The Political Chessboard of Late Qing China

In the final years of the 19th century, the Qing Dynasty found itself at a critical crossroads. The humiliating defeat in the First Sino-Japanese War had exposed China’s military weakness and technological backwardness, creating a sense of urgency among reform-minded intellectuals and officials. Emperor Guangxu, though nominally the ruler, remained under the shadow of his aunt, the formidable Empress Dowager Cixi, who maintained ultimate authority from her retirement in the Summer Palace. This dual power structure created a tense environment where political loyalties were constantly tested and ambitions carefully concealed.

The imperial court had become divided between conservatives who advocated for maintaining traditional Confucian values and institutions, and reformers who believed that only comprehensive modernization could save China from foreign domination. This ideological conflict was further complicated by personal rivalries and regional factions that had developed over decades. Into this volatile situation stepped Ronglu, a trusted confidant of Empress Dowager Cixi, whose reappointment as Viceroy of Zhili and Commissioner of the Northern Seas placed him in control of China’s most powerful military forces surrounding the capital.

The Rise of Ronglu: From Disgrace to Power

Ronglu’s path to power was anything but straightforward. Approximately two decades earlier, he had suffered a dramatic fall from grace due to court intrigues. The political landscape of the 1870s and 1880s was characterized by intense rivalry between northern and southern factions within the imperial bureaucracy. The southern faction, led by Shen Guifen and Grand Councilor Baojun, successfully conspired to undermine Ronglu, who had aligned himself with the northern faction under Li Hongzao. They found a pretext to have him demoted from his position as Commander of the Gendarmerie—a powerful role known colloquially as the “Nine Gates Commander”—to the comparatively insignificant rank of vice-general.

Recognizing the precariousness of his situation, Ronglu wisely requested leave due to illness and withdrew from public life. His political exile lasted until 1886 when he received an appointment as General of Xi’an—a relatively obscure posting far from the center of power in Beijing. He remained in this position for eight years, biding his time until an opportunity for rehabilitation presented itself. That opportunity came in 1894 during the celebrations for Empress Dowager Cixi’s sixtieth birthday, when he traveled to Beijing to offer congratulations.

Prince Gong, who had recently returned to power as head of the Grand Council, recognized Ronglu’s capabilities and recommended his reinstatement. Ronglu regained his former position as Commander of the Gendarmerie and additionally received an appointment as Minister of the Imperial Household. The following year, he was promoted to Minister of War, and by 1898 he had risen to become a Grand Secretary. On the twenty-third day of the fourth month of that year—just ten days after Emperor Guangxu issued his edict initiating the Hundred Days’ Reform—Ronglu received his most significant appointment: Viceroy of Zhili and Commissioner of the Northern Seas, positions that placed him in command of China’s most modern military forces.

The Military Forces Under Northern Command

Ronglu’s authority derived principally from his command of three formidable military formations stationed around the capital. The first was the Gan Army under Dong Fuxiang, a Hui Muslim from Gansu province who had initially participated in the Muslim rebellions of the 1860s before surrendering to imperial forces. Under the command of Liu Songshan, one of Zuo Zongtang’s most capable generals during the pacification of the northwest, Dong had reinvented himself as a loyal Qing commander. His troops were renowned for their battlefield ferocity but equally infamous for their poor discipline.

The second formation was the Wuwei Army led by Nie Shicheng, a career officer who had risen through the ranks of the Huai Army. During the First Sino-Japanese War, Nie had distinguished himself by successfully defending Motian Ridge against Japanese forces and personally killing enemy commander Fugang Sanzo. Unlike many of his contemporaries, Nie was literate and had authored “Records of Eastern Travels” based on his experiences patrolling the frontier regions. His troops trained using German military methods and represented one of China’s most modern fighting forces.

The third and most significant military commander was Yuan Shikai, who led the Newly Created Army based at Xiaozhan near Tianjin. Following China’s defeat in the Sino-Japanese War, Yuan had proposed creating a modern military force to address the deficiencies of the traditional Green Standard Army. With support from Li Hongzao and Ronglu, he recruited seven thousand soldiers and established a training base at Xiaozhan, where he implemented Western-style military organization, drilling, and equipment. His troops, with their foreign drums and bugles, represented the cutting edge of military reform in late Qing China.

The Hundred Days Reform and Growing Tensions

The spring and summer of 1898 witnessed an unprecedented flurry of reform initiatives from Emperor Guangxu’s court. Between June 11 and September 21, the emperor issued dozens of edicts aimed at modernizing China’s political, educational, and military institutions. These reforms threatened the privileges of conservative officials and challenged the traditional Confucian order that had underpinned Qing rule for centuries.

Two incidents particularly alarmed conservative elements at court. On July 19, a minor official named Wang Zhao submitted a memorial criticizing his superiors in the Ministry of Rites for refusing to forward his reform proposals to the emperor. In an unprecedented move, Emperor Guangxu responded by dismissing all six senior officials of the ministry—both Manchu and Chinese. This wholesale purge of a major government department had no parallel in Qing history since the dismissal of Prince Gong and the entire Grand Council in 1884.

Even more concerning to conservatives was the emperor’s appointment on July 20 of four junior officials—Yang Rui, Liu Guangdi, Lin Xu, and Tan Sitong—to specially created positions within the Grand Council with responsibility for implementing reforms. These “Four Secretaries” effectively bypassed the traditional bureaucracy, drafting reform edicts that were then issued directly through the Grand Council or transmitted to provinces via the Ministry of War. To conservative observers, it appeared that the emperor had created a parallel government that threatened to make existing institutions irrelevant.

The Fateful Meeting at Jingang Bridge

Against this backdrop of escalating political tension, Yuan Shikai arrived at Laolongtou Railway Station in Tianjin on September 20, 1898. Instead of returning to his military camp at Xiaozhan, he immediately proceeded on horseback to the office of the Viceroy of Zhili at Jingang Bridge, requesting an urgent audience with Ronglu.

This meeting would prove decisive in determining the outcome of the reform movement. Yuan presented information about a supposed plot against Empress Dowager Cixi, though the exact nature of what he reported remains debated by historians. What is clear is that Yuan’s intelligence provided Ronglu with justification for taking decisive action to protect the empress dowager and suppress the reform movement.

Ronglu immediately traveled to Beijing to inform Empress Dowager Cixi of the alleged threat. The following day, September 21, Cixi emerged from retirement at the Summer Palace and placed Emperor Guangxu under house confinement within the Ocean Terrace on Zhongnanhai Lake. She resumed control of the government and nullified most of the reform edicts that had been issued during the previous hundred days.

Aftermath and Historical Consequences

The failure of the Hundred Days’ Reform had profound consequences for China’s political development. The six principal reformers—including the Four Secretaries—were executed on September 28 without proper trials. Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao, the intellectual leaders of the reform movement, managed to escape to Japan where they continued to advocate for constitutional monarchy from exile.

Emperor Guangxu remained effectively imprisoned until his death in 1908 under circumstances that many historians believe suggest poisoning. The conservative backlash strengthened following the crisis, delaying meaningful political reform until after the Boxer Protocol of 1901 forced even reactionary elements at court to acknowledge the necessity of modernization.

Yuan Shikai’s role in betraying the reformers initially earned him the distrust of both conservatives and progressives, but his control of the best-trained military forces in North China ensured his continued political relevance. He would later become the most powerful official in the late Qing government and eventually the first president of the Republic of China after the 1911 Revolution.

Ronglu’s decisive action cemented his position as Empress Dowager Cixi’s most trusted advisor until his death in 1903. His stewardship of the military forces around Beijing had proven crucial in suppressing the reform movement and maintaining conservative control of the government.

Legacy and Historical Interpretation

The events of September 1898 represent a critical turning point in modern Chinese history. Historians have long debated what might have happened if the reform movement had succeeded. Some argue that a successful constitutional monarchy might have spared China decades of political instability and foreign intervention. Others suggest that the Qing Dynasty was already too weakened and corrupt to implement meaningful reform from within.

The figure of Yuan Shikai remains particularly controversial. His betrayal of the reformers has been condemned by generations of Chinese historians, though some have argued that he acted pragmatically to preserve stability amid what he perceived as reckless radicalism. What is undeniable is that his actions on September 20, 1898, altered the course of Chinese history, strengthening conservative forces at court and delaying political modernization for another decade until the dynasty finally collapsed in 1911.

The story of Ronglu’s relationship with Empress Dowager Cixi also continues to fascinate historians. While the nature of their personal connection remains speculative, their political partnership proved remarkably effective in maintaining conservative control of the Qing government during a period of unprecedented challenges. Ronglu’s ability to navigate court politics and maintain control of the military establishment made him an indispensable figure during the final years of Qing rule.

The coup of 1898 demonstrated that ultimate power in late Qing China rested not with the reform-minded emperor but with the conservative establishment centered around Empress Dowager Cixi and her military commanders. This lesson would not be lost on subsequent generations of Chinese revolutionaries, who concluded that the Qing Dynasty could not be reformed from within but must be overthrown entirely—a conviction that would ultimately lead to the revolution of 1911 and the establishment of the Republic of China.