Student Essay on The Self-Strengthening Movement in China

.".. Not only a dynasty but a civilization which appeared to have collapsed was revived to last for another sixty years by the extraordinary efforts of extraordinary men in the 1860's."[1]

The movement historian Mary Wright is referring to is the self-strengthening movement, which started around 1861 and carried on until 1894. The crises of the mid-nineteenth century (the defeat in the Opium Wars, the Unequal Treaties, the Muslim rebellion, the Taiping rebellion and the foreign occupation in 1860 of Beijing) had left the Qing dynasty in a precarious position. They were perceived as weak by their people and were completely dominated by Western powers. The Self-strengthening movement started with the aims of strengthening the existing Chinese institutions and controlling the foreign threat using western technology. However the effectiveness of the movement was limited by the lack of central coordination, a conservative opposition led by the Empress Dowager and the...
(read more)