Imperialism and the evolution of central-provincial relations in late Qing China: Zhang Zhidong in Jiangsu and Hubei

Abstract

In the last decade of the nineteenth century, China experienced the First Sino-Japanese War(1894-1895), the Scramble for Concessions (1897-1898), and the Boxer movement (1900),all of which ended disastrously. This period of high imperialism had rapidly changed ChinesePolitics. By examining Zhang Zhidong’s role in Chinese politics in this period, my thesisargues that imperialism damaged central-provincial relations and divided Chinese politicsalong different political lines in the last decade of the nineteenth century. Ironically, thisprocess of political fragmentation was not resulted from the direct working of imperialismbut from Chinese struggle against imperialism.Seeing from a provincial perspective and utilizing Chinese sources that have not been fullyexplored by previous studies, the thesis exposes the effect of imperialism on Chineseprovinces and uncovers the dynamics of imperialism in China. It examines imperialist actionspreviously seen as having economic effects through political eyes, puts single event intohistorical context to reveal its political significance and connections, and traces Chineseprovincial struggle against imperialism in light of provincial governments’ relations to centralgovernment.Moreover, the thesis adds more details to the debate on the nature of provincial power withrespect to the central government in late Qing China. In Zhang Zhidong’s case, his powerwas undermined in the last decade of the nineteenth century and during this period, thecentral government actually concentrated more power than ever in itself since the Taipingrebellion. However, sacrificing provincial interests in order to strengthen the centralgovernment is a double-edged sword. When Zhang Zhidong’s provincial government and thecentral government both faced imperialist pressure in 1900, Zhang chose to defend provincialinterests instead of the central government since his connection to the central government hadalready broken and provincial interests were more important to him. When studying centralprovincialrelations in the late Qing, we should study more governors-general and governorsin detail and not only look at whether provincial governments or the central government hadmore power, but also pay attention to their relations. Their relations were just as important asthe distribution of power in determining the political landscape in late Qing China.