MODALITIES OF CHINESE
RESPONSES TO CHINA'S PROBLEMS:
REBELLION, "RESTORATION" AND REFORM IN MID-19TH-CENTURY CHINA (Compiled by Professor John Leung)
Introduction
The Continuation of External Threats and Problems Into and Beyond Mid-19C
Review what Chinese-European relations were like in mid-19C: The Second
Opium War and its consequences (pp. 44-48)
Modes of continuation and expansion of European influence
Military and political dimensions (pp. 53-54; 62-66)
Economic and social dimensions (pp. 57, 59-61)
Cultural dimensions (pp. 56-57, 58-59)
Changing shapes and means of expanding and intensifying "Western" influence
From treaty system to "spheres of influence" to "scramble for concessions"(pp. 60-61)
Putting Chinese-European relations in the context of "imperialism in
Asia" (pp.61-63)
Rebellion
Background: Patterns of rebellion in tradition China (pp. 20-21)
Political causes of rebellion in the past
Social-economic causes - especially class-relations factors
Cultural-intellectual characteristics of past rebellions and revolutions
How past rebellions are assessed in the Chinese world-view
How do the mid-19th-century rebellions fit into these patterns?
How were the mid-19C rebellions linked to the encroachment of the West? (pp. 37-38)
The weakening of the Manchu government and the ethnic issue
Regional - as well as general - social-economic destabilization as an effect of war and new conditions of trade
The cultural assault on the position of the Confucian gentry
The nationality issue and the mid-19C rebellions
The Manchu-Han issue, and the Nian and Muslim issues
The regional conflict - "Hakka" versus "Bendi"
The incursion of "Westerners" (mainly Europeans and North
Americans) into the hinterland and the Chinese ethnic response
The "Taiping Rebellion" (pp. 38-39)
Roots and beginnings of the Taiping Movement
The odd utopianism of the Taiping movement (pp. 39-41)
The course of the Chinese "civil war" and the turning of the tide (pp. 42, 53-55)
Question: In what ways did the Taiping movement point the way for future revolutions in China?
Restoration
The attempt to "revitalize" the Manchu system: The role of Prince Gong and Cixi (pp. 52-53)
The co-optation of Han officers and of Western forces (pp. 53, 55-57)
Institutional elements of "restoration" and reform (pp. 67-70)
Reform
The relationship between "restoration" and "reform"
The ideological question: Addressing the limitations of the Confucian order (pp. 73-75)
Reform accomplishments (pp. 75-76)
Assessment of the reforms as a means to resolve China's problems, and "why they failed"
The racial question: The limitations of reform possibilities under the Manchus
The ideological and cultural-intellectual limitations: The restrictedness of the "Western idea - Chinese learning" dichotomy
The structural problems: What were the weaknesses in the "infrastructure" or "architecture" of reform
The foreign impact