Reformist and Popular Nationalism

The Big Picture: China 1900-Present

How were political loyalties expressed to the emperor under the Ming and Qing dynasties?

What is nationalism? Why does it begin to become prevalent in China around 1900?

*Dynastic Loyalty vs. Nationalism

Dynastic loyalty under monarchy

Subjects loyal to emperor and dynasty

Multiple ethnicities

Manchu

Han Chinese

Mongol

Local loyalties

Was there nationalism under the Qing monarchy?

*Nationalism: "Imagined community"

Citizens loyal to nation

Ideal of cultural unity

Common language, customs, and/or history

Ethnic minorities?

Stimuli to Nationalism in China

Foreign threats cause alarm

Political and economic imperialism of 19th century

Opium Wars, Sino-French War, Sino-Japanese War, Scramble for concessions

Missionary activity

Foreign contacts stimulate new ideas

Treaty ports/concessions

Foreign business operations

Newspapers and magazines

Missionary schools

Chinese returned from overseas in China

Yang Changji

The Big Picture: China 1900-Present

Uneven reaction and adjustments to West

Geographic

Treaty ports

Other urban areas (Family)

Rural

Class

Upper (Family)

Lower

Generational (Family)

Youth

Elders

Political disagreements and conflicts, 1911-1949

Warfare, human suffering, and economic decline

Intellectual Ferment: Cultural and Political debates (Family)

Reformist Nationalism

*Kang Youwei (1858-1927)

Canton

Reformist ideas

Radical reinterpretation of Confucius

Constitutional monarchy

Passed jinshi exam, 1895

Advocate for reform in Beijing

*"100 Days of Reform"

Late Qing factionalism

Conservatives (Empress Dowager Cixi, d. 1908)

Progressives (Emperor Guangxu, d. 1908)

Kang Youwei's influence

Guangxu's reformist edicts, June 11 to September 21, 1898

Modern educational system

Exam system reform

Outdated government offices abolished

Industry promoted

Coup, September 21

Guangxu held under house arrest until his death in 1908

Cixi rules as regent until her death the day after Guangxu

Popular Nationalism: *Boxer Rebellion

Scramble for concessions in Shandong

Germany takes Qingdao, 1897

Britain leases Weihaiwei, 1898

NW Shandong anti-imperialism

Economy in recession

Yantai Annual Cotton Textile Imports (1 picul=133 1/3 lb.)

Missionaries

Shandong converts, 1900

About 1% of population

15,000 Protestant

50,000 Catholics

Missionary power

Catholics

Extraterritoriality for converts

Bandits become Catholics

*Boxers

Martial arts

Spirit possession

Monkey King

Local self defense in communities with Christians

Loose inter-village networks

No central leadership

Sparks

Shandong environmental problems

Yellow River flooding, 1898

Drought, 1900

Boxers drift toward Tianjin and Beijing

“Oppose the foreigners, revive the Qing”

Boxer jingle (Spence, The Search for Modern China, 2nd ed., pp. 230-1)

Their men are all immoral;

Their women truly vile.

For the Devils it’s mother-son sex;

That serve as the breeding style.

No rain comes from Heaven,

The earth is parched and dry.

And all because the churches,

Have bottled up the sky.

When at last all the Foreign Devils,

Are expelled to the very last man,

The Great Qing, united, together,

Will bring peace to our land.

What are the sources of Boxer ideas? Can they be considered nationalists?

*Empress Dowager Cixi

War declaration, June 21, 1900

"Today China is extremely weak. We have only the people's hearts and minds to depend upon. If we cast them aside and lose the people's hearts, what can we use to sustain the country?"

Boxer protocol, Dec. 24, 1900

450 taels ($333 million) indemnity

180% of Qing annual budget