A Brief Modern Chinese History

3. The Lost Three Decades

Changes of the Central and Local Governments

The Taiping Rebellion dealt a heavy blow to Qing’s empire, as well as having a fundamental effect in changing politics in Qing’s late regime. As a result, new political groups began to emerge and the traditional pattern of political power began to transform. This change was embodied in the shift of top-down power and the increasing prominence of Han officials in the imperial court as well as in the rise of the Self-Strengthening Movement (SSM). In the fall of 1861, a palace coup took place in Beijing. In order to gain a monopoly of power, some Princes were executed and the Empress Dowager Cixi 慈禧太后 (1835–1908), who was the mother of the Emperor Tongzhi, wielded the scepter. In the following decades, Cixi was the most powerful woman in China and played a dominant role in central government politics. The Anglo-French forces left Beijing in November, 1860. The news overjoyed the Qing government as they knew that this would lead to the return of the old socio-political order. Among Qing’s ruling elites there was a consensus that the colonial powers preferred peace at gunpoint to the total collapse of the Qing empire. Yixin 奕 䜣, one of the leading ministers at this time, in one of his memoranda to the throne repeatedly emphasized this. They believed that as long as Qing abided by the unequal treaties and acted in accordance with the colonial powers’ demands, the dynasty would benefit.1

In January, 1861, Qing set up an imperial official in charge of foreign affairs—总理各国事务衙门 hereinafter referred to as Zongli yamen. He appointed several aristocrats as supervisors in his agency, which pleased the diplomats of the European powers,2 as they planned to turn Zongli yamen into one of the primary tools to control the Qing government. A British man was appointed as Inspector General of the Imperial Maritime Custom Service. Soon he was replaced with Robert Hart, also from Britain, and was in charge of Qing’s customs for more than four decades.

It was at this time that Britain, France and Russia established their embassies in Beijing. From then on, the colonial powers paid greater attention to getting the high Qing officials to recommend that China rebuild itself in light of the Western experience. Gradually, as a pro-Western ruling elite, which consisted mostly of leading aristocrats and officials such as Cixi and Yixin, came into being, the highest superintendent of Zongli yamen was created. This change was historically significant and had a decisive influence on China’s political course in the second half of the nineteenth century. The colonial powers were satisfied with the rise of Cixi and Yixin, and the top British diplomat in China in March, 1862, said that a pro-Western elite had already been in power in China and that he, to some extent, had become one of the advisers of the Chinese government.3

Aside from gaining support from the colonial powers, Qing spent his time regulating the relationship between the imperial court and the political group led by Zeng Guofan. Zeng rose to prominence at this time due to his outstanding performance in putting down the Taiping Rebellion. In the fall of 1860, Zeng was appointed the Governor General of Jiangnan and Jiangxi and in the winter, he was given the title of supreme lord in charge of military affairs in Jiangsu, Anhui, Jiangxi, and Zhejiang; and, the following January, he was awarded many more prestigious imperial titles. Thus, Zeng played a crucial role not only in defense but also in civil administration. Zeng was given free rein to rule and, as a consequence, the Zeng faction of the Xiangjun became the most powerful politico-military complex in China. It firmly controlled the armed forces, as well as the manpower and financial resources. Li Hongzhang’s 李鸿章 (1823–1901) elite community centered in the Huaijun (the Anhui Army) was similar to the Zeng faction. In the following decades, officials and generals from the two factions dominated late Qing politics. It should be pointed out that the imperial court had to allow powerful governors and generals of the Zeng and Li factions to impose and collect taxes in order for them to remain devoted to suppressing the Taiping rebels. This concession meant that the Qing government gradually lost control over local finances. Even Zeng Guofan admitted that the governors, however powerful, grew increasingly unruly.4 These governors could be likened to warlords.

Since the founding of the Qing dynasty, the Manchu sovereigns assigned only candidates of Han nationality to imperial posts. When the Taiping Army started to sweep through the south, the Manchu aristocrats had already been incapable of fighting. In order to survive the rebellion, the emperor had no alternative but to put all his hopes in the Han officials. Some enlightened Manchu princes supported this change.5 Zeng Guofan, for example, was recommended by Sushun, a member of the royal household. Cixi, the de facto supreme leader of the imperial court, assumed a very tolerant attitude toward Han officials. According to statistics, by 1864, when the Xiangjun captured Nanjing, twenty-one generals from this army were appointed governors. In fact, an increasing number of Han officials rose to prominence in imperial politics and demonstrated that the Manchu political monopoly had already been broken. Under such circumstances, some Han bureaucrats began to rethink the fate of the Manchu Qing. In a diary, one of Zeng Guofan’s closest aides said that total collapse (of Qing) might take place in less than five decades.6 Zeng himself did not disapprove of it.

The Self-Strengthening Movement (SSM)

When fighting, the Xiangjun and Huaijun used cold weapons. In comparison with the foreign armies who were equipped with modern arms, these two armies were much less powerful. Qing’s high ministers realized that modern weapons played a significant role in war. Thus, in 1861, Yixin, together with two other top imperial secretaries, proposed a general plan for modernizing Chinese weapons to the throne. Zeng Guofan suggested the emperor purchase Western guns and warships so that he could quell the rebellions as soon as possible.7 These two steps constituted the three-decade-long SSM’s basic program. Li Hongzhang, later one of Qing’s most influential statesmen, arrived in Shanghai in 1862, where he, with the help of the colonialists, set up small troops equipped with foreign arms and modern arsenals. Li was enthusiastic about having China’s weapon production modelled on that of the West. He optimistically said that, if China were to possess weapons as powerful as Western ones, China could not be humiliated and invaded.8 Yixin believed that China and the colonial powers would peacefully coexist if China grew militarily stronger by modernizing its weapons arsenal.9 The ruling elites, such as Yixin, Li, and Zeng attempted to manufacture modern arms not only to suppress the Taiping Rebellion, but also to increase China’s national strength. They all strongly believed that a combination of advanced Western technology and well-established Chinese feudalism would bring stability and prosperity to Qing’s China. Essentially, SSM was both imperative and feasible. They took for granted that the colonial powers wanted to help China move toward modernity. This movement lasted for more than thirty years and focused on the creation of a modern industry, a modern navy, and modern education in China.

In 1861, in Anqing, Zeng Guofan set up an ordnance depot, where technicians began to manufacture modern arms. In less than a year, they successfully made China’s first marine steam engine. In the same year, Li Hongzhang hired a British veteran and built his first modern arsenal. Later he employed more foreign technicians and purchased more modern equipment. Thanks to his efforts, the factory expanded and was able to produce more than four thousand small guns a month. Li, in collaboration with Zeng, bought a Shanghai-based steel plant owned by an American businessman. Soon China’s first large military factory, the Jiangnan Arsenal (江南机器制造总局), was created in Shanghai, and therefore was also known as the Shanghai Arsenal. This arsenal developed into a huge complex consisting of fifteen branches as well as a foreign language school, a technical school, and a translation studio. There were more than 3,500 workers in this factory which proudly boasted world-class mechanical equipment. By the 1890s, the Shanghai Arsenal had produced around 600 or so modern artilleries, more than 50,000 breechloaders, and approximately 10 million bullets. The annual output of the attached steel plant was hundreds of thousands of pounds, which freed the Arsenal from its dependence on imported steel. It was here that China’s steel industry began. In 1868, The attached shipyard produced the first steamship and went one to build warships and other vessels. It was this shipyard that eventually led to the first shipyard in the Jiangnan Shipyard, the champion of present-day China’s shipbuilding industry.

There was also an attached translation studio, which had active members from Britain and the United States, among whom John Frye, Alexander Wylie, and Young John Allen became well-known. These translators rendered, in total, two hundred or so foreign books into Chinese. Most of their translations were of science and technology books; however, they also translated politics, economy, and history books. In addition, this studio published a quarterly devoted to world affairs. These books and journals introduced the Chinese to the world. They built schools which recruited young students aged 15 to 20. When admitted, students joined a four-year program, where they were taught sciences and foreign languages. Historically, these schools produced the first generation of Chinese engineers and technicians.

The Shanghai Arsenal had several counterparts which could be found in Jinling (Nanjing), Fuzhou, Tianjin, Hubei, Xi’an, Lanzhou, Shandong, Sichuan, and Jilin. There were 21 large and medium-sized modern weapon manufacturers nationwide. The Fuzhou Arsenal was second only to the Shanghai Arsenal. It was founded by Zuo Zongtang 左宗棠 (1812–1885) and comprised fourteen branches as well as a shipbuilding school. This arsenal employed roughly 2,000 workers. French experts played a leading role in its initial stages and were later all replaced by Chinese specialists. In 1869, the Fuzhou Arsenal built the first military carrier and, by the late 1890s, more than thirty ships had been manufactured. Some of them were powered by a 2,400-horsepower engine. This arsenal served as the base for China’s four fleets of warships.

The leading SSM proponents realized that wealth was indispensable to strength. In other words, they were determined to broaden the sources of income for the country. Beginning in the 1870s, these highly influential motivators started to invest in civil industries. The startups included the Shanghai Merchants Steam Navigation Company (上海轮船招商局), the Shanghai Cotton Cloth Mill (上海机器织布局)、the Kaiping-based China Engineering and Mining Company (开平煤矿), the Tianjin-based Imperial Chinese Telegraph Administration (天津电报总局), Mohe Gold Mining Company (漠河金矿 in Heilongjiang) and the Wuhan-based Hanyang Steel Mill (汉阳铁厂), to name only the most famous. Unlike weapon manufacturers, over all of which the Qing empire had a monopoly, these civil corporations were jointly managed by both government and private business. Such joint management was conducive to the economic development of early modernizing China, when few people dared to invest their money in modern industry. By the 1890s, there were more than 40 modern civil corporations in China and it was from these enterprises, most of which were supervised by the government and run by businessmen, that early Chinese capitalism began.

Seeing Qing’s worry when faced with powerful foreign navies, governors and generals recommended that the imperial court make a greater effort to build a modern Chinese navy. In the 1860s, Yixin entrusted Horatio N. Lay with the task of purchasing foreign battleships. Lay, who then controlled Qing’s Customs Service, spent more than one million taels of silver on eight British warships. However, Lay demanded that China’s naval commander be British and the only direct liaison between the Chinese emperor and the navy. Qing’s government dismissed Lay and gave these battleships up. In doing so, Qing lost a huge amount of money.