Heraclitus said “There is nothing permanent except change” and it applies to life at the smallest and to society at the largest. When faced with challenges and difficulties, a change in ways seemed the correct path, but the question that follows: how to change or what to change? This question represented the Self-Strengthening Movement and its quest for the industrialization of China under the Qing Dynasty.
Economic Development
Military modernization takes money, the Self-Strengthening Movement
aimed to develop the economy to finance this undertaking. Just as Japan’s
“Enrich the country, strong army” slogan, the movement started projects to
develop modern industries to compete with foreign companies and support the
military rearmament. Its outcome determined the success of the movement.
After the rebellions ended, the government began the reconstruction of the provinces. They sponsored migration to open lands in the war-torn provinces and provided the necessary tools and seeds. They also rebuild the local infrastructure such as canals, roads, and irrigations. Finally, they relaxed land taxation and grain tributes to the ravaged provinces.
In the 1870s, Li Hongzang then proposed the strengthening of industries and transportation under the slogan Fuqiang – Wealth and Power. He along with other local officials of the Self-Strengthening Movement undertook numerous massive industrial projects. To increase the chances of success, they implemented the scheme known as the guandu shangban or official supervision and merchant management enterprise – an equivalent of a state-owned enterprise. Under this scheme, officials established the guidelines from which the company operated while day to day operations fell to the hands of businessmen and managers. Under this setup, the most expensive and biggest industrial projects began.
The China Merchant’s Steam Navigation Company provided the earliest example of a Self-Strengthening Movement project and an entity operating as a guandu shangban. Founded in 1872 by Li Hongzhang, the company aimed to compete with foreign shipping companies in the Chinese coastal and riverine trade. Li Hongzhang took the post of an official supervisor while the position of merchant fell to Tang Tingshu (Tong Kingsing). Tang gained experience in shipping by working for the prominent Hong Kong-based company Jardine, Matheson, and Company. The company gained a monopoly for shipping grain from the Yangtze to Tianjin. In 1876, the company expanded its fleet by purchasing ships from the American Shanghai Steam Navigation Company becoming one of the largest shipping companies in China. In the same year, Sheng Xuanhuai, the prominent Qing industrialist, took the post of manager from Tang. The company, however, began to decline in the 1880s due to corruption, red tape, and massive losses – problems not isolated to the company as later seen.
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| Li Hongzhang |
Following the shipping company, in 1878, Li Hongzhang founded the Kaiping Coal Mines in Tangshan, 60 miles northeast of Tianjin. Tang Tishu who managed the China Merchants’ Steam Navigation Company transferred to manage the Kaiping Coal Mines. The company hired British experts to assist in the project and production began in 1881. It tremendously contributed to decreasing China’s massive coal imports, nevertheless faced numerous obstacles. First, public opinion ran against the project as many regarded it as a disturbance in the region’s feng shui. Furthermore, it cost a lot to transport the coal from the mines to Tianjin and plans to alleviate this problem with a railway also faced overwhelming local opposition who argued the potential loss of employment of coolies. A tramway instead built in its place with a locomotive built domestically and dubbed as “China’s Rocket.” The company continued to operate well into the 1890s when the corruption, bureaucracy, mismanagement, and terrible political climate (Boxer War) ruined the company finally falling into British control.
Other industrial projects also commenced in various provinces. In 1877, Zuo Zongtang established a woolen mill in Lanzhou using steam power. In 1880, Sheng Xuanhuai contributed to the establishment of the Imperial Chinese Telegraph Administration improving the connection between localities. In 1887, Li Hongzhang once again established another enterprise, the Shanghai Cotton Cloth Mill which by 1892 produced 4 million yards of cloth, but it all went up in smoke when a fire destroyed the facility. On the other hand, in the early 1890s, Zhang Zhidong supervised the construction of a railroad line connecting Hankow and Beijing. For this, he established the Hanyang Iron Works and the Daye Iron Mines to produce the necessary rails for the project. However, mismanagement and lack of technical knowledge resulted in dismal and expensive rails and the company went into massive losses.
China witnessed a rise in industries with the Self-Strengthening Movement in full swing. An exciting period that saw the rise of factories and the potential for economic development. However, it ended with mixed results. Nevertheless, the movement went forward and modernization of the military went underway.
Military Modernization
Military modernization laid at the core of the Self-Strengthening
Movement. With a strong military, China aimed to resist any forthcoming foreign
aggression and prevent another unequal treaty humiliating for the Empire. Thus,
as officials busied in establishing factories they simultaneously built
military-industrial complexes.
The Taiping Rebellion along with the Opium War exposed China’s outdated military. Officials tasked to destroy the rebellion began to train modern military units using modern weapons. These same officials wanted to do the same on a bigger national scale. In 1862, Zeng Guofan, a celebrated veteran of the Taiping Rebellion, established the Anqing Arsenal to produce ammunition and small firearms.
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| Gun transportation at Kiangnan Arsenal in Shanghai |
A bigger Jiangnan Arsenal in Shanghai began operation in 1865 established by Zeng Guofan and his protégé Li Hongzhang. The facility became China’s and even one of the world’s largest arms factory equipped with machines obtained from the US with the assistance of Yung Wing and hired the British Halliday Macartney a technical adviser. Besides weapons manufacturing, it also hosted a translation office headed by John Fryer from Tongwen Guan of Beijing. The arsenal employed 3,000 Chinese at its peak and paid better salaries than coolies to produce initially small arms and ammunitions. Later on, it expanded to shipbuilding and in 1868 produced the steamship SS Tianqi, meaning the Auspicious. By the 1870s, it obtained the license to produce Remington rifles, but its quality paled in comparison with its western counterpart.
Naval modernization also began in the earnest. In 1861, China, with the assistance of Robert Hart of the Imperial Maritime Customs, advised Prince Gong of the Zongli Yamen to purchase steamships from Britain. However, a condition that the ships to remain under British control resulted in the purchase’s last-minute cancellation. Then in 1866, Zuo Zongtang sent a proposal to Beijing to establish a shipyard, he wrote:
“Your minister humbly believes that if we desire to prevent harm from the sea and, at the same time, to receive its advantages, we must reorganize our navy; if we wish to reorganize our navy, we must establish a plant, to supervise and build steamships. The Europeans are skillful but we Chinese do not have to be content with our stupidity… It is not impossible to get the machines.”The Fuzhou (Foochow) Shipyard and Arsenal thus began. It possessed both dockyard and naval schools. They hired French technicians to assist in shipbuilding and by 1875, the facility launched its 15th ship. The ships from the shipyard, however, cost way much, and its capabilities and technology obsolete.
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| Zuo Zongtang |
The efforts of the Self-Strengthening Movement saw advances in the Chinese military. However, its pace and quality failed to match that of Japan as seen in the Sino-Japanese War that raged between 1894 and 1895. Chinese navy and the army suffered defeat from the superior firepower of the Japanese Imperial Army and Navy.
Judgment
The Self-Strengthening Movement aimed at revitalizing an ill dynasty
facing tremendous threats. It saw developments in education, industry, and
military. However, in the end, it only delayed the inevitable collapse of the
Qing Dynasty and the Imperial system as a whole in 1911.
The Sino-Japanese War exposed yet again China’s weakness and that of the Self-Strengthening Movement. The Movement continued and succeeded by the Hundred Days’ Reform of 1898. However, the triumph of conservative officials at the end of the Hundred Days’ marked a pause in China’s modernization. Only after the end of the Boxer War did China once again saw reforms, but the conditions already too late to salvage the dynasty. The Xinhai Revolution of 1910 and 1911 put an end to the dying Qing Dynasty and saw the birth of the Chinese Republic.
Cultural difference contributed to the failure of the Self-Strengthening Movement. Though most of the officials found a common ground between the traditional Confucian beliefs and modern knowledge, the majority of the court remained extremely conservative and more so the population. The disruption of feng shui became a common argument against modernization projects, such as the case of the Kaiping Mine. Xenophobia remained high with many frowning upon modern and foreign technology such as the case of railroads.
Moreover, the lack of proper technical and modern managerial skills contributed further to the lackluster results of the Movement’s efforts. Despite the translations schools, translated western works remained limited and few. Even the major proponents of the movements like Zeng Guofan admitted their lack of understanding mathematics with his memorial in 1868:
“In addition, a school should be established in which to learn translation, because translation is the foundation for manufactures. Foreign manufacturing is derived from mathematics, all the profound mysteries of which can be discovered through diagrams and explanations. It is simply because the languages are mutually incomprehensible that, even though every day we practice on their machines, after all, we do not understand the principles underlying their manufacture and operation.”Furthermore, the Empire failed to provide the political, social, and cultural climate needed for modernization. This lack of fundamental reforms contributed to the movement’s failure.
Absence of fundamental reform coupled with corruption, bureaucratic red tape and incompetence led to numerous wasteful industrial projects. Such the case of the Anqing Arsenal, the Hanyang Iron Works, and Daye Iron Mine which merged in 1908 as the HanYeping Iron and Coal Company which still faced difficulties and finally defunct in 1913.
Finally the lack of genuine support from the regency, in particular, the Empress Dowager Cixi, built an unsecured foundation for the reform. Beijing remained on the sidelines of the modernization efforts and heavily relied on local leaders to lead the charge. This lack of coordination and organization contributed to the scattered projects across the country.
John K. Fairbank made a fitting assessment of the movement: “Its leaders were conscientiously reviving the past instead of facing China’s new future creatively.” Indeed, the leadership of the Qing failed to embraced modernity, thus it faced its inevitable demise.
See also:
Bibliography:
Books:
Fairbank, John King. China: A New History. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2006.
Robert, J.A.G. A History of China. New York, New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011.
Teng, Ssu-yu & John King Fairbank. China's response to the West: A Documentary Survey, 1839 - 1923. Forge Village, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1954.
Wright, David Curtis. The History of China. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO,LLC, 2011.
Websites:
Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica. "Anqing." Encyclopedia Britannica. Accessed on October 11, 2020. URL: https://www.britannica.com/place/Anqing
_____________________________. "Jiangnan Arsenal." Encyclopedia Britannica. Accessed on October 11, 2020. URL: https://www.britannica.com/topic/Jiangnan-Arsenal
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If you are interested in Roman History you can also read my article about the story behind the establishment of Rome
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