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The Hundred Days' Reform or Wuxu Reform () was a failed 103-day national, cultural, political, and educational reform movement that occurred from 11 June to 22 September 1898 during the late Qing dynasty. It was undertaken by the young Guangxu Emperor and his reform-minded supporters. Following the issuing of the reformative edicts, a '' coup d'état'' ("The Coup of 1898", Wuxu Coup) was perpetrated by powerful conservative opponents led by
Empress Dowager Cixi Empress Dowager Cixi ( ; mnc, Tsysi taiheo; formerly romanised as Empress Dowager T'zu-hsi; 29 November 1835 – 15 November 1908), of the Manchu Yehe Nara clan, was a Chinese noblewoman, concubine and later regent who effectively controlle ...
.


Beginning

China embarked on an effort to modernize, the Self-Strengthening Movement, following its defeat in the First (1839–1842) and Second (1856–1860) Opium Wars. The effort concentrated on providing the armed forces with modern weapons, rather than reforming governance or society. The limitations of this approach were exposed by the First Sino-Japanese War (1894–1895) when China was defeated by Meiji Japan, which had undergone comprehensive reforms during the same period. The defeat led to additional unequal treaties as European powers took advantage of China's weakness. Elements of the Qing government were sufficiently alarmed to permit Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao to propose reforms to
Emperor Guangxu The Guangxu Emperor (14 August 1871 – 14 November 1908), personal name Zaitian, was the tenth Emperor of the Qing dynasty, and the ninth Qing emperor to rule over China proper. His reign lasted from 1875 to 1908, but in practice he ruled, wi ...
; Guangxu agreed. Some of Kang's students were also given minor but strategic posts in the capital to assist with the reforms. The goals of these reforms included: * abolishing the traditional examination system * eliminating
sinecure A sinecure ( or ; from the Latin , 'without', and , 'care') is an office, carrying a salary or otherwise generating income, that requires or involves little or no responsibility, labour, or active service. The term originated in the medieval ch ...
s (positions that provided little or no work but provided a salary) * establishing
Peking University Peking University (PKU; ) is a public research university in Beijing, China. The university is funded by the Ministry of Education. Peking University was established as the Imperial University of Peking in 1898 when it received its royal charte ...
as a place where sciences, liberal arts and the Chinese classics would all be available for study * establishing agricultural schools in all provinces and schools and colleges in all provinces and cities * building a modern education system (studying mathematics and science instead of focusing mainly on Confucian texts) * encouraging imperial family members to study abroad * changing the government from an absolute monarchy to a constitutional monarchy * applying principles of capitalism to strengthen the economy * modernizing China's military and adopting modern training and drill methods * establishing a naval academy * utilizing unused military land for farming * rapid industrialization of all of China through manufacturing, commerce, and capitalism * establishing trade schools for the manufacture of silk, tea, and other traditional Chinese crafts * establishing a bureau for railways and mines The reformers declared that China needed more than " self-strengthening" and that innovation must be accompanied by institutional and ideological change. Opposition to the reforms was intense among the conservative ruling elite who condemned it as too radical and proposed a more moderate and gradualist alternatives. Conservatives like Prince Duan suspected a foreign plot; Duan wanted to expel foreigners completely from China. In addition to the reforms, plans were made to forcefully remove
Empress Dowager Cixi Empress Dowager Cixi ( ; mnc, Tsysi taiheo; formerly romanised as Empress Dowager T'zu-hsi; 29 November 1835 – 15 November 1908), of the Manchu Yehe Nara clan, was a Chinese noblewoman, concubine and later regent who effectively controlle ...
from power. Yuan Shikai was to kill Ronglu, take control of the garrison at
Tientsin Tianjin (; ; Mandarin: ), alternately romanized as Tientsin (), is a municipality and a coastal metropolis in Northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. It is one of the nine national central cities in Mainland China, with a total popula ...
, and then march on Beijing and arrest Cixi. However, Yuan had previously promised to support Ronglu; rather than kill him, Yuan informed Ronglu of the plot.


End

With the support of the conservatives and the armed forces commanded by Yuan and Ronglu, Cixi launched a '' coup d'état'' on September 22, 1898 and took over the government. Guangxu was put under house arrest in the Summer Palace until his death in 1908. The reforms were reversed and their chief advocates - the " Six Gentlemen of Wuxu" (戊戌六君子): Tan Sitong, Kang Guangren (Kang Youwei's brother), Lin Xu, Yang Shenxiu, Yang Rui, and Liu Guangdi - were ordered to be executed. The two principal leaders, Kang Youwei and his student Liang Qichao, fled to Japan where they founded
Baohuang Hui The Chinese Empire Reform Association (), or Baohuang Hui () in short, was an organization active mostly outside of Qing China that intended to support the Guangxu Emperor in his return to power in the Chinese Empire, which had been taken in a ...
(Protect the Emperor Society) and worked, unsuccessfully, for a constitutional monarchy in China. Tan Sitong refused to flee and was executed. During the Hundred Days' Reform, generals Dong Fuxiang, Ma Anliang, and
Ma Haiyan Ma Haiyan (1837–1900) was a Chinese Muslim General of the Qing Dynasty. Originally a rebel, he defected to Qing during the Dungan revolt and helped crush rebel Muslims. He was the father of Ma Qi and Ma Lin and of Ma Feng. Dong Fuxiang, M ...
were called to Beijing and helped put an end to the movement along with
Ma Fulu Ma Fulu (Chinese: 马福禄, Pinyin: Mǎ Fúlù, Xiao'erjing: ; 1854 – 1900), a Chinese Muslim, was the son of General Ma Qianling and the brother of Ma Fucai, Ma Fushou and Ma Fuxiang. He was a middle born son. In 1880, Ma Fulu went to Be ...
and Ma Fuxiang. Dong Fuxiang and the Muslim Gansu Army stationed in Beijing during the Hundred Days' Reform later participated in the
Boxer Rebellion The Boxer Rebellion, also known as the Boxer Uprising, the Boxer Insurrection, or the Yihetuan Movement, was an anti-foreign, anti-colonial, and anti-Christian uprising in China between 1899 and 1901, towards the end of the Qing dynasty, by ...
and became known as the
Kansu Braves The Gansu Braves or Gansu Army was a unit of 10,000 Chinese Muslim troops from the northwestern province of Kansu ( Gansu) in the last decades of the Qing dynasty (1644–1912). Loyal to the Qing, the Braves were recruited in 1895 to suppres ...
.


Aftermath

The court put into effect some reform measures a decade later, starting with Cixi's New Policies. These included the abolition of the Imperial Examination in 1905, educational and military modernization patterned after the model of Japan, and an experiment in constitutional and parliamentary government. The suddenness and ambitiousness of the reform effort actually hindered its success. One effect, to be felt for decades to come, was the establishment of the New Army, which, in turn, gave rise to
warlordism A warlord is a person who exercises military, economic, and political control over a region in a country without a strong national government; largely because of coercive control over the armed forces. Warlords have existed throughout much of h ...
. On the other hand, the failure of the reform movement gave great impetus to revolutionary forces within China. Changes within the establishment were seen to be largely hopeless, and the overthrow of the whole
Qing The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speaki ...
government increasingly appeared to be the only viable way to save China. Such sentiments directly contributed to the success of the
Xinhai Revolution The 1911 Revolution, also known as the Xinhai Revolution or Hsinhai Revolution, ended China's last Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty, the Manchu people, Manchu-led Qing dynasty, and led to the establishment of the Republic of Chi ...
in 1911, barely a decade later.
Leo Tolstoy Count Lev Nikolayevich TolstoyTolstoy pronounced his first name as , which corresponds to the romanization ''Lyov''. () (; russian: link=no, Лев Николаевич Толстой,In Tolstoy's day, his name was written as in pre-refor ...
corresponded with
Gu Hongming Gu Hongming in his time known as Ku Hung-ming (; Wade-Giles: Ku Hung-ming; Pinyin: Gū Hóngmíng; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Ko͘ Hông-bêng; courtesy name: Hongming; ordinary name: 湯生 in Chinese or Tomson in English) (18 July 185730 April 1928) was a ...
on the Hundred Day's Reform and agreed that the reform movement was ill-advised.


Differing interpretations

Views of the Hundred Days' Reform have grown increasingly more complex and nuanced. The traditional view portrayed the reformers as heroes and the conservative elites, particularly the
Empress Dowager Cixi Empress Dowager Cixi ( ; mnc, Tsysi taiheo; formerly romanised as Empress Dowager T'zu-hsi; 29 November 1835 – 15 November 1908), of the Manchu Yehe Nara clan, was a Chinese noblewoman, concubine and later regent who effectively controlle ...
, as villains unwilling to reform because of their selfish interests.


Failure as Kang's responsibility

However, some historians in the late 20th century have taken views that are more favorable to the conservatives and less favorable to the reformers. In this view, Kang Youwei and his allies were hopeless dreamers unaware of the political realities in which they operated. This view argues that the conservative elites were not opposed to change and that practically all of the reforms that were proposed were eventually implemented. For example,
Sterling Seagrave Sterling Seagrave (April 15, 1937 – May 1, 2017) was an American historian. He was the author of numerous books which address unofficial and clandestine aspects of the 20th-century political history of countries in the Far East. Personal life Bo ...
, in his book "The Dragon Lady", argues that there were several reasons why the reforms failed. Chinese political power at the time was firmly in the hands of the ruling Manchu nobility. The highly xenophobic
iron hats Iron () is a chemical element with symbol Fe (from la, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, right in f ...
faction dominated the Grand Council and were seeking ways to expel all Western influence from China. When implementing reform, the Guangxu Emperor by-passed the Grand Council and appointed four reformers to advise him. These reformers were chosen after a series of interviews, including the interview of Kang Youwei, who was rejected by the Emperor and had far less influence than Kang's later boasting would indicate. At the suggestion of the reform advisors, the Guangxu Emperor also held secret talks with former Japanese Prime Minister
Itō Hirobumi was a Japanese politician and statesman who served as the first Prime Minister of Japan. He was also a leading member of the '' genrō'', a group of senior statesmen that dictated Japanese policy during the Meiji era. A London-educated sa ...
with the aim of using his experience in the Meiji Restoration to lead China through similar reforms. It has also been suggested, controversially, that Kang Youwei actually did a great deal of harm to the cause by his perceived arrogance in the eyes of the conservatives. Numerous rumors regarding potential repercussions, many of them false, had made their way to the Grand Council; this was one of the factors in their decision to stage a coup against the Emperor. Kang, like many of the reformers, grossly underestimated the reactionary nature of the vested interests involved. The Emperor set about to enact his reforms by largely bypassing the powerful Grand Council; said councilors, irritated at the Emperor's actions and fearful of losing the political power they had, then turned to the
Empress Dowager Cixi Empress Dowager Cixi ( ; mnc, Tsysi taiheo; formerly romanised as Empress Dowager T'zu-hsi; 29 November 1835 – 15 November 1908), of the Manchu Yehe Nara clan, was a Chinese noblewoman, concubine and later regent who effectively controlle ...
to remove the emperor from power. Many, though not all, of the reforms came to naught. The Council, now confident in their power, pushed for the execution of the reformers, an action that was carried out ruthlessly.


Richard's federation theory

According to Professor Lei Chia-sheng (雷家聖), Japanese former prime minister
Itō Hirobumi was a Japanese politician and statesman who served as the first Prime Minister of Japan. He was also a leading member of the '' genrō'', a group of senior statesmen that dictated Japanese policy during the Meiji era. A London-educated sa ...
(伊藤博文) arrived in China on September 11, 1898, about the same time that Kang Youwei invited British missionary
Timothy Richard Timothy Richard (Chinese: 李提摩太 ''Li Timotai'', 10 October 1845 – 17 April 1919) was a Welsh Baptist missionary to China, who influenced the modernisation of China and the rise of the Chinese Republic. Biography Richard was born o ...
to Beijing. Richard suggested that China appoint Itō as one of many foreign advisors in order to further push China's reform efforts.Richard, Timothy
''Forty-five Years in China: Reminiscences''
publ.
Frederick A. Stokes Frederick Abbott Stokes (November 4, 1857 – November 15, 1939) was an American publisher, founder and long-time head of the eponymous Frederick A. Stokes Company. Biography Stokes graduated from Yale Law School in 1879. He worked at Dodd, Mead ...
(1916)
On September 18, Richard successfully convinced Kang to adopt his plan in which China would join a federation (合邦) of ten nations. Kang nonetheless asked fellow reformers Yang Shenxiu (楊深秀) and Song Bolu (宋伯魯) to report this plan to the Guangxu Emperor. On September 20, Yang sent a
memorial A memorial is an object or place which serves as a focus for the memory or the commemoration of something, usually an influential, deceased person or a historical, Tragedy (event), tragic event. Popular forms of memorials include landmark objec ...
to the emperor to that effect. In another memorial to the Emperor written the next day, Song advocated the formation of a federation and the sharing of the diplomatic, fiscal, and military powers of the four countries under a hundred-man committee. Lei Chia-sheng argues that this idea was the reason why Cixi, who had just returned from the Summer Palace on September 19, decided to put an end to the reforms with the September 21 coup. On October 13, following the coup, British ambassador
Claude MacDonald Colonel Sir Claude Maxwell MacDonald, (12 June 1852 – 10 September 1915) was a British soldier and diplomat, best known for his service in China and Japan. Early life MacDonald was born the son of Mary Ellen MacDonald (''nee'' Dougan) and Ma ...
reported to his government about the Chinese situation, claiming that Chinese reforms had been "much injured" by Kang and his friends' actions.''Correspondence Respecting the Affairs of China, Presented to Both Houses of Parliament by Command of Her Majesty'' (London, 1899.3), No. 401, p. 303. However, the British and American governments had been largely unaware of the "federation" plot, which appears to have been Richard's own personal idea. The Japanese government might have been aware of Richard's plan, since his accomplice was the former Japanese prime minister, but there is no evidence to this effect yet.


See also

* History of China * Qing dynasty * Economy of China *
Economic history of China (Pre-1911) The economic history of China covers thousands of years and the region has undergone alternating cycles of prosperity and decline. China, for the last two millennia, was one of the world's largest and most advanced economies. Economic historians ...
*
Economic history of China (1912–1949) After the fall of the Qing dynasty in 1912, China underwent a period of instability and disrupted economic activity. During the Nanjing decade (1927–1937), China advanced in a number of industrial sectors, in particular those related to the ...


Notes


Further reading

* Hao, Chang. “Intellectual Changes and the Reform Movement, 1890–98,” 274–338, in ''The Cambridge History of China'', vol 11 part 2, ed. Fairbank, John K. and Liu, Kwang-Ching. (Cambridge University Press, 1980). * Hua, Shiping. "The Meiji Restoration (1868) and the Late Qing Reform (1898) Revisited: Strategies and Philosophies." ''East Asia'' 21.3 (2004): 3–22. * Karl, Rebecca E. and Peter Gue Zarrow, eds., ''Rethinking the 1898 Reform Period: Political and Cultural Change in Late Qing China''. (Harvard UP, 2002). . * Kwong, Luke S. K. ''A Mosaic of the Hundred Days: Personalities, Politics, and Ideas of 1898''. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1984. . * Kwong, Luke S. K. "Chinese Politics at the Crossroads: Reflections on the Hundred Days Reform of 1898" ''Modern Asian Studies'' 34#3 (2000) pp. 663–695 * Li, ZongFang. "China’s Alternative: Kang Youwei’s Confucian Reforms in the Late Qing Dynasty." (2018)
online
* Shan, Patrick Fuliang (2018). ''Yuan Shikai: A Reappraisal'', The University of British Columbia Press. . * Lei Chia-sheng 雷家聖 (2004). ''Liwan kuanglan: Wuxu zhengbian xintan'' 力挽狂瀾:戊戌政變新探 ontaining the furious waves: a new view of the 1898 coup Taipei: Wanjuan lou 萬卷樓. . {{Authority control Boxer Rebellion Economic history of China 1911 Revolution 1898 in China Reform in China