The Fracturing Empire: Qing China in the Late 19th Century

By the late 1800s, the Qing Dynasty found itself caught between internal decay and external pressure. The once-mighty empire, which had ruled China since 1644, now faced existential threats from domestic rebellions and foreign imperialism. The Opium Wars (1839-42, 1856-60) had exposed China’s military weakness, forcing unequal treaties that granted Western powers extraterritorial rights and control over key ports. Meanwhile, internal unrest reached catastrophic proportions with the Taiping Rebellion (1850-64), which claimed an estimated 20-30 million lives.

This era produced complex figures like Li Hongzhang, the pragmatic statesman who navigated these turbulent waters. As recorded in his private accounts, Li observed with alarm how the Qing court vacillated between suppressing rebellious groups like the Small Sword Society and the Boxers (Yihetuan), and attempting to co-opt them against foreign powers—a strategy he likened to “riding a tiger,” dangerous to mount and deadly to dismount.

The Rise of Rebellions and Foreign Encroachment

The closing decades of the 19th century saw China besieged by both homegrown rebellions and foreign aggression:

– The Small Sword Society (Xiaodao Hui): This secret society, active in Shanghai and Shandong, blended anti-Qing sentiment with criminal elements. Li Hongzhang and Governor Zhang Rumei opposed tolerating them, warning that such groups would “devour friends and foes alike.” Their warnings went unheeded, and Zhang was dismissed—a decision Li attributed to court sympathies with these “organized ruffians.”

– The Boxer Movement: What began as anti-Christian peasant militias in Shandong evolved into the disastrous Boxer Rebellion (1899-1901). Li’s accounts reveal the court’s dangerous ambivalence—some officials like Prince Qing resisted extremist voices (e.g., Prince Duan’s call to massacre foreigners), while others like Governor Yu Xian openly encouraged anti-foreign violence.

– Foreign Land Grabs: The 1890s witnessed a “scramble for China” mirroring Africa’s colonization. Germany seized Jiaozhou Bay (1897), Russia occupied Port Arthur, and Britain took Weihaiwei—all under the pretext of protecting their interests. Li bitterly noted these territories were “lost forever,” despite his diplomatic efforts to play powers against each other.

Cultural Collisions and Misunderstandings

The encounters between China and the West produced mutual bafflement and occasional dark humor:

– Western Arrogance: Li mocked Westerners who viewed China as a “yellow corpse digging its own grave,” oblivious to their own internecine conflicts (“The French hate Germans, Russians slaughter Jews, yet in China, they all become Christians”).

– Academic Pretensions: A hilarious exchange reveals Li’s amusement at an American professor fretting over his 18-volume reference library—a paltry collection compared to the 150-volume Peiwen Yunfu encyclopedia compiled by Emperor Kangxi in 1711.

– Religious Tensions: Missionaries like Bishop Pierre-Marie-Alphonse Favier (whom Li praised as a “noble soldier” for defending Beijing’s Beitang Cathedral during the Boxer siege) became flashpoints, their presence fueling anti-foreign sentiment.

The Pragmatists and the Fanatics

Key figures emerge in Li’s accounts as either saviors or saboteurs of China:

– Yuan Shikai: The young general earned Li’s admiration for his bravery against Japan in Korea (1884) and his German-trained military reforms.

– Kang Youwei: Dismissed by Li as a “patriotic official one day, a meddlesome fool the next, and most often a brainless donkey”—a scathing critique of the reformer whose 1898 Hundred Days’ Reform ended in disaster.

– Hong Xiuquan: The Taiping leader’s delusions of being Christ’s brother drew Li’s scorn: “A religious impostor… who constrained his competent generals with his madness.”

The Boxer Catastrophe and Its Aftermath

The Boxer Rebellion’s climax (1900) revealed the Qing court’s fatal divisions:

– Prince Qing’s Restraint: His refusal to attack foreign legations, despite Prince Duan’s bloodthirsty urgings (“Kill all the diplomats and no foreign power will dare send representatives!”), likely prevented China’s complete dismemberment.

– International Humiliation: The Eight-Nation Alliance’s occupation of Beijing and the indemnity-heavy Boxer Protocol (1901) left China traumatized. Li, negotiating the settlement, lamented how “the Great Qing lost face before civilized nations.”

Legacy of a Collapsing Dynasty

Li Hongzhang’s writings offer a poignant epitaph for the Qing:

– Failed Reforms: The Self-Strengthening Movement (1861-95) and 1898 reforms proved too little, too late against systemic corruption and conservative resistance.

– Diplomatic Realism: Li’s strategy of using foreign rivalries (e.g., playing Russia against Britain) bought time but couldn’t reverse China’s decline.

– Nationalist Seeds: The very rebellions the Qing suppressed—from the Taiping to the Boxers—planted ideas of Han Chinese nationalism that would topple the dynasty in 1911.

In the end, Li’s accounts capture an empire caught between tradition and modernity, its leaders simultaneously recognizing the need for change yet unable to transcend their own contradictions. His biting wit and acute observations make these records not just historical documents, but a timeless study of power in crisis.