Translated from reference material.
jaques gernet, a history of chinese civilization (cambridge: cambridge university press, second edition
mary clabaugh wright (1969). the last stand of chinese conservatism: the tʻung-chih restoration, 1862–1874 (2nd ed.)
seagr**e, sterling (1992). dragon lady: the life and legend of the last empress of china. vintage books.
The defeat in the Second Opium War was a wake-up call for China. Whether it is land, sea or equipment, the strategy of China is outdated. Cixi was also aware of the imminent threat from foreigners, and realizing that China's agricultural economy could not compete with the industrial power of the West, so she decided that for the first time in China'Xi s history, it would learn from the Western powers and import their knowledge and technology.
At that time, Zeng Guofan, Li Hongzhang and Zuo Zongtang, three famous Han Chinese**, had already started industrial projects in southern China. To support these projects, in 1862 Cixi also ordered the opening of the Tongwen Museum in Beijing, which specialized in new-age knowledge such as astronomy and mathematics, as well as foreign language courses, and sent groups of young boys to study in the United States.
China's "Xi from Foreigners" program quickly ran into obstacles. China's military apparatus was in dire need of reform, and according to the advice of the imperial court, Cixi's solution was to buy seven British ships. However, when these ** arrived in China, the ships were manned with British sailors, all under the command of the British.
The Chinese were outraged by this "international joke", negotiations broke down, and China returned these ** to Britain and put them up for auction. Scholars sometimes attribute China's failure to self-reliance to Cixi's conservative attitude and archaic way of thinking, and argue that Cixi has limited what she Xi can learn from foreigners as long as she does not infringe on her own power.
Cixi banned the construction of the railway under the pretext that it was too noisy and "disturbed the emperor's mausoleum". In 1877, at Li Hongzhang's repeated advice, Cixi had a train experience, but she asked for "a horse-drawn carriage to pull them (the trains)". Cixi also refused to ride in a car because, according to Xi, the driver could not bow down in front of her. Cixi was particularly alarmed by the liberal ideas of the students studying abroad and saw it as a new threat to her power. In 1881, Cixi stopped the policy of sending young people to study abroad, and abolished the previous ...... of openness to foreigners
Many years later, in 1902, Cixi, Guangxu, the empress and the imperial court ** "solemnly returned to Beijing", and Cixi boarded a 21-car luxury train to send them to the capital. In Beijing, many civilians came out to see the "parade" from the Beijing railway station to the Forbidden City, which was also the first time that civilians were allowed**.
Upon her return to the palace, Cixi implemented comprehensive political reforms. Senior ** was sent to Japan and Europe to Xi and develop experience in comprehensive reforms in law, education, structure and social policy, many of which were modeled after the reforms of Japan's Meiji Restoration. The abolition of the imperial examination system in 1905 was only the most striking of these sweeping reforms. Ironically, Cixi's New Deal was more radical and ...... than the plans of the reformers she beheaded in 1898
History