The Chinese people sick of the western exploitation and interference made a rebellion against the western powers that were stationed in China. It is called Boxer Rebellion. They murdered and attacked the foreigners in China. Empress Cixi at the later stage of this rebellion, formally sided with the rebels. The Western Eight-Nation Alliance brought troops to China and quenched the Imperial Army. Thus, the Qing Dynasty surrendered to make a treaty with the Western Alliance to pay a huge monetary amount along with other restitutions.
Realizing how China was, which was no match for the western powers, Empress Cixi hurried the reformation of her country which was way more drastic than the ones of ‘Hundred Day’s Reform’. Dispatching the officials to Japan and Europe to learn their legal, educational and governmental systems as well as gather the relevant information, she tried to reform her country but it was to no avail; what was done as valid and effective was only the elimination of the Government Official Election Examination.
In 1908, Guangxu Emperor died and a day after his death, Empress Cixi died too. ‘Pu I’ who was decided to be the next Emperor just before Guangxu Emperor’s death, ascended the throne in Qing Dynasty. Three years later in 1911, the Qing Dynasty completely disappeared from history through the 1911 Revolution.
As sweets attract flies all over, numbers of western countries peeped into China to see what they would plunder for their benefits, sizing up the power of the Qing Dynasty. It was especially the case since China was a huge territory with resources.
There was an incident, showing Sinocentrism; in 1792 while Qianlong Emperor ruled China, Earl Macartney, the head of the British delegation to the Qing Dynasty, brought numerous precious rarities to earn the Emperor’s heart. What it was told from the Emperor’s side was ‘Ji Dae Mul Bak (地大物博)’ meaning that China is a vast country so there is nothing it doesn’t have, which was intended to insult the British Delegation. The Qianlong Emperor even sent his letter to the then British King George III, stating ‘Be thankful for your country gotten shone by the grace of the Qing Dynasty so, docilely fulfill your servitude to the Qing Dynasty.’
Britain underwent industrialization and was way more powerful in the military such as warships and artilleries than China. China looked like a babe in the woods that didn’t know anything about Britain, hardly hiding its confidence in supremacy over China. Britain just modulated the timing when it would invade China which was a mere bragging prey of no power. The Arrow Incident that caused the Second Opium War was a very good pretext for Britain to invade China; it was a protest from the British side that Chinese official didn’t pay the proper homage to its national flag. The western countries just waited for an opportunity to justify their intention of invading China to occupy the ownerless mountain.
At the time when Qianlong Emperor ruled China, its Sinocentric confidence was unquestionable truth within its territory. But then China’s confidence was elusive false to Britain located on the opposite side of the world. One couldn’t blame Qianlong Emperor or his country for it. It is because if so, it is like expecting Caesar to want a republic and expecting Ancient Athens to want autocracy. One expects what was impossible from that specific age.
Likewise, we’d rather not expect that Empress Cixi should have supported ‘The Hundred Day’s Reform’. An individual cannot surpass the tidal trend of her time only through her ability. For forty-seven years while Empress Cixi was in power, what she had maintained as her policy was a conservative reformation.
Seizing the power through the Shin-Yu Coup de tat, the first reformation was ceaselessly praised as an unrivaled success to enable the Qing Dynasty which was believed to fail right at the time, to survive for more than fifty years afterward. But she got blamed for taking a conservative line to suppress ‘the Hundred Day’s Reform’, resulting in the collapse of the Qing Dynasty. For this, she has been described as a lunatic who was insanely hungry for power.
But then again, changing her line, she took very aggressive measures to reform China after the Beijing Treaty, thinking Qing Dynasty was in the crisis of a very nearby collapse. But that was as we know, not a success.
Her conservative reformist line had a limitation in effect waging against the ferociously changing the then global trend, accelerated by industrialization. If she was asked to get over that hurdle and limitation, it is like asking Cleopatra to give up the alliance with Antonius when Egypt was in peril.
I neither respect nor hate Empress Cixi. Nonetheless, I would like to unveil all the shrouds of notoriety and contempt on her. At least, for me. Instead, I want to remember her as a wise, bold, and passionate woman, who did her best within the limits of her time.
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