Reforms after the Boxer Uprising
Prior to Boxer Rebellion
º Form of government was passed on from Ming times.
º Manchus very clear that they were ethnically different and tried to promote it, hence a
º Manchu Chinese dyarchy ( evolved)
º Explain
º Problem: Shortage of trained officials and so had to rely on the gentry ( Confucian trained scholars)
º 6 Boards of Government: Each headed by a Manchu and a Chinese officer
º 6 included: Appointments, Revenue, Rites, War, Punishment and Works.
º After 2nd Opium War a new foreign Office was opened called Zongli YAmen
º Provinces: 18 provinces each ruled by a governor. Sometimes 2 or more under one governor general. Director of education held an important post
º An organisation to monitor the activities of the officers was called the Censorate
º Had powers to investigate and impeach any official found guilty.
Education : Civil Service Exams and military service exams held separately
8 legged essay
3 levels of attainment
Shengyuan, Juren and Jinshi
º Fixed quotas for the admittance of candidates as decreed by the Hanlin Academy.
º Jinshi and Juren officers admitted here and then reappointed to government.
º However about 50% of Hanlin Academy had bought their positions. Usually these were lower ranking officers.
Army: Banner men which comprised Manchu Commanders
Green Army which were comprised of Chinese troops and commanders
Why were the reforms carried out?
1. Events since 1895 had proven that Qing had to reform itself or fail.
2. For the Qing the humiliation of losing to the Japanese far greater than losing to western powers
3. The Hundred Days Reform, which had been backed the Emperor Guangxu backfired. The key leaders were arrested and the Emperor was placed under house arrest.
The Dowager Empress triumphed but at what cost?
The Boxer Rebellion despite its failure was a signal for change. The Empress had two choices: change or be changed.
After some initial reforms there was a hiatus.
The next push for change came after the Russo Japanese War. The fact that Japan a constitutional monarchy had triumphed over a despotic monarchy was the impetus for change
Also it was stepped up in request to a growing and vociferous demand for change
So over a 8 year period a series of changes were initiated.
These changes are seen largely in the areas of
Education: Abolition of the Civil Service Exams
Opening up of schools
Changing the content and course of the curriculum
Encouraging studies abroad
Army: What were the changes? What problems did these changes highlight?
Civil and Criminal Law: What were the key changes?
Constitutional Monarchy: What steps did Ci Xi propose? Did it really create a constitutional monarchy?
The question that remains is: how far were these successful?
Did the reforms cause more problems than they solved:
Two major problems that arose were loss of military control and rising provincialism( see handouts)
How would a nationalist such as Sun Yat Sen respond to it?
How would the Dowager answer the criticisms and defend her actions?
Debate: