The Fall of the Hundred Days’ Reform and the Return of Cixi
In the waning years of the 19th century, as the Guangxu Emperor languished in isolation on a small island, watching his empire crumble, the Empress Dowager Cixi reasserted her dominance over the Qing court. The failed Hundred Days’ Reform of 1898 had left the reformist faction in disarray. While figures like Kang Youwei fled into exile, those who remained faced brutal reprisals. Loyalists who aided Cixi’s coup against Guangxu were richly rewarded: Ronglu was promoted to Grand Councillor and Minister of War, effectively becoming the supreme commander of the Qing military. Yuan Shikai succeeded Ronglu as Viceroy of Zhili, while the aging Li Hongzhang, though initially hesitant in supporting Cixi’s power grab, was compensated with oversight of flood relief efforts following the catastrophic Yellow River floods of August 1898.
Cixi’s return to power was no accident. Even during Guangxu’s brief period of authority, she had retained control over key appointments, ensuring that reformists were confined to minor roles while her allies held pivotal positions. Now, she purged the court of reformist influence, elevating staunch conservatives like Gangyi, a Manchu relative of the imperial family despised by foreigners for his rigid traditionalism. Cixi, however, saw him as a capable administrator, particularly in economic matters—a necessary figure to clean up the “mess” left by Guangxu’s reforms.
The Conservative Resurgence and Its Consequences
To consolidate power, Cixi forged an uneasy alliance with hardline conservatives, a move that cemented her reputation among Western observers as an obstacle to progress. The Times of London lamented:
> The conservatives, now in the ascendant, are a calamity for China. While some argue Cixi’s alignment with them stemmed from patriotic fear of reform’s chaos, their policies will prove disastrous.
Yet Cixi was no blind reactionary. Even as she crushed domestic reform, she courted foreign powers with surprising warmth. Contrary to popular belief, her outreach to Western diplomats began before her 1898 coup. In May of that year, Prince Heinrich of Prussia, during an audience with Cixi, relayed a request from Lady MacDonald, wife of the British envoy, for Western women to visit the Forbidden City. By December, Cixi hosted an unprecedented reception for foreign envoys’ wives, complete with tea ceremonies, lavish gifts, and even a personal toast where she repeatedly declared, “We are one family.”
This calculated charm offensive suggested a ruler capable of pragmatism—until the Boxer Rebellion (1899–1901) shattered such illusions.
The Tightrope of Foreign Policy
Cixi’s diplomatic balancing act grew increasingly precarious. In 1899, Italy demanded a lease of Sanmen Bay in Zhejiang, threatening war if refused. Unlike previous concessions, Cixi refused to yield, secretly ordering coastal defenses prepared. Her gamble rested on a potential alliance with Japan—a nation she believed might collaborate against Western encroachment. When this failed, she turned to Russia as a counterweight to Britain and France, though Moscow’s price for support proved exorbitant.
Frustrated and isolated, Cixi grew desperate. The rise of the Boxers—anti-foreign militants claiming supernatural invincibility—offered a tantalizing, if delusional, solution. Like many traditional Chinese women, Cixi was deeply superstitious; the Boxers’ promises of driving foreigners into the sea resonated with her. By 1900, she would throw her support behind them, with catastrophic results.
The Fractured Court: Rivalries and Rumors
Behind the scenes, Qing politics simmered with factional strife. Ronglu and Prince Qing, the two most powerful officials, engaged in bitter rivalry, their factions trading accusations in memorials until Cixi intervened. In a masterstroke of manipulation, she publicly questioned Ronglu about Kang Youwei’s imperial examination examiner—a veiled threat implying guilt by association. The message was clear: loyalty to her was non-negotiable.
Meanwhile, rumors swirled. Guangxu’s health was said to be failing; plots to assassinate Cixi abounded. In September 1899, a Manchu noble conspiracy to overthrow her was uncovered, prompting her to travel with an armed guard. Guangxu, briefly allowed more freedom, remained a puppet—his presence at meetings with foreign envoys a hollow performance.
The Illusion of Reform
Paradoxically, even as Cixi suppressed reform, she implemented her own “New Policies” in July 1899, restructuring the Ministry of Revenue and cracking down on corruption. Gangyi, dispatched to Guangdong and Guangxi as viceroy, squeezed local coffers to fill imperial treasuries—a fiscal bulwark that later funded her disastrous Boxer War.
Yet these measures were less about modernization than control. As the Zhongwai Ribao (Chinese-Foreign Daily) noted:
> Cixi’s court is a web of contradictions. She empowers conservatives yet elevates pragmatists like Yuan Shikai; she flatters foreigners while tolerating anti-Christian riots.
Legacy: A Ruler Trapped by Her Time
Cixi’s reign defies simple categorization. She was neither purely conservative nor progressive, but a consummate survivor navigating an empire in freefall. Her engagement with Western envoys’ wives revealed a leader capable of charm and openness; her embrace of the Boxers exposed her capacity for fatal miscalculation.
For historians, her rule underscores the impossible choices facing late Qing rulers: reform risked collapse, resistance guaranteed confrontation. In the end, Cixi’s “balancing act” delayed the inevitable—a lesson in the perils of power when divorced from vision.
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