Abstract
<p class="1Body">Despite of strong economy including highest GDP gross and self-sufficient feudal economy system, the late Qing Empire fell behind the world trend with its isolationist trade policies. As the Western world caught up technologically, economically, and politically, the former biggest economy had suffered from consecutive losses in wars. In order to preserve the feudal regime, the initiative reform, termed the Self Strengthening Movement was grandly carried out. However, without the true support from the supreme power on one hand, and without the support of the populace on the other, the Movement was an intermediate reform in attempt to preserve the royal system and forestall its continued decline. In policy, the reforms envisioned Western-style modernization without adjusting the political order, yet the entrenched conservatism of the Qing Imperial Court proved to be the decisive hindering factor in the failure of the Movement.</p>
Highlights
Despite of strong economy including highest GDP gross and self-sufficient feudal economy system, the late Qing Empire fell behind the world trend with its isolationist trade policies
Once capitalistic economy was admitted into China, the feudal natural economy would be disorganized, and shake the very foundation of the Qing Empire
According to Chu (1965), for instance, “China suffered from a lack of unified leadership working toward reform and modernization...[whereas] the vast majority of the ruling official-gentry class was conservative in outlook and regarded innovations as possible threats to the basis upon which its privileged position in Chinese society was founded.”
Summary
The last Chinese Imperial Dynasty of the Qing ruled from the mid-17th century to the early 20th century. The staunchly conservative Qing court did not help China’s woes: as foreign imperialist powers began to encroach on Chinese territory with their own interests in mind, China found its aging technologies and society unable to cope with this pressure. Some saw reform as a mere introduction of Western technologies and their application to the Chinese military in the form of guns, artillery, steel naval ships, and modern infantries to strengthen China’s military force and fend off foreign imperialist interests. Dissent, reactionary forces, and a lack of an organized initiative limited the grand plans of reform from ever becoming reality The failure of this initiative, termed the Self Strengthening Movement and the Hundred Day’s Reform, dictated the future of the Qing as a state and the fate of China as a nation
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