Empress Dowager Cixi's Analysis

The first Opium War in 1839 to 1842 forced China to step into the modern world. Since then, China has been plundered and invaded by both Eastern and Western powers, most of which were inferior to China before 19th century. This was because that while the Westerns were establishing and industrializing the new modern societies, we Chinese still lived with the old ideas and without being improved. Lin Zexu and Wei Yuan suggested the importance of having advanced technologies and learnt ideologies from the Westerners fifty years ago, and both of them believed that the Westerners had the techniques and machines that could help the country “conquer or subvert the civilized world” while our own traditional thoughts are the basis for spiritual and moral strength . Just like what Lin and Wei stated, the most significant thing for China at this moment is to recognize the differences between us …show more content…
A large number of scholars in China now had already realized there would and must be a reform or the Empire would collapse soon, and many of them also regarded the nation as a “corporation” instead of a diverse land. Empress Dowager Cixi’s supports for the self-strengthening movements and New Policy in 1905, which abolished the imperial examination systems proved that the loyalists acknowledged the importance of connecting to the modern world. However, the social and political systems, as mentioned above, could not be altered easily until the internal disorders and corruption be dealt. The reforms that traditionalists want were not enough at all. Moreover, the younger generations who were educated after late nineteenth century already started to have the ideas of “nationalism”, and gradually they lost the loyalty and connections to the Court or the Emperor himself – they might be willing to sacrifice for the nation than the