1911: Imperial Upheavals Flashcards
Why were they called ‘boxers’?
Because they practiced martial arts, known at the time as Chinese boxing.
When was the Boxer Rebellion?
1899-1901
What was the goal of the Boxer Rebellion?
Restore moral order and community solidarity that was threatened by foreign missionaries and Chinese Christians in particular.
What did the Boxers blame the floods and droughts at the end of the 19th century on?
Foreign and Christian influence.
What were the Boxers fighting against?
Anti-foreign, anti-colonial, anti-Christian.
Who were the Boxers?
Loosely affiliated groups of angry young peasants.
What was the banner of the Boxers?
“Support the Qing, destroy the foreign.”
What did the Boxers think Christians did?
Incest, poison wells, created armies out of paper, mad people go mad, refused to pray to village Gods to make it rain.
What was it about Christians that angered the Boxers the most?
Refused to pray to village Gods to make it rain, blaming the droughts on this as God’s anger.
Who ruled China at the turn of the twentieth century?
Empress Dowager Cixi
When did Empress Dowager Cixi declare war on all foreign powers?
June 21 1900
What did Empress Dowager Cixi hope to do by declaring war on all foreign powers?
Restore Chinese power by capitalising on the growing anti-Western sentiment.
Who made up the foreign powers that Cixi and the Boxers were fighting against?
Britain, Germany, Russia, France, Italy, US, Austro-Hungarian Empire, and Japan.
What was the name of the forces of the foreigners Cixi and the Boxers were opposed to?
Eight-Power Expedition
Who provided the most troops for the invading forces in China?
Japan
When did the Eight-Power Expedition invade China?
1900
What was the Yellow Peril?
The idea that the people of East and Southeast Asia represented a threat to the Western world.
What did the Boxers become a symbol of for later Chinese?
The potentials of popular resisitance and righteousness.
Why did the Western powers not want the Qing dynasty to fall?
The power vaccum might cause conflict between the Western powers and Japan.
What was the informal colonization of China?
The expanding ‘spheres of influence’ by the Eight-Power Expedition forces after the Bpxer rebellion that wanted a Chinese government to remain in place.
Why were the Qing seen as foreign?
They were part of the Manchu race.
What did a Chinese delegation do in 1906?
Travel to Japan, Europe, and the United States to study their constitutions.
What did Cixi begin to implement in the aftermath of the Boxer uprising?
A series of New Policy reforms.
What did the New Policy reforms of Cixi aim to do?
Streamline and modernise the government; a better equipped and disciplined army; a new state school system.
What reform did Cixi enact in local government?
Created provincial assemblies to allow local self-government, elected in 1909.
What was the effect of the New Policy reforms by Cixi?
They undermined the Qing’s rule.
Why did the Qing reforms undermine their rule?
- required tax increases to implement which were resented
- educational reforms departed from traditional moral concerns
- temples were turned into schools reserved for children of the rich
What did the new provincial assemblies offer the opportunity for?
The chance to put pressure on the Qing on a range of issues including taxes and constitutional reform.
What was the most far-reaching reform promised by the Qing?
The creation of a constituion, turning the country into a constitutional monarchy
Who did the Qing send abroad?
Students, on legal and military courses.
What happened amongst the Chinese students living abroad in the first decade of the 1900s?
Constitutionalist and revolutionary ideas took hold.
What were the two competing sides on how to govern China after the Boxer rebellion?
Constitutionalists, who wanted a constitutional monarchy; and the revolutionaries, who wanted to overthrow the Qing.
What did the revolutionaires argue to support their claims against the Qing?
That they were Manchus, and alien race, and their rule over China was illegitimate.
What was the National Alliance?
A group made up of small and disparate revolutionary groups of Chinese.
Where was the National Alliance formed and by whom?
Tokyo, Japan, by Sun Yat-sen
What principles united the members of the National Alliance?
Anti-Manchurianism, republicanism, and vague socialism.
What did the Chinese group in Paris advocate?
They were anarchists, calling for the abolition of the states entirely.
Who was the main spokesman of the constitutionalist reformers?
Liang Qichao
Was Liang Qichao a supporter of the Qing?
No, but he feared revolution more than he distrusted the Qing.
What did Qichao point to as an alternative of revolution?
The constitutional monarchism of Britain and Japan as a way to make steady progress in reform.
The revolutionaries were anti-Manchu, but what were the constitutionalists?
They argued that the Han and the Manchu had a common enemy: the Whites. They should therefore set aside their differences.
When was the National Alliance formed?
1905
What had become the norm in China by the early 1900s?
Foreign investment in railroads.
What did the Qing do in order to build railroads?
Borrow money from foreigners and expropriate land to build on.
Why did students and merchants start striking and protesting in 1911?
In opposition to attempts to nationalise the railways.
When did the Wuchang Uprising break out?
October 1911
What had student radicals been doing in Wuchang?
Recruiting New Army soldiers to the revolutionary cause.
Of the 18000 Qing soldiers in Wuchang, how many were revolutionaries?
A third
What had central and southern China done by November 1911?
Seceeded from the Qing empire.
When was the Qing overthrown and the Republic of China declared?
1 January 1912
Who became president of the new Republic of China?
Yuan Shikai
What did Yuan continue to do as president?
He continued the reforms of the Qing, modernising the army, building infrastructure and schools.
How did Yuan Shikai continue implementing reforms?
Taking out foreign loans.
What did foreign powers give Yuan when he became president?
A loan of £25 million
Why did foreign powers support Yuan as president and recognise his legitimacy?
They saw him as the man who could keep China together and protect their investments.
What did the Wuchang Uprising lead to?
The fall of the Qing dynasty.
Under Yuan, what did schools try to instill in children?
‘civilised’ behaviour
What sort of ‘civilised behaviour’ practices did Chinese people do under Yuan?
Shaking hands and the wearing of formal Western clothing on certain occasions.
What benefited the Chinese economy?
World War 1
Why did WW1 benefit the Chinese economy under Yuan?
Imports from Europe reduced which benefited local manufacturers, and exports skyrocketed.
What did the Chinese send to Europe between 1916-18?
150,000 contract workers
Why were workers sent to Europe during WW1 from China?
To keep the Allies factories, construction, and transport moving.
What did the Wuchang Revolution spark?
The 1911 Revolution
What brought the Qing dynasty to an end?
1911 Revolution
When did the Qing rule?
1644-1911
When was the First Sino-Japanese War?
1894-95
Who won the first Sino-Japanese War?
Japan
What happened as a result of China’s loss in the Sino-Japanese War?
Western Powers began claiming spheres of influence within China, seeing the Empire as corrupt and ineffective
Who was Emperor of China at the end of the 19th century?
Emperor Guangxu
Who implemented the reforms of 1898?
Guangxu Emperor
What was the Chinese response to Western Powers claiming spheres of influence after their loss in the Sino-Japanese War?
Announcing a series of modernising reforms in 1898
What was the response to Guangxu’s reforms?
Conservatives and reactionary Manchu princes opposed them
What happened to the Guangxu emperor as a result of his modernising reforms?
His aunt, Empress Dowager Cixi took control
What ethnicity was the majority of China and what ethnicity were the Qing?
Han was the majority; the Qing were Manchu
Who did the Qing, led by Cixi, support in the Boxer Uprising?
The Boxers
Why did the Qing take the side they did in the Boxer Uprising?
Because of the Boxer’s anti-foreign objectives.
What were the reform policies known as?
New Policies
What was Japan’s victory in the Sino-Japanese War interpreted as?
A victory of constitutionalism over autocracy
What did the constituional victory of Japan lead to in China?
The creation of provincial assemblies and a National Assembly in Beijing
What is the debate around the constitutional reform by the Qing?
Whether they were genuinely meant to transform China into a constitutional monarchy if they were just a ruse by the Qing as they tried to cling to power.
Who were the 3 groups competing for influence in the last decade of the 1800s?
The Qing, constitutional reformers, and the revolutionaries
When did Empress Dowager Cixi die?
1908
Who did Cixi appoint as Emperor as she lay on her death-bed?
Puyi, who was a child
Who was to rule as Prince Regent until Puyi was capable?
Puyi’s father, Zaifeng
What 3 things did Zaifeng do that angered the population and sparked the Wuchang Uprising?
- appointed a ‘Princes’ Cabinet’ made up of 9 Manchu and only 4 Han
- nationalised some key railways, angering local gentry with investments in them
- took out foreign loans to build more railways
When was the Second Sino-Japanese War?
1904-5
Who won the Second Sino-Japanese War?
Japan, another example of the virtues of constitutionalism
What happened in the wake of the loss of the Second Sino-Japanese War?
The Qing court sent ministers abroad to investigate political systems
Who was elected in the elections to the procinical assemblies in 1909?
Many supporters of the creation of a constitutional monarchy
What is generally regarded as the fuse that set off the Wuchang Uprising?
The nationalisation of the railways and the taking out of foreign loans to build them by the Qing