The Political Situation of Late Qing Dynasty Before and After the First Sino-Japanese War (New Cover)

Author: Shi Quan
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-08-01
Features: The purpose of this article is to observe the evolution of internal Chinese conditions before and after the First Sino-Japanese War, to understand why it became a turning point in modern history, and to align it with the evolution of the international situation in East Asia. The reason for China's defeat in the First Sino-Japanese War lies in the genetic factors of its domestic politics, stemming from the failure to carry out large-scale and active self-strengthening efforts in the preceding three decades. Tracing this failure reveals three major threads: First, due to insufficient general understanding, the self-strengthening efforts through the Westernization Movement were heavily constrained, making Li Hongzhang a target of conservative officials. Second, after the Taiping Rebellion broke out, the rise of emerging Han Chinese forces gradually transformed the Manchu Empire from a centralized to a decentralized system, preventing the formation of a strong national leadership core and severely limiting self-strengthening efforts. Third, internal contradictions within the Manchu ruling group in Beijing persisted, and the factionalism of Han Chinese officials further exacerbated these divisions, leading to increasing fragmentation within the central government and making self-strengthening efforts even harder to advance. With these three factors, China ultimately suffered the consequences in the First Sino-Japanese War, and subsequent political situations became vastly different.
The First Sino-Japanese War lasted over a year, during which there were four major political changes: First, Li Hongzhang and the Huai Army, under attack from both the Japanese and the pro-war faction in the Qing court, lost their reputation and power, and their dominant position in China for the past three decades plummeted. Second, the suppressed Qing faction, which had been sidelined for a decade, made a comeback during the war, with the Weng Tonghe faction at its core. They formed alliances with the Guangxu Emperor and the Hunan Army, vigorously attacking Li Hongzhang's pro-peace stance and the defeat of the Huai Army, while also achieving significant success in targeting his political rivals, such as Sun Yuwen. However, their pro-war policy was suppressed by the Empress Dowager, partly because they only engaged in high-level rhetoric without effective measures to reverse the defeat. Third, after the war, the views of the Guangxu Emperor and the Empress Dowager diverged further, and contradictions within the court intensified, with the opposition between the "Imperial Faction" and the "Empress Dowager Faction" becoming increasingly apparent. Fourth, the weaknesses of the Chinese army were exposed after the war, leading to the creation of the Beiyang New Army at Xizhan in the late stages of the conflict.
After the war, foreign threats grew, and China's national strength declined, causing political instability. With Li Hongzhang's departure, control of the Beiyang forces gradually shifted to Ronglu, while Yuan Shikai took command of the New Army, underwent significant reforms, and began to rise to prominence. In the central government, Weng Tonghe took the reins, but the Qing faction, influenced by the rise of the Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao reform movement, further fragmented. Their conflicts with the court intensified, leading to the Wuxu Reform Incident and making the overall situation increasingly dire. Meanwhile, revolutionary forces began to emerge in overseas communities between 1894 and 1895, gradually growing with the changing times and ultimately becoming the vanguard of overthrowing the Manchu Empire.