and Chinese residents was inevitable due to the cultural differences and the conflicts of interest regarding land. In many cases, the foreign missionaries gave protection to Christian converts whenever they were involved in disputes. To make matters worse, the foreign governments backing the missionaries used the unequal treaties to pressure the Chinese authorities. They even applied extraterritoriality to Chinese Christian converts. As a consequence, few local governments dared to get involved in disputes involving missionaries and their protégés, and, as a result, Chinese residents often had to endure injustices. Evidence that China was further in decline.
